Elmo

156 7th Ave
With a outdoor sidewalk seating, a mod glass portal painted in white and lime green, and beautiful service staff, Elmo sits comfortably on this busy stretch of Chelea's Seventh Avenue, waiting for you to come in, sit down and have a crazy cocktail fr... more
With a outdoor sidewalk seating, a mod glass portal painted in white and lime green, and beautiful service staff, Elmo sits comfortably on this busy stretch of Chelea's Seventh Avenue, waiting for you to come in, sit down and have a crazy cocktail from its fabulous menu. The interior is a mixture of 80’s color and noise, nouveau urban mod (especially above the bar), and airport lounge. A phalanx of two-tops follows the curved banquette that snakes to the back of the dining room. In fact, most of the tables are for two, but can be pushed together to make room for four or more (although more than six is not suggested). Two large paintings that pine away for mom-in-the-apron-Americana gaze down upon diners from their 1950’s inspired color scheme. The paintings were not chosen by accident. The menu is a cheeky feast of comfort food, Chelsea style. With a twist on everything you thought you knew about your mother’s kitchen (including meatloaf and alphabet soup), Elmo seeks to poke fun at the trend of high-brow “comfort food”. Witness the Duncan Hines Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake on the dessert menu. Elmo’s is a great brunch spot for shoppers and people watchers. The steak and eggs entree... more

With a outdoor sidewalk seating, a mod glass portal painted in white and lime green, and beautiful service staff, Elmo sits comfortably on this busy stretch of Chelea's Seventh Avenue, waiting for you to come in, sit down and have a crazy cocktail from its fabulous menu.

The interior is a mixture of 80’s color and noise, nouveau urban mod (especially above the bar), and airport lounge. A phalanx of two-tops follows the curved banquette that snakes to the back of the dining room. In fact, most of the tables are for two, but can be pushed together to make room for four or more (although more than six is not suggested). Two large paintings that pine away for mom-in-the-apron-Americana gaze down upon diners from their 1950’s inspired color scheme.

The paintings were not chosen by accident. The menu is a cheeky feast of comfort food, Chelsea style. With a twist on everything you thought you knew about your mother’s kitchen (including meatloaf and alphabet soup), Elmo seeks to poke fun at the trend of high-brow “comfort food”. Witness the Duncan Hines Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake on the dessert menu.

Elmo’s is a great brunch spot for shoppers and people watchers. The steak and eggs entree is really, really good, as is the spicy Bloody Mary. Also notable are the large salads, served in big white bowls rather than on a big white plate – much neater for the eater. Notable items on the menus: fun cocktail list, coconut layer cake, bison burger, garlic bread with gorgonzola, fried chicken.

While many couples go here from brunch, it is not a romantic spot. Diners may feel that, at any moment, someone is going to push all the tables aside and a dance party is going to break out. This feeling is due in part to the dance club soundtrack playing far above the dining room, but there actually is a lounge downstairs which serves various functions.

The service staff are attentive and helpful, and like many of the patrons, the staff here are also attractive. It's almost like a movie set. While it is casual, it is Chelsea-casual, meaning a tad more casual than perhaps the Uptown set might care for.


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Chelsea Description

Elmo is located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Once a mixed, low-income neighborhood on the West Side, Chelsea has become a focal point for artists and galleries. It has a wide reputation as Manhattan's gay mecca, and while that has historically been true, rising acceptance of the gay lifestyle—and soaring rents—has led to a dissipation of the community in the neighborhood. These days, Chelsea is, very simply, a bastion of affluence more than any other social status, with the conversion of many apartment buildings to condos and co-ops and the on-rush of multimillion-dollar brownstones and lofts. In the ever-northward shift of Manhattan's masses, the high prices of Greenwich Village and Christopher Street area (which has boasted a large LGBT community since the 1960s) led many to head north to Chelsea in the late 1980s. In that migration, many have already moved on from Chelsea to the northern climes of Hell's Kitchen and Washington Heights, or east to Brooklyn. While Eighth Avenue between 14th and 23rd Streets formerly had one of New York’s highest concentrations of gay-operated restaurants, stores, cafes, the population transfer changed the demographics once again—you'll find much higher concentrations in Hell's Kitchen nowadays. The Chelsea art scene blossomed thanks to the conversion of garages and warehouses between Tenth and Twelfth Avenues, and likely will become a victim of its own success. What SoHo and the 57th Street area lost in stature has been Chelsea’s gain, and almost all the well-established flagship galleries make Chelsea their base. How did it all begin? In 1987, the Dia Center for the Arts—later known as Dia: Chelsea—became one of the pioneers in the area, establishing its main exhibition facility on West 22nd Street. Ironically, after opening its flagship museum Dia: Beacon upstate, it was left without a Manhattan presence. Plans to move down to Greenwich Village and abut the new High Line elevated park were scuttled, and the Whitney instead grabbed the valuable tract that once appealed to Dia. Of course, the High Line further increased property values, thus begetting additional high-rises between Tenth Avenue and West Street, which in turn brought in starchitects like Frank Gehry and Jean Nouvel, whose creations can be seen soaring from the earth along West Street. You can learn more about these in our new architecture of Manhattan walking tour. While the ethnic diversity of Chelsea was once truly enviable, the neighborhood still remains one of only a few places where housing ranges from high-rise public housing projects to single-family brownstones to new glass condominiums—even on the same block! Some of Manhattan’s most affordable rent-stabilized apartments can be found between Seventh and Ninth Avenues. The historic district has some fine examples of nineteenth-century city dwellings, and small gardens and flowering trees abound. If you think the grounds of General Theological Seminary (440 West 21st Street) look familiar, that's because it is frequently functions as a set for the TV show Law & Order! Even seminaries have to make money, and thus G.T.S. (as it's known) demolished its former entrance on Ninth Avenue to make way for (what else?) luxury condominiums. At its Tenth Avenue entrance, G.T.S. created one of Manhattan's most charming niche hotels, the Desmond Tutu Center, named after the great South African archbishop. Speaking of hotels, Chelsea has no shortage of great places to stay and to eat. On Tenth Avenue you'll find the renowned tapas of Tia Pol and its offshoot El Quinto Pino just two blocks away. There's the upscale Cookshop nearby, and further south on Tenth Avenue you'll find the Iron Chef's Morimoto at the great Chelsea Market, also home to Buddakan on the Ninth Avenue side.

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Info

156 7th Ave
New York, NY 10011
(212) 337-8000
Website

Editorial Rating

Category

American (New)

Price

$$$$$

Ambience

Casual

Payment

All Major

This Week's Hours

Mon-Thu 11am-1am
Fri 11am-2am
Sat 10am-2am
Sun 10am-1am

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