Carine Roitfeld, the former editor of French Vogue, once explained to New York magazine why she switched from the Mercer to the Carlyle: “For me, it is best to be the youngest in hotel, and I was not having this feeling at the Mercer.” For me, it is best to be the most fun person at a staid bar than the least fun one at a rollicking one. So I figured that a rainy Monday at 5 p.m. would be the ideal time to visit Demi Monde; indeed, there was no one there yet.

The vestibule has a maitre d’ stand—or whatever you call a lectern if no one is lecturing—but no one working it when I arrived. The subway tile on the wall, combined with the stairs, made me feel like I was entering the subway, but the payoff was much grander. And far darker. “Good evening,” said the hostess stationed downstairs, who might have been Taylor Swift for all I could tell.

I showed myself to the bar, against the left-hand wall and outfitted with comfortable stools (upholstery and backs!). The bar part looks like an awesome hotel bar, possibly in Tokyo, but with thumping music. The rest of the black-and-red space is carved into various booths and nooks, which you can reserve—a nice touch. It reminded me of Temple Bar on Lafayette—although I haven’t been there in a decade—with a dash of SHO Shaun Hergatt. There’s also a 12-seat chef’s table where diners can have a nine-course dinner for $130 per person.

The menu lists 16 specialty cocktails, but I know better than to put anything called “Gun Metal” in my mouth. As a fan of celery soda, I was thrilled to see it among the homemade sodas, and even more thrilled to see spiking it with vodka or gin was an option. I ordered a celery soda with gin and some of the “Savory almonds with cherry wood aroma.” The drink was splendid; the nuts insanely addictive. I teased the bartender for bringing me a fork and spoon for the almonds, and he didn’t seem to mind. They’re all cute in that new-school bartender way, wearing suspenders or tie clasps or whatever, and I bet they could give great advice on where to eat in Greenpoint.

Will it become a douchepit? Only time—and the crowd—will tell. In the meantime, it’s far and away the coolest thing going in FiDi, and it’s a totally worthwhile field trip for anyone who lives in Tribeca (90 Broad is a 15-minute walk from Chambers and Broadway). One suggestion: Visit the restroom before you order a second drink.

UPDATE 5/22: I just realized that the menu on Eater doesn’t list the food. It’s mostly nibbly bits—caviar, negroni oysters, sashimi, tofu skins, bacon bun, cocktail chocolates—with the sole entrée-like item being a Wagyu strip steak ($42).

Demi Monde is at 90 Broad (at Stone), 212-248-7220; demimondeny.com.

Recent New Kid on the Block/First Impressions articles:
• Maslow 6 Wine Bar
• Salvatore Barber Shop
• Tribeca Blu
• Josh Bach
• Harry’s Italian
• Atera
• 2Spaghi
• HomBom Toys
• Accents
• Matt Bernson
• Bloom

••• Aire Ancient Baths—the new bathhouse on Franklin Street—has begun accepting reservations.

••• According to a press release, 250 West is 70% sold.

••• Excellent news from Blaue Gans: “We will now be offering our Strawberry and Elderflower Coupe from Taste of Tribeca on the menu.” It’s soooo good.

••• From Tommy Flynn: “Mysterious tree stump shows up on the sidewalk at Sixth Ave. and Lispenard St.” I hereby decree that it is art.

AIRE ANCIENT BATHS
A bathhouse from a Spanish company. UPDATE: Now open.

AAMANNS/COPENHAGEN
Danish restaurant specializing in smørrebrød.

DEMI MONDE
The bar part (at 90 Broad) is open; the café will follow.

ASPHALT GREEN BATTERY PARK CITY
Teaching us all to exercise our patience.

JEAN
(Right) Dr. Michel Cohen of Tribeca Pediatrics is opening a lunch café/wine bar.

ALL GOOD THINGS
European-style food hall with restaurant.

SUSHI OF GARI
Popular uptown sushi mini-chain.

FIKA
Swedish café and chocolatier.

THE BUTTERFLY
A bar with food from chef Michael White’s company (Marea, Osterini Morini).

