Beginning with the velvet ropes outside its Rush Street entrance, everything about this lounge is sleek: low leather couches and cubes provide seating and mirrors on the walls are inlaid with screens streaming abstract videos. The J is tops for 'tinis, offering "deconstructed" versions of traditional cocktails: vodka, vermouth and an olive sucker, for instance. The James Hotel Martini--cosmo for the new millennium--features blue raspberry vodka, elderflower cordial and a raspberry candy-shell on the cocktail glass.

From 7pm to 10pm nightly, appetizers from the hotel's restaurant, David Burke's Primehouse, are available

Valet parking is steep at $40 a day; guests are better off taking a cab or public transportation

Bottle service excels here, where pampered guests can choose their liquor, mixers and condiments from a menu that features smart choices like old-school mini bottles of Coke, chocolate covered strawberries, and spirits in half bottles