After a brief turn as Sheltering Sky, the McCarren Hotel & Pool’s rooftop bar is now Xanadu. The year-round roof deck has been reimagined by Joe Carroll (Fette Sau, St. Anselm) and Francesco Panella (Antica Pesa), the team behind the hotel’s new fern bar Oleanders.
Unlike the club in the Olivia Newton-John movie of the same name, this Xanadu isn’t a roller disco (you wouldn’t want to skate off the eighth floor). But if you like the bubbly, it is indeed “a place where dreams come true.” The menu includes 22 kinds of sparkling white wine by the bottle, ranging from $44 to $115. There’s also a few different ciders and signature cocktails like the Rusty Monkey (Monkey Shoulder whiskey, Drambuie, orange and chocolate bitters) and the Pink Squirrel (creme de noyaux, creme de cacao, half and half, and fresh nutmeg).
Xanadu’s chef, Kevin Chojnowski (Public), built the menu, below, around his love of seafood and Asian and Middle Eastern flavors. “It just made sense that we would pair seafood up with a champagne-inspired drink list, and it would also give myself an opportunity to play with the flavors that I love,” he told us, adding that all of the food is designed to compliment the champers without overpowering it.
Chojnowski is particularly a fan of the salt and pepper Ipswich clams. He starts by frying the clams, then tosses them with pickled chilies, bright green pea shoots and bean sprouts, topping it all off with a ginger scallion dressing. “Growing up in New England in the summer, clams were always a treat, and I remember looking forward to fresh Ipswich Clams,” he said.
Check out the rest of the menu below.
Xanadu, McCarren Hotel & Pool, 8th floor, 160 North 12th Street (Williamsburg). Monday-Friday 5 p.m.-midnight, Saturday and Sunday 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. See the full food menu and by-the-glass drink menu below.