ROBIN BROUILLETTE
Tribeca designer’s shop on W. Broadway.

CITIBANK
Said to be taking over a prominent spot; now not so sure….

TRIBECA CANVAS
Masaharu Morimoto’s non-Japanese restaurant.

CHIPOTLE
(Right) Work has started on the second location in the area.

THE ELEVENS
Crowdsourced restaurant where membership gets privileges.

NEAR AND FAR FOOD COMPANY
Big restaurant and bar in eastern Tribeca. (Is this iffy too? The space has been gutted for a while.)

AMERICAN FLATBREAD
Vermont pizza chain’s first New York outpost.

LITTLE ONE
Restaurant coming to the old Columbine space.

27 DESBROSSES RESTAURANT AND BAR
Anchor Bar is opening a bar and restaurant.

THE FLEA
The theater company is moving.

SHINOLA
Steven Alan’s parent company is reinventing the shoe polish brand.

73 WARREN
(Right) Prepared food.

TETSU
Chef Masa Takayama’s teppanyaki restaurant.

BARRY’S BOOTCAMP
Group-fitness studio.

DUXIANA
Swedish beds and furniture.

SUPERSTAR GYM
In Truffles Tribeca.

MULINO A VINO
Italian wine bar and restaurant.

BENARES
(Right) Indian restaurant on Murray.

BALCONY CAFÉ
Bar and restaurant in the old Mocca space (iffy).

AQUA STUDIO
Group aquatic-fitness facility.

TEMPLE COURT HOTEL AND CONDOS
In the marvelous 5 Beekman.

Lotus Blue's banana blossom and mango salad tasted especially good on such a warm day. (Alas, the sun was so bright I couldn't tell that the photo was out of focus.)

The Marc Forgione team hard at work plating a tasty fluke dish.

Bruce Cost Ginger Ale—made with fresh ginger and unfiltered—hit the spot. The staffer said it's available at Whole Foods; I may have to pick some up.

One attendee planning her attack.

Landmarc's pretty beet salad.

It was definitely the Year of the Meatball. A standout: Terroir Tribeca's meatball sandwich. (I need to know where the bread is from.) And it was a far better value than Locanda Verde's otherwise worthy single duck meatball. UPDATE: The bread is stecca from Sullivan Street Bakery.

Cosmopolitan Café's creperie was one of the busiest stalls.

Hi, Rocco of ROC!

Mehtaphor won style and practicality points for serving its dumplings in takeout containers.

Paul Shapiro's Ribs and Brisket Revue (sponsored by City Winery) was really good.

I kept running into this dog, who doesn't need to have dinner tonight (based on the amount of hoovering I saw him do.)

Hi, Rachel from Tribeca Treats!

I heard at least three people raving about Bouley's dessert.

Here’s looking forward to next year’s event! I already have a resolution ready: Not to get so excited to dig in that I forget to grab a napkin. It happened time after time….

••• “The city has spent a staggering $30 million on police overtime at the Occupy Wall Street protests, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Thursday. The total overtime cost has ballooned over the past two months from $17 million in March to nearly double that on Thursday, Kelly said at a City Council budget hearing. The spike in spending follows the massive May Day protests of Tuesday, May 1.” —DNAinfo (Speaking of DNAinfo, did you know that its owner is the rich guy who was considering running the Jeremiah Wright-based attacks on President Obama?)

••• “It seems like it’s been awhile since a lunch spot like French Cafe Gourmand has opened in the Financial District—as in a place that’s not a chain or a new branch of a chain. No, this cafe on Maiden Lane (btw. B’way & Nassau) is run by actual French people and they sell a small selection of items including coffee, soup, salads, sandwiches and some French pastries and baked goods.” I’m onboard with that sandwich. —Midtown Lunch

••• “Dozens of waitlisted Battery Park City kindergarteners could be bused to school in Chinatown this fall, Department of Education officials said at a meeting Wednesday night.” —DNAinfo

