Skyline, Miami

t’s a bird, it’s a plane, no… it’s a bar. Yes, you heard me, this article is not to announce Christopher Reeve as the new millennium’s Lazarus ala Weekly World News, but rather to bring the news that Skyline lounge of Manhattan fame is landing in Miami and its official ETA is Feb. 26.

Sky Line lounge first opened its emergency entrance in uptown NYC, three years ago and, like Qantus airlines and unlike the market, has never crashed. So, owner Wilson Reynoso thought it was high time to give those many New Yorkers who feel the need to vacate their city in the cruel winter months a home away from home which is supposed to seem away from home. Make Sense? Skyline, is an airplane themed bar/lounge, which is, for all intents and purposes, an airplane – a retired commercial jet to be exact – which proffers up all the would-be amenities of a first-class flight without the inconvenience of airports, the terrifying prospect of hijackers, or the headache-inducing obligation of having to actually fly.

The new Miami club houses a bar made of an actual airplane wing, booths which give patrons the option of window (literally an airplane window) or aisle, a private, high- rollers’, first-class lounge, and stewardesses instead of waitresses. The spot definitely walks a cheesy line and any second one might expect one of the be-winged staff to bust out a safety-belt and oxygen mask and to start doing a striptease while instructing how to use them. But the spot is meant to be upscale and therefore even in its krazy-glue adherence to its theme, it does move beyond the realm of kitsch.

Helping things move from kitsch to class is Skyline’s seasoned chef, Franklin Gianetti, whose around the world menu features dishes from Cuba, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and the Middle East. Gianetti’s “club-friendly finger food” includes items like ginger chicken potstickers, curried Chicken salad atop baby potatoes, tuna tataki on cucumber disks with wasabi aioli, pulled pork quesadilla rolls, and that gastro go-to, sushi. Gianetti and the owners also plan to have destination nights where the menu (as well as the music, the drinks, and the bars many flat screens) will reflect the selected country of the evening.

As for the cocktail list, with the lack of a proper South Beach bar chef and with monikers such as the Turbulence Drink, the High Jack shot, the altitude, the black box martini, and, the most recent addition, the Miracle on the Hudson, the kitsch factor remains pretty high. Luckily, most patrons will be buying these drinks by the dozen; how else can they expect to finally get a spot in that most coveted clique, the Mile High Club?

Address: 645 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, FL
Contact: 305-672-0747
Area: South Beach
Venue: Bar, Lounge
Hours: Thu. – Sat. 10:00am – 5:00 am
Price Range: $$$ (Within Reach)
Payment: Master Card, Visa, American Express

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