Last night Christi and I went to the grand opening event at ZenDen, the new lounge inside the Wyndham Milwaukee Center Hotel.
We met downtown around 8 p.m., parked a few blocks away, and as we approached the hotel, a bellhop held the door open for us. We wandered through the sleek lobby until we found the lounge, which was already full of people.
We were greeted by a pretty girl in a Santa outfit, and within ten seconds we were offered a glass of champagne. We happily took a glass as we surveyed the scene. The dim room was lit by glowing orange lights at the bar and tons of tea light candles, and a huge mirror on one wall gave it the effect of being much larger than it really is.
Christi's old roommate, Nikki, was working behind the bar and had let us know that the event was open bar all night. She mixed us up some pomegranate martinis that were out of this world and the one-drink limit I'd mentally given myself on the way over quickly went out the window.
We parked ourselves near the bar, attempting to stay out of the line of traffic, which proved to be pretty impossible considering the number of bodies in the room, and as we looked around, we realized that we were quite underdressed in our T-shirts and ponytails. The women around us were in dresses and slinky tops, with their hair and makeup done to perfection. I felt a bit self-conscious, but that feeling slowly slipped away as I sipped my martini.
Waitresses walked around with trays of appetizers – pistachios wrapped in bacon, shrimp with apples, and some raspberry tartlets – and we watched the DJ spin records from his booth behind the bar. He was really handsome and smiled every time he caught me watching him do his thing, and the music was good – mellow and sexy, and never overpowering.
Two hours and three martinis later, we were ready to hit the road. It's not very often that an event is open bar all night – a poor gal like me has to take advantage! – and I was having a lot of fun, but had I stayed any longer or indulged in any more of those delicious martinis, I might not have made it into work this morning.
ZenDen was very cool, and the inside of the Wyndham was just beautiful.
Milwaukee is making big strides on the entertainment scale as of late, with new restaurants debuting every month, and upscale, posh places like ZenDen raising our hipness factor big time.
Read more about the new hotspot here.
My friend designed the logo for ZenDen! The one that is in your first picture! I am so glad you posted it because I have only seen a copy of it she emailed me until up until this point. I need to get over there and check it out.
Posted by: kelly | December 15, 2006 at 12:26 PM