The Castle on Central Park South

Among the architectural marvels that compose the iconic island of Manhattan, no location is more synonymous with opulence than the Plaza Hotel, also affectionately known as ‘the Castle on Central Park South.’

Nestled at the center of the hotel rests the Palm Court bar and restaurant, an enduring symbol of sophisticated elegance and the crown jewel of the legendary property.

For over 150 years, the Plaza has been the gold standard of the luxury hospitality industry. It continues to live up to its gilded reputation today. Entering through the main doors west of Grand Army Plaza, from which the hotel name is derived, you ascend red-carpeted marble stairs into a marvelous vestibule. Immediately, you understand you’re stepping up to a brand-new level of aesthetic magnificence.

A huge centerpiece display of pink roses and white hydrangeas on black podiums sits beneath an exquisite glittering chandelier as you pass the lobby for guest check-in on your left and proceed under one of three high-arched doorways into the Palm Court.

Alongside the beautifully maintained historical decor, one of the twenty-first century updates is the presence of guests taking phone photos in every direction. You will find it difficult if not impossible to refrain from joining in capturing a snap of the moment. It’s part of the atmosphere that confirms you are somewhere very special and far beyond the norm. It’s definitely not your everyday vibe, but this is every day at the Palm Court, where above and beyond is just the beginning of the experience.

The interior design of the Palm Court is truly a singular sight to behold. A white and gold tile mosaic floor leads you toward two massive pale gray and white marble columns topped by cornices of gold.

The oval bar is the centerpiece of the room, flanked on all sides by tables hosting silver tiered towers of delectables, pots of tea and crystal flutes of champagne. Every seat on the canary yellow and pearl white carpet is occupied by guests busy sipping, chatting and smiling. A jovial yet refined atmosphere permeates the space.

Verdant green palm trees, potted plants, and white latticework are everywhere. Ornately carved statues and colorful paintings fill every void, lit by dazzling chandeliers and the breathtaking dome of opal glass, recently refurbished to match the original roof of Tiffany glass from the early twentieth century.

The overall color palette leans into shades of green, gold, and white. The level of detail in the fixtures approaches visual sensory overload. It’s nearly dizzying looking around from any vantage point, your mind processing one luminous masterpiece of decoration after another, beside another, alongside another.

You have to see it to believe it. Photos of the highest resolution on any size screen don’t even come close to the true sense of awe one encounters stepping into the Palm Court itself.

We recently visited and indulged in an hour of roundtable conversation with Palm Court Bar Manager Dovid Hirsch and Nick Bathurst, Director of Food and Beverage. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Making Exceptional Memories For Every Generation

What makes the Palm Court so special and revered by so many?

Nick: It’s hard to explain how opulent and how amazing this space is. There’s so much history here. The building’s been around since 1907. It’s been through World War, and there’ve been a lot of historical moments here that have happened in the Palm Court, both that people would recognize, from F. Scott Fitzgerald writing The Great Gatsby and (the 2013 feature) being filmed here, to celebrations, weddings, anniversaries, special moments that people have had and continue to come back for each and every year. We see a lot of the same faces that come back every year as a yearly or biannual tradition, so it’s really special for a lot of different reasons.

Dovid: It’s a legacy restaurant, so we have a lot of generational families join us where the grandmother brought their daughter the first time for tea, and then now they’re bringing their daughter, now they’re bringing their niece, so we’ll have five generations of families sitting at tea right now because that’s their family tradition, to have tea with us at the Plaza Hotel. So we love that legacy. We love that tradition that we help them to continue.

For tourists visiting the city as well as for local residents, why should they make the time to visit the Palm Court?

Nick: It’s this really special place. There’ve been so many historical moments and there’s so much history in this room that you have to come see it, you have to come feel it and experience it. It’s also this timeless elegance. It’s this place that’s stuck in a little piece of time. People want that nostalgia, they want to be part of that these days and always.

Dovid: We get to meet a lot of amazing and unique individuals from all around the world and we have a lot of amazing locals who know so much about the city, and to be able to bring that together, it’s really wonderful.

We’ll have guests who are born and raised in New York talking to a family from the Netherlands at the bar and having this crazy conversation about a restaurant in the city or recommendations where they should go or places they should see, or things that they’ve done around the world. It’s cool to have all these guests meet each other and to have those moments together.

I get a lot of amazing suggestions of places to go that aren’t in New York, which is awesome. And it’s a stop for most of our locals, they come outside of work, they want to grab a quick drink on their way home and this is always their first stop, even if it’s out of the way. They want to come and grab that Cosmo or Bloody Mary because they love how we do it. We get a lot of those locals who come back again and again every day.

