Lennox Lounge

Surely the sharpest inflation rate in America occurs every time you get on the 2 train at 125th street and get off in Times Square. In just thirty five minutes (and a little less than five miles) a coke, for example, jumps from a dollar to $1.50. Coffee goes from the eminently reasonable 50 cents for a small to the yuppy standard of $2.00 for a tall or more yet for a ‘Venti’. Gypsy cabs become yellow cabs; off-brand menthols turn to Marlboros; and $5 bootleg video CD’s are replaced by Best Buy’s finest.

Lennox Lounge (288 Lenox Avenue at 125th) is the exception to this rule. If you are looking for midtown prices north of the park, here’s your spot. Beers (Harlem-brewed Sugar Hill is the best) run for $6 and martini’s cash in upwards of $10, depending on the girlyness of the drink. Price-wise, the cocktail crowd should feel quite at home.

Of course, there is reason behind the money. Lennox Lounge does Jazz well. On any given night you will find musicians in the back room, the front room, or – more rarely – both. (On the night Michael Jackson died, the band played jazz covers of every song on Thriller). And it is good Jazz. And it is right next to the subway for those looking to leave after a few drinks.

And the ambiance isn’t half-bad. It looks like a joint you would see in Capote or some similar period piece. The management renovated it to its original 1939 splendor ten years ago and it looks good.

Still, for all the jazz-age glamour of the decor and the jazz-fueled chatter of the patrons, the place feels fundamentally overpriced, especially for one of the few neighborhoods in Manhattan that isn’t.