Rainbow Room

Infobox Restaurant
name = The Rainbow Room


image_width = 300px
image_caption = The Rainbow Room in December, 2004
established = 1934
current-owner =
head-chef =
food-type =
dress-code =
rating =
street-address = 30 Rockefeller Plaza, 65th Floor
city = New York City
state = New York
zip = 10112
country = United States
seating-capacity =
reservations =
other-locations =
other-information=
website = [http://www.rainbowroom.com www.rainbowroom.com]

The Rainbow Room is a well-known upscale restaurant and nightclub on the sixty-fifth floor of the GE Building in Rockefeller Center, Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

Cuisine

The food is loosely northern Italian, and there are cocktails, wines, liqueurs, cognacs, and other drinks available.

Environment

The Rainbow Room features a revolving dance floor, a live big band orchestra, and what is generally considered an impressive view of the New York City skyline.

Private events are hosted in several banquet rooms and for special events and holidays elaborate celebrations are organized. On New Year's Eve, for example, the caviar, truffles, champagne, and mixed drinks are included with the price of admission, for dinner through to breakfast at sunrise. However, it is still expensive; for example, admission to the 2007 New Year's Eve party was $1600.00 per person.

The "Rainbow Grill" is a separate, somewhat less expensive restaurant with an à la carte menu on the same floor of the building, which has its own celebrations for main holidays.

History

It first opened on October 3, 1934 and was originally conceived as a formal supper club, where the elite and influential of New York could gather to socialize over cocktails, dine on fine cuisine, and dance to the strains of legendary big bands on a revolving floor.

In 1974, David Rockefeller, the son of John D. Rockefeller, commissioned a $25 million restoration and expansion of the Rainbow Room led by Joe Baum and Arthur Emil.

In 1998, the Rockefeller family passed operations of the facilities of the restaurant over to the Italian Cipriani family, founders of the renowned Harry's Bar in Venice, as well as several other restaurants in New York City.

In 2008, the Cipriani company filed a brief with the City of New York, requesting that The Rainbow Room be designated a historic landmark.

In the Media

In his memoir, "Kitchen Confidential", chef/author Anthony Bourdain wrote an entire chapter ("I Make My Bones") about his year and a half in the kitchen staff of the Rainbow Room, describing in detail - both good and bad - the working conditions in an extremely famous and busy restaurant, and the numerous dealings normally kept invisible behind the kitchen doors.

References

* [http://www.rainbowroom.com Rainbowroom.com]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE7D91E31F934A3575BC0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 Article from The New York Times]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/nyregion/07cipriani.html New York Times article about the Cipriani family and desire to designate Rainbow Room a Historic Landmark]