The Best Of The Best

What are the most popular, or signature cocktails at the Palm Court?

Nick: Being that we’re a luxury hotel and a landmark property, we do have a lot of our guests experimenting and trying different things, but I feel like they always tend to go back to the classics.

Our Bloody Mary is kind of revered here in the city as a top of the best you can find. We make our own horseradish infused vodka here at the hotel and our own Bloody Mary mix, and it’s also garnished with a grilled shrimp, so it’s this amazing presentation that is really a ‘wow’. That’s definitely one of the top.

Like most places right now the martini is such a popular trendy drink, and here in this setting it’s just the perfect complement to the atmosphere.

What’s your personal favorite drink at the Palm Court when you’re not working?

Dovid: Right now, I love our barrel-aged Sazerac. It’s a classic Sazerac recipe that we’ve been doing for probably forty to fifty years, but now we barrel-age the Great Jones rye, which is a local rye we get. We age that ourselves and it’s super tasty, just really great. I really like that.

What’s the best food on the menu?

Dovid: My personal favorite has got to be our Snake River burger and then also the lobster roll. They’re definitely some of our most popular items. People will come from all around the world just to try the lobster roll they’ve heard so much about.

The clientele at the Palm Court is not your average bar crowd. Is it ever a challenge to fulfill and exceed their expectations?

Dovid: Sometimes we do get some guests who want something super rare or something exclusive and hard to get. Luckily, we do have most of it, but sometimes we are surprised. I dare the guests to try to get my bar team to be stumped by a cocktail request.

We had a few guests from Mexico ask for a Carajillo and the bar team didn’t even blink an eye. They were able to make it and the guest said “I never get to have this drink outside of Mexico, I’m so surprised that you guys can make it!” It’s amazing to be able to have that moment.

The Black Pearl & The Heritage Of Home Alone

What are some of your standout memories from working at the Palm Court?

Dovid: There’ve been a lot of amazing memories. During SantaCon (an annual parade and pub crawl for revelers dressed as Santa) I had a guest come and ask, “Do you guys really have the Black Pearl?” and I said “Yes we do.”

He said “OK, let me get an ounce.” So, we sat him down and he bought two ounces of Black Pearl without batting an eye.

And the Black Pearl is?

Dovid: It’s one of the most exclusive and rare cognacs, made by Louis (Louis XIII Black Pearl), so you’re basically drinking hundred-year-old barrels of cognac that are from their private reserve, that are mixed together and blended.

You’re drinking something that the cognac maker himself never even got to try, because they had laws that prevented him from being able to try it. It had to age a certain amount of time.

So, it’s some of the rarest cognacs and brandies in the world all blended together to make this one exclusive rare bottle. And we’re fortunate enough to own one.

What does that go for, for a shot?

Dovid: One ounce, I think it goes for about four thousand dollars right now.

And was this person dressed as Santa?

Dovid: He was dressed in one of those silly sweaters that had Santa golfing.

OK. (laughs) Not the full-on Santa. That would be a visual.

Dovid: During Christmas time we definitely dress the hotel very well and we actually do have a real Santa walk around and meet the guests and talk to the kids and it’s really awesome to see. It’s one of our most iconic holidays, Christmas. We dress the hotel to the twelves.

Nick: Entertainment, dancing, Santa Claus…

Dovid: We have trees that touch the ceiling. We just fill this place up and it looks gorgeous.

Nick: I mean, talk about Home Alone, right? Modern day, the biggest reason why people know about the Plaza is Kevin McCallister and so there’s trees in all of the rooms upstairs, or a majority of them, and we’ve got the Home Alone Sundae.

Really? What’s that?

Dovid: It’s a sixteen-scoop ice cream sundae. Just like in the movie. The servers bring it to your bed tableside, and they make you a sundae right there in your bed, just like in the movie. We even have a whole Home Alone experience.

We have a private limo come and pick you up with pizza and all of it.

I’ve heard of this! That’s awesome.

Dovid: So we do the whole thing. People love it.

I wasn’t even going to bring Home Alone up but I’m glad you did, because people love that. We’re all smiling, you probably all saw it a million times.

Dovid: I’ve seen it a million times. It’s a Christmas classic.

Celebrating The Past, Present & Future

The hotel is obviously not a museum, but do you feel that most guests acknowledge the vast history of this place and the connections to F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby? Frank Llyod Wright lived here, The Beatles stayed here, Eloise is pretty popular. Does everyone sense that, for the most part?

Nick: Oh, absolutely! I think it’s one of the number one things people come here for is to see the history. There are so many questions about ‘What’s the meaning behind that painting?’ and you know, ‘I brought this thing that I used to have here that was part of the Plaza, can you tell me a little bit more about it?’

