By Zach Patberg
Whether it's a Tea Time Pedicure, a European Facial (that's with or without extractions) or the Black Baltic Body Mud Wrap, customers come out of the Austin Street spa looking (and feeling) better.And those in dire need of a Swedish Massage or a cuticle fix are ecstatic over the convenience and affordability of its magic touch.”The personal service is better, the quality of product is better and it's more affordable,” Ascend regular Barbara Steohrer said bluntly from her vibrating chair as veteran pedicurist Rosa Moreao massaged her feet. Steohrer, a Howard Beach resident who works in Manhattan, was comparing Ascend to Elizabeth Arden's Red Door spa across the river, where she used to go for 25 years.Indeed, who could doubt the capabilities of a place that offers Wrinkle Fighter Collagen Eye Treatment using the celebrity-preferred Wilma Schumann cream?For owner Tara Lendener-Mendez, it was a goal to steal both clients and staff away from Queens' trendier neighbor to the west. Two years ago, the New York University graduate was a trademark paralegal in Manhattan who, like many Queens women, was forced to grab a manicure or facial during her lunch break as if it were a bite to eat and then make the commute home – a “headkill,” she said, to any relaxation she got from her spa pit stop.One morning in 2003, on her way to the train station in Kew Gardens, she saw a For Rent sign in the storefront window at 82-60 Austin St.By that December, she had quit her paralegal job, worked out a loan with help from the Small Business Administration, thought of a “soulful” name (her business sense told her to chose one that led-off in the phone book), recruited two seasoned staffers from Manhattan and attracted clientele from across the boroughs. “I wanted to bring the quality I was familiar with in Manhattan to my area,” Lendener-Mendez said over a cup of coffee last week. “I had two months to get everything in order and learn the business.”Now, for a reasonable price one can be dry-buffed, exfoliated with Dead Sea salts, rinsed off on the hydro-table and body-buttered with all-natural oils from Hungary that smell of rosemary, wild plum and apricot.And as a Mother's Day special, they have package deals: a relaxing massage for the Mature Mom and an intensive deep tissue massage (meaning they walk on you) for the stressed-out Modern Mom.Feel not alone, beauty-conscious men. You make up 20 percent of Ascend's client list. As Lendener-Mendez confirms: “We've definitely hit the metrosexual market.”For them there's waxing, facials and what's called Sport manicures and pedicures – essentially much the same as the woman's version except the reference to athletics lies well with those protective of their machismo, conceded Lendener-Mendez.But call ahead. Last Thursday afternoon, part-time receptionist Bill Self could be heard over the soothing Buddha Bar soundtrack from Paris telling a caller that the massage therapist was booked for at least a week.Reach reporter Zach Patberg by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 155.
