Also this issue: Vital Statistics Baseball Reference's Sean Forman finds strength in numbers. -Brian Howard Icepack -A.D. Amorosi

January 30-February 5, 2003

naked city

firstlook

by A.D. Amorosi

Commerce Square. Doesn't the name shout money? It did, more than ever, back in the '80s. The original yuppies' happy-hour home was Cutters, a bar rife with skirt-and-sneaker sexuality. Then the yuppies went away, only to return in younger form. Cutters became the tony Twenty21 while the other half of C-Square became Marathon Grill, another link in the Borish family's regional chain.

A funny thing happened on the way through the new Bush era: C-Square became de rigueur again for happy hour, especially on Friday nights. Marathon, more lunch-crowd grill than bar, felt unprepared in the looks department for such attractive hordes. Second-generation Marathon owner Cary Borish -- who is also constantly updating and remodeling the Marathon Grills at 1818 Market, 16th and JFK, 1339 Chestnut and 19th and Spruce -- made the Commerce Square spot an ultrachic, bilevel restaubar and private event space, The Commerce Lounge, with the aid of Adam Zangrilli from Zangrilli Designs. And starting in February, you can go to the lounge for Club Nostradamus' eclectic and entertaining theme nights.

At first, there's no noticeable difference to downstairs' Bauhausian frame. But now the space is broken in two by simple, clean white columns that delineate the dining area from the lounge. Then there's the lounge's centerpiece: the new square bar, stools and custom banquettes. Tippling crowds now revolve around a bar (built by Miline Woodworking) of dense blue with steel footrests. The molded plastic chairs -- from Knoll's textiles -- play off the blue of the Sciacca-upholstered banquettes. If you start feeling blue downstairs, head upstairs for a somewhat jarring transition -- a cozy room with deep red walls, white curtains, black round-cornered leather couches and a black square bar.

It's devilish -- '80s even, especially if you think of the red and black motifs of the era, prevalent in, say, a Bananarama video. Despite the tulips in its shot glasses and the same opal-hung light fixtures as floor one, the VIP floor two -- once a billiard room -- is like an ultraprivate reception hall for an Italian mob wedding. I love it.

The Commerce Lounge at Marathon Commerce, 2 Commerce Square, 2001 Market St., 215-568-7766.