vip in the city

Check me out

Took a break from what was to be a late night at the office to pop in on the Gothamist mingling event at Whole Foods Market Bowery. It was my first time at the immense Lower East Side location, which opened to great excitement back in March.

When not playing host to various dot-com fetes, New York’s Whole Foods are known for their thriving pick-up scenes; the Bowery’s hip location makes it more popular than most. (“The gelato bar, the upstairs café, the chilled, private cheese room, and long checkout lines are where flirting is most rampant.”) Not this night, though, at least not for the ladies: strikingly, almost hilariously, the females handily outnumbered males by a factor of 9 to 1.

“Hey, no photographs inside Whole Foods!” (Sorry.)

Upstairs at the cafe, vendors set up fold-out tables along the windowed perimeter from which we could sample their wares. Their company’s wares, I mean. Mixed drinks from Stirrings, candy bars from Chocolove, Jackson Heights-inspired Mangodesh (mango ice cream spiced with cardamom) from 5 Boroughs Ice Cream, and a nice, refreshing Champagne sorbet, courtesy of Wine Cellar Sorbets, a venture launched by a pair of childhood friends from Queens. The sorbets are made from finished wines, and are 5% alcohol by volume (Yes: ID required to purchase in stores.)

A sip here, a bite there… then back to the salt mines.