••• “A woman dressed in jogging clothes plunged into the East River at Wall Street Friday morning, authorities and a witness said. The woman, who was described as distressed, climbed over a fence at Pier 11 and jumped into the water.” —DNAinfo

••• “There’s a mild puzzle in the recent sale of the ’1,872 sq ft’ Manhattan loft #3B at 366 Broadway (Collect Pond House) at $1.72mm, as it sounds like a beautiful loft that went for less than you’d think (well, than I’d think). But there is also a more emotional response, one of empathy, for a seller who tried to sell into The Peak but just could not get the deal done then.” —Manhattan Loft Guy

••• “More than 150 residents of Gateway Plaza gathered in the auditorium of P.S. 276 on Thursday evening, for a meeting of the Gateway Plaza Tenants’ Association. The event also drew a quorum of Downtown leaders and elected officials, among them State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, City council member Margaret Chin, and Community Board 1 chair Julie Menin.” That’s five, if you’re counting. —Broadsheet

As mentioned in the first item:

••• JCP’s pop-up shop is now online.

••• Per a tweet from @TibiTaylor: “USPS moving from Peck Slip to 114 John St on June 4.” The old USPS building at Peck Slip will become a school.

••• From New Amsterdam Market: “Please join us this Sunday for our second Gathering of Fisheries, which will bring together local fishmongers, shellfish vendors, chefs, and other supporters of a revived Fulton Fish Market site for a day of celebrating our coasts and the bounty they provide. [...] In addition to the fisheries, nearly 40 regular New Amsterdam Market vendors will be present—including Flying Fox, making her season debut with fresh-picked strawberries from Maryland—so check out the full list on our website.”

••• A note in the window of Seaport restaurant SamSara says it’s reopening soon with a new chef and a new menu.

••• From local art furniture designers Cmmnwlth: “A furniture show of ours (for ICFF, with three other U.S. designers) opens at Mondo Cane tonight 6–9 p.m. The exhibit is called “No Frontier”: and it’s co-curated by Volume Gallery of Chicago. We’ll be presenting the entire Seltanica series consisting of a family of lights, a wall mounted hook and an umbrella stand.”

••• From a reader: “I’m the parent of a Spruce Street School student. Last night the school held a fundraiser on the school’s rooftop playground, which sits below the west side of the Gehry tower. Harry’s Italian donated excellent food, local wine merchants donated cases of vino, and someone renting one of the apartments above the party donated several brown eggs, which came splattering down on the parents. If the party was that noisy, wouldn’t a call to the doormen of the building to do something about it have been the easiest thing to do? Spruce Street School and the Gehry tower co-exist in the same building. I know a relationship exists between building management and school staff because they’ve had to meet and discuss the beer bottles another tenant (or the same?) previously rained down on the playground. What’s next? If recess gets too noisy should parents and school staff need to worry that someone is going to injure the kids? That behavior is disgusting. A doorman could have easily called the school to complain, or simply walked around the corner and said something to the security staff in the school lobby. People in this city are really gross.” It’s true! But they’re gross everywhere.

••• From the Department of Transportation: “The New York City Department of Transportation today announced the installation of a prototype for the agency’s first-ever outdoor art display case at TriBeCa’s Bogardus Plaza on Hudson Street between Chambers and Reade streets. The model, designed by Architecture Research Office, will be in place for one month to observe the design’s performance in an outdoor environment. Last fall, DOT issued a challenge to designers, asking them to reinvent the fixed display cases seen in museums and galleries as a moveable piece for outdoor use. ARO’s design was selected for implementation. The goal is to temporarily install display cases in pedestrian plazas and other areas within the public realm to create new opportunities for displaying art such as photos, paintings and collages.” Call me old-fashioned, but I think parks should be a respite from manmade visual stimulation.

••• From Manhattan Youth: “The Art Shack is a place where kids can get together for special art projects or to participate in the creation of  murals we are now making at Pier 25. The Mural Project is an on-going project and one day we hope to wrap the entire pier in children’s murals.” Let’s see if I can piss even more people off: I’m not sure how I feel about that last part, actually. Is kids’ art not best appreciated on the family’s fridge?

