Hotel Chantelle, a multi-purpose Lower East Side bar/restaurant/ lounge opened its bar portion on December 1st.  Now, two months later, Hotel Chantelle is finally opening their downstairs lounge– kicking things off with the new downtown revelry trio The Chainsmokers and Vikas.  Their party title says it all. “Sexual Tension.”

Two years ago details emerged about the subterranean lounge, and rooftop club opening on Ludlow from Benjamin Shih, owner of Williamsburg’s Royal Oak and Sweet Ups. The 7,500 square foot space promised a “Edward scissorhandian topiary garden” that can be sealed in the winter, a lounge accessed only by skeleton key, and parties “the likes of which the city hasn’t seen since 1983,” and international style tapas.  (Ummmmm.  YES PLEASE.)  [via]

While I don’t think we’ll need a skeleton key to get in tonight, Shih now claims it is strictly the basement is a casual hangout for friends of staff, press, and “people in the neighborhood.”   While there wasn’t even as much as a doorman the past two times I’ve been there, we’ll see what the door situation will be tonight.  So far I am a huge fan of Hotel Chantelle, and while the weekend crowd is kinda whack, the place holds a lot of potential — and might even become what Bunker is trying to be. Im not going to say it… but I know you know what I am talking about.

Hotel Chantelle
92 Ludlow Street @ Delancey [LES]