Bar Cuisines
Air’s Champagne Parlor is All About the Bubbly
Beer, wine and even cider bars abound in NYC, but Air’s Champagne Parlor is one of the few area drinkeries devoted to bubbly. To be fair, the Riddling Widow briefly preceded it, but owner Ariel Arce was actually beverage director during its tenure, as well as Birds & Bubbles before that, and Chicago’s Pops for Champagne (not to mention Grant Achatz’s exclusive, original The Office) before that. Meaning her reputation as queen of Cuvèe absolutely proceeds her.
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The Great Grant Achatz Officially Opens The Office in NYC
While the city waits with baited breath for $195 cocktail tasting progressions at the Aviary, Chicago’s Grant Achatz and team has made his long-awaited Big Apple debut with an adjunct speakeasy in Columbus Circle called The Office…
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Drink and Dash at The Campbell, Grand Central’s Swanky Rebooted Bar
Grand Central has recently become a de facto dining destination. Not only that, but it’s turning into quite the bar scene as well, owing to renovations of the landmarked space that formerly housed the Campbell Apartment (and everything from an office to a storage closet to a jail before that).
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An Anti Trump Bar? We’ll Drink to That!
An anti-trump bar? We’ll drink to that! Ravi DeRossi’s advocacy extends past veganism at his newest establishment, Coup. His Astor Place drinkery will take a stand against Trump’s entire agenda, by donating 100% of proceeds to organizations in the crosshairs of the administration…
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Chumley’s Returns to the West Village
It’s rare for a restaurant to get a new lease on life. And in today’s exceedingly fickle (not to mention prohibitively expensive) industry, even decades of accrued customer sentimentality isn’t enough to keep the doors open. Which makes the story of Chumley’s especially unusual…
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BlackTail in Battery Park is Hardly Your Average Theme Bar
What do you think when you hear the term “theme bar?” Probably cheesy, schticky, over-the-top monstrosities like Senor Frog’s, with servers clad in massive, goofy sombreros, and day glow-colored, vodka and Bacardi-soused cocktails…
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A wd-50 Alum is Cooking Cut-Above Bar Food at Sons & Daughters of NYC
Wylie Dufresne casts an awfully long culinary shadow. And yet his chef and mentee, Jon Bignelli, managed to shine during his final days at wd-50, as well as his truncated run at the short-lived Alder — taking the reigns on cutting edge dishes like rye and pastrami pasta tossed with mustard sauce, and clam chowder topped with oyster crackers (comprised of real oyster).
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Our Favorite Fall Cocktails
It’s definitely in-between season as far as cocktails are concerned — it seems a bit silly to sip on citrusy mojitos and other sugary, thirst-quenching libations, and yet, Irish coffees, hot toddies, and dark, smoky negronis don’t quite make sense either. Which is why we’re bridging the gap with all manner of apple, maple and yes, even truffle-topped tipples, at autumn-ready places like A Voce, Pouring Ribbons, and Saxon + Parole…
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Lumos NYC is America’s Very First Baijiu Bar
New York may be experiencing a Chinese food renaissance — with modern spots like Tuome & Decoy — but that hasn’t done much for the stagnant state of their drinks and desserts. Until now. Lumos NYC is America’s first “Baijiu Bar,” showcasing the traditional, 5000 year-old celebratory liquor of China…
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Bar Goto is a Lower East Side Go-To
Kenta Goto is the latest star-tender to emerge from the Pegu Club, following in the footsteps of Phil Ward (Death & Co.), St. John Frizell (Fort Defiance), Del Pedro (Tooker Alley), and Jim Kearns (The Happiest Hour), to open his very own industry-approved speakeasy. Called Bar Goto, the Lower East Side spot hones in on his Japanese heritage with cocktails made with sake, shochu, alongside extensive selection of izakaya fare.