Dovid: Yeah, they ask me where the columns are from, who carved these statues, what their representation is. They’re actually representations of the four harvests. People ask me those types of questions all the time. Everything in the room is original except the carpet and the bar. All the walls, ceilings, all original. They were even hand-carved on-site.

In a city that’s always changing so fast, how does it feel to be a historical landmark institution with a reputation that goes all the way back to the Jazz Age?

Nick: We’re honored to be a part of it and to work in these four walls. It’s the epicenter of the universe, in my opinion, this hotel. We’re able to keep the reputation and keep the history as part of everything that we do here and the fabric of what we do, but we also like to innovate and to do things that are a little bit more modern that help us stay relevant amongst the market.

How do you balance history and tradition with forward-thinking innovation?

Nick: We’re so fortunate that we have so much to build upon, so much that’s happened here and we really stay true to what the Plaza is and what the Palm Court is, but at the same time play off of those things. For example, afternoon tea service.

This past year we collaborated with Wicked the musical, and we hosted a month-long Wicked themed afternoon tea, with themed pastries and cocktails and it was really an amazing collaboration. We love to collaborate with people.

On the cocktail side of things, we had a scotch tasting alongside tea, so we’re really pushing the boundaries and limits a bit as to what the traditional afternoon tea might be, and to really make it our own. We’re fortunate enough to be able to do those things.

For a place that’s steeped in so much history, how does a business like the Palm Court manage to draw in and cater to younger crowds?

Nick: I think everyone is always looking for some nostalgia and to experience some of history, so we’re lucky that that’s a draw now for young people as well. In addition to that whether we’re talking about classic cocktails or afternoon tea, we’ve really adapted those offerings to be a bit more creative with a modern approach. They all change seasonally and they’re things that people want to come here to experience.

Dovid: The younger generation likes to do research. They like to find the coolest place and the best place. We definitely use the freshest ingredients, nothing from far away, all local, all made to order drinks. People appreciate that so that makes the value worth it. When you have this place that has all this history, you know you’re gonna get the same Cosmo someone had fifty years ago, because it’s that good.

Everyone’s At Home At The Castle

Understanding the nature of the business and the need for privacy, do you have any memories or moments with special guests that you could share?

Nick: It’s really a difficult question because every day there’s somebody in this hotel that you might recognize their name. We do respect their privacy of course, but when they’re here there’s this sense of relaxation and they’re not on high alert. They feel like they’re at home. You feel that with celebrities and you feel that with people who are traveling with their families. Everyone is kind of in it together and it’s really cool.

Dovid: We have a lot of amazing people that we can’t say who they are but we know them very well, so the moment that they walk through the door it’s always a warm welcome from everybody, from the doorman to the front desk to the concierge to us, and ‘Oh, so-and-so is in house, get the Macallan 18. Start stocking the bar with it because he’s gonna drink it all night.’ (laughs)

We know our guests pretty well and we prepare for them and they seem to love that. We try to make it as personal as we can, make it comfortable and as much like home as we can.

Shawn: What’s the best part about managing a singular space as elegant as the Palm Court? This room is really one of a kind.

Dovid: I mean it’s a gorgeous space. Every day when I walk in, I still have that ‘oh wow’ moment. Every day I see a new detail or I think ‘Oh, that’s so interesting, I never even noticed that part of the ceiling before or the sconce over there. That’s so cool! I wonder how old that is or why it’s designed like that?’ There’s always something new that you’ll see here.

Nick: In what we do in hospitality, they say that you’re always on stage, right? We’re performing here. So, when you’re here, it’s very easy to feel like you’re part of a performance because of all the things that are going on around you with the guests, so it’s really special.

There’s this thing here where the Plaza always sucks you in. I personally worked here for five years in a different capacity a long time ago. I got married here in 2018 and I came back to work here in August (2023). There’s this kind of thing with the Plaza where you just get sucked back in, because when you’re here, there’s nothing like it. To work here, to be part of the team here, to make these special memories happen, it’s really unique.

Any closing remarks about the magic of the castle on Central Park South?

Nick: If one thing holds true throughout the hundred-and-so years that this building’s been open, it’s that for us it’s about hospitality, it’s about welcoming you into our home.

That’s both at the bar and our dining room, and in the hotel. That’s what continues to be what really sets us apart.

Dovid: Come and have a drink with us! Meet our team and learn some history.

The Palm Court at the Plaza Hotel is located on the southeast corner of Central Park in Midtown Manhattan at 768 Fifth Avenue. For hours of operation, reservations and more information please reference the official website here.