••• From a reader: “Janet Newman is opening a show of her very unique flower paintings [tonight] at the Sovereign Bank at corner of Franklin and Hudson, 5:30 to 8 p.m.”

••• Something called Delmonico’s Café wants to open at 300 Spring (between Hudson and Renwick, where Sora Lella used to be).

••• 481 Washington—just north of Canal—is being marketed as the Spice Warehouse (as if the real spice warehouse isn’t further south). No clue if this is new; I don’t walk up that part of Washington very often.

At your service! It’s not really a restaurant so much as a prepared-food shop, opened by two Tribeca moms. They don’t want to say too much more at this point because they only just signed the lease (so the opening is months away). As for the façade, it’s one of the reasons they leased the space so even if there are changes forthcoming I don’t think you have a lot to worry about.

P.S. A prepared-food shop! Finally!

Got a question? Email it to tribecacitizen@gmail.com.

Previous “Nosy Neighbor” posts:
• Can you recommend any Tribeca picture books?
• Why are those shuttles on Greenwich?
• What’s coming to 15 Canal Street?
• Who enforces sidewalk-café regulations?
• What’s going on at 27 Desbrosses?
• What happened to the Lilac?
• When will those trailers on West Street go away?
• Do you know anything about 20-24 Varick?
• What’s happening to my parking lot?
• Is Pier 26 being worked on again?
• What’s up with Jin Market?
• What are those black pellets on Pier 25?
• What do the characters on 47 Vestry mean?
• When is T.J. Maxx opening?
• Where is the Special Forces monument going?
• Who’s moving into 151 Hudson?
• What’s going on at 172 Duane?
• Where is Compose’s pastry chef cooking now?
• What’s up with those Verizon carts?
• Where was the original Blues Bar?
• Who are the guys in the geeky pants?
• Why are the windows above Ponte’s boarded up?
• Can we walk on the West Street medians?
• What’s going on in 157 Hudson?
• What’s the new painting at 153 Hudson?
• What’s up with 55 Warren/55 Murray?
• What is this P.C. Richard & Son Theater I keep hearing about?
• What’s the story behind the lights at 289 Church?
• What’s the Dream House at 275 Church?
• How come every every film and TV shoot seems to have a trailer with doors marked “Lucy” and “Desi”?

••• “Law enforcement officials are searching for one person they say is responsible for mailing 380 suspicious envelopes to elementary, middle and high schools, as well as government offices and other institutions across the U.S., the FBI announced Wednesday. Two elite lower Manhattan schools [including P.S. 234], which received envelopes containing white powder last Thursday, May 10, were among those terrorized by the mysterious substance sent out last week with a North Texas postmark. [...] They believe the suspect is likely to be a male who may not demonstrate a mastery of formal English. The suspect is also likely to be over the age of 30 and perceived by others as odd or eccentric.” You think? —DNAinfo

••• “Meg Ryan’s downtown home hunt continues. She was spotted this week at 153 Franklin St., the infamous Tribeca townhouse where [...] disgraced former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn lived while under house arrest after being accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid.” —New York Post

••• “Parents at the Spruce Street School are demanding pedestrian safety improvements in the wake of a crash that killed a UPS worker across the street last month.” —DNAinfo

••• “The questions came fast and furious but the answers were frustratingly few in a meeting with school officials over what lies ahead in September for children on kindergarten waitlists.” In other news, the world continues to turn. —Tribeca Trib

••• Those three buildings the city wants to sell (22 Reade, 346 Broadway, and 49-51 Chambers) have been deemed unsuitable for schools. —Downtown Express

••• “In the last few days, three little cottages have appeared at the base of the World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan, like a rural-themed mirage. The installation is for Country Living’s semiregular House of the Year.” —New York Times

••• “After just a few months at the restaurant, Atera‘s Wine Director Alex LaPratt announced yesterday that he will no longer oversee the restaurant’s deep and ambitious wine list.” —Eater