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Bar Spotting: Mace is the Place
For uninitiated passerby, there’s nothing outwardly broadcasting that Mace is the hot new place to be — a glance through the floor-to-ceiling windows reveals a handsome, zinc-topped bar in front, a couple of tables in back, and not much else. But it’s what’s going on behind that bar that counts, starting with the brightly colored jars of spices…
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Craft Beer & Fine Dining Converge at Stanton Street Kitchen
Stanton Street Kitchen — a brand new Lower East Side eatery — is especially dedicated to the pairing potential of food and beer. So instead of allowing suds to run distant second to vino, it ably treads the line between the two; offering a beer menu as extensive and thoughtfully curated as any wine list…
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Cozy Up With New York’s Best Winter Cocktails
Looking for an especially fun and efficient way to stay warm this winter? Some of the most talented barkeeps in New York happen to be just as talented at making hot libations as they are at cold. Love the guys at Death & Co.? You’ll want to check out Nitecap’s “Platonic Snuggle,” made with rum, porter and cognac. Are you a sucker for hot buttered rum? You’ll die for Boilermaker’s “Monkey Buttered Rum.” We’re just getting started…
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Charlie Palmer Does Cocktails at Crimson & Rye
Charlie Palmer is one of the restaurant world’s most recognizable names, with a career that spans over 25 years, a hospitality empire on both coasts, and a host of honorifics and awards, including stars from Michelin and medals from James Beard. But his newest venture, Crimson & Rye (located in Midtown’s iconic Lipstick building) is somewhat of a curveball for Palmer…
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Al Fresco Drinking at Gallow Green
If we can’t drink and dine on the waterfront all summer, there’s only one other place we’d rather be — up on the roof. It’s the consummate city experience… clinging onto a cocktail while precariously perched at the lip of a high rise building, peering out at the skyline and down at the bustling streets below. And when it comes to especially chic roof bars, it doesn’t get much better than Gallow Green, located on the very top of The McKittrick Hotel in Chelsea…
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Our Favorite New Spring Cocktails
We’ve been lavishing lots of love on spring dishes as of late, like lamb paired with ramps and fiddlehead ferns, and ricotta-swabbed pasta dotted with asparagus tips and morel mushrooms. But restaurant cocktail menus have also undergone a sprightly seasonal makeover, and from the “Organic Pea Mojito” at Rouge Tomate on the Upper East Side to the strawberry-flavored “Kon-Tiki” at Wallflower in the West Village, we’re rounding up the most mouth-watering, warm weather libations in New York!
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Bar Spotting: Andrew Tarlow’s Achilles Heel
With five successful eateries to his name (Diner, Marlow & Sons, Marlow & Daughters, Reynard, & Roman’s) Andrew Tarlow is Brooklyn’s most prolific restaurateur. And now he’s got yet another title to add to his impressive resume, flourishing bar owner. Situated along the industrial, Greenpoint waterfront, Achilles Heel is meant to evoke the old-timey saloons and provisions shops that catered to area dockworkers in the 1900’s…
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Drink Spotting: Negronis at The Gilroy
You can order all sorts of inspired cocktails at the recently opened The Gilroy, an attractive new hotspot with art deco chandeliers, reclaimed wood communal tables, a copper bar and red brocade-swathed back room on the drinking den-deprived Upper East Side. But why in the world would you? The name of the game here is Negronis…
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Drink Spotting: Mint Juleps at Maison Premiere
If what excites you most about the upcoming Kentucky Derby is horseracing and oversized hats, well, you’ve come to the wrong place. For us, the annual event is nothing less than an unabashed celebration of the mint julep, one of our favorite, seasonal cocktails. Considered the signature drink of the Kentucky Derby for over 70 years, the standard julep is made with bourbon, sugar, water, and mint, and traditionally served in a silver or pewter cup. But this in NYC, not the Deep South. And our cocktail scene is infinitely more exciting — so why limit yourself to sipping a single rendition of the centuries old tipple all night? That’s why we’re placing our bets on Maison Premiere as a serious front-runner this Saturday, in a race to become the city’s top Kentucky Derby destination.
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Q & A with Flatiron Lounge & Clover Club’s Julie Reiner
It’s often said that there aren’t enough women working in professional kitchens. And the same seems to be true of behind the bar. But when it comes to real top of the line mixologists, there are few bigger names in the business than Julie Reiner – and that’s male or female. Owner and beverage director of the jazzy, ten-year-old Flatiron Lounge in Manhattan (which serves intricately layered drinks listed under “Whiskey,” “Brandy,” “Rum,” “Gin,” “Tequila,” and “Vodka”), and the pre-Prohibition era Clover Club in Brooklyn (known for its assortment of Sours and Daisies, Collins and Fizzes, Punches and Royales), Reiner is often credited with revitalizing the golden age of the cocktail, making American classics with fresh juices, handcrafted syrups and infusions, and seasonal ingredients.
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