R2L - Daniel Stern's contemporary American on the 37th floor of Two Liberty Place (50 S. 16th St., 215-564-5337) - doesn't open till Jan. 21. Its coming out will be New Year's Eve for a $150-a-head cocktail party.
A few highlights of a tour last week:
Fourteen sumptuous banquettes have true window seats for spectacular but not vertigo-inducing south and west views. A hanging sculpture of cutlery catches the setting sun. Walls of wine storage, plus private wine lockers, for sommelier Ryan Davis.
The open kitchen - where chef de cuisine Alex Ureña (recently at Pamplona in New York) does his thing - is big enough to throw a dance party. There's a similarly spacious pastry kitchen, with a window, for pastry chef Peter Scarola, who won raves at the Inn at St. Peter's Village.