NY's Cocktail Renaissance

[Nathan]

Four years ago the serious cocktail aficianado could go to:

Bemelman's Bar, Flatiron Lounge, Milk & Honey.

with Angel's Share a rung below.

a year ago you had those and:

Pegu Club, Brandy Library

with Little Branch and East Side Company Bar a half rung below.

and Employees Only a rung below.

today you have all of the above and:

Death & Co., P.D.T.

with B-Flat and Smith & Mills a rung below.

by mid-summer you will have those and:

Rayuela (Junior Merino is helming)

in addition, the cocktail scenes in London, SF and Seattle have taken off. Atlanta has two excellent spots. Chicago is about to get its first.

exciting times.

indeed, one tribute to the popularity of serious cocktails is how many new restaurants and bars are at least pretending to have serious cocktail lists.....see places like the awful Gin Lane, the Dubai bar which purports to have its "staff mixologists" create a new cocktail for every guest based upon their personality, every new Asian fusiony restaurant...etc.

[slkinsey]

Yea, I think it really is taking off.

One thing I've been thinking about... So many new places have opened in NYC lately (don't forget Gold Bar, Double Seven, and a few others I'm sure I'm forgetting) that I wonder if we aren't experiencing a momentary dropoff in average bar experience/expertise across the board as the talent is spread much more thinly than it was two years ago. This should ultimately be a good thing, as new bar talent is found, trained, encouraged and developed. But I'm beginning to feel like there is some dilution these days.

It used to be that there were one or two places in town where I could go Isecure in the knowledge that every single night of the week every single person behind the bar was a cocktail expert with a thorough knowledge of the classics in memory and the ability to create new and interesting drinks for knowledgable and familiar customers all'improvviso. Those 'tenders are still around, but are now spread out among a double handfull of other bars. Now, I can't think of a single bar with that level of universal 7-days-a-week bar talent -- I've even had some not-so-great cocktails at exclusive single-bartender outfits -- which means that I have to try to go when so-and-so is there if I want to get a top experience. On more than one occasion in the past 6 months, I've had to explain a Martinez to a bartender in bars where this would previously have been unthinkable.

Of course one hopes and assumes that with proper training, dedication and mentoring, a year's experience and mentoring will have changed that. Certainly I can remember when some of today's acknowledged experts were the "enthusiastic new guy" -- and it wasn't that long ago.

Luckily, the cocktail designing talent is as strong as ever at most of the stalwarts (Bemelmans has fallen way off since Audrey left, and Angel's Share hasn't been good for quite some time). So you can always get something great from the menu.

Edited June 6, 2007 by slkinsey (log)

[johnder]

You also have places like SB3 in which they are trying to be a different kind of cocktail bar. Making tonics and infusions to go in their cocktails, along with various boutique honeys.

I personally am enjoying the new cocktail scene in ny. It is definitely a very small community. I will let you know about Rayuela, I am going there tonight for friends and family.

[Nathan]

I agree on the dilution factor. it is a concern (but one remedied with time).

I've found that off the menu at Little Branch, Pegu, and Flatiron can be a little risky these days (they're still using proper technique, it's just that some of the bartenders are inexperienced)....but the key point is that today you have numerous bars, restaurants and lounges where they actually have menu drinks that aren't overly sweet vodka/fruit concoctions and where the bartenders use jiggers and show care. it's changed radically in the past couple years.

[Mayur]

What about D&Co? There seem to be pretty good odds of fine service there; three excellent bartenders, at least one of who is there every time I've been, anyway.

[edited for clarification]

Edited June 6, 2007 by Mayur (log)

[Megan Blocker]

And is it just me? I've noticed more and more cocktails using flavorful spirits like gin and whiskey, and fewer with vodka. And more people looking for the gin instead of the vodka. It's quite heartening.

[Nathan]

as well...there's Grayz...purportedly coming in September...I wonder who's doing the cocktails?

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/200.../grayz-anatomy/

[slkinsey]

Hmm. Grayz seems more food-driven than cocktail-driven, and my experience is that this leads to some pretty lame cocktails -- especially given Kunz's high-end cuisine roots (e.g., things like the vodka-and-pineau "Per Se Cocktail").

[Nathan]

Hmm.  Grayz seems more food-driven than cocktail-driven, and my experience is that this leads to some pretty lame cocktails -- especially given Kunz's high-end cuisine roots (e.g., things like the vodka-and-pineau "Per Se Cocktail").

←

I hope that's not the case...it seems like the bar has been raised recently....you'd think that there's a decent possibility that they'll use DeGroff or Saunders or Meehan or Merino.

Speaking of which, a shout-out to the new cocktail list at the Bar Room at the Modern. they've left Merino's excellent Coming Up Roses on the menu but have added a bunch of new cocktails. last night I tried to order their verjus take on the Ramos Fizz but they were out of pasteurized egg whites and refused to use regular eggs due to liability reasons (sigh). instead I had an excellent "Scotch Margarita"...in character this was quite similar to a margarita made with a smoky mezcal....

[slkinsey]

One of the things I've noticed in this "raising of the bar" we're all observing is that, in many of these places you really need to order the house cocktails off the menu if you want to have something good.

I really doubt, for example, that Grayz is going to be like "Milk & Honey with awesome food" where you can order any drink under the moon and get something spectacular. More than likely, it will be the case that you can get a really nice "Grayz Elderflower Fizz" (or whatever) from a bartender who won't know how to make an Aviation. There simply aren't enough bartenders -- which is to say, people who actually stand behind the bar and shake out your cocktails -- around with that level of knowledge and expertise.

Custom-designed cocktail lists are, of course, not all that terribly new. Dave Wondrich was doing lists for places like 5 Ninth going back 5 years or more, and of course many of Danny Meyer's restaurants have had custom-designed themed cocktail lists.

[Nathan]

good points

[slkinsey]

One thing I've heard from friends who have designed cocktail lists, sometimes along with staff training, on a consultant basis (which is to say: fixed-duration gig for a fee, and they don't stick around to supervise long-term) is that it can be a real challenge for these places to maintain quality down the road, even when the designed cocktails are real winners. This is because once the consultant walks out the door, the cocktails and the bar progran are pretty much at the mercy of the bar management and bartenders actually caring and the bar management having a basis for knowing what's right and not right along with an interest and willingness to make corrections and insist on high standards. Most of the time none of these things are true, the staff turns over without any meaningful training for newcomers, and before too long the bartenders are back to free pouring, etc. and quality goes down. This is why "such-and-such place has a list designed by [insert name of cocktail world bigshot here], who also trained the staff" doesn't mean all that much -- the bartenders almost certainly won't know a wide repertoire of classics, and even the menu cocktails may not be done to spec. Gin Lane is a good example of this phenomenon at work.

5 Ninth's cocktail menu still reflects Dave's work there. I've had just about all of these cocktails (the Weeski is a particular favorite -- I like mine with a short dash of peach bitters). But I'm not likely to ask the bartenders there for an Aviation or Martinez. Anyone know if the house drinks at 5 Ninth are still made well?

[raji]

While I know this thread is about pure mixologists, I'd add to the discussion that over the past few years, both sake and shochu have become increasingly and widely available. While sake is pretty much served as is, and most shochu is enjoyed on the rocks, or with water "mizuwari", there are many many cocktail variations based on shochu; it is usually around 40 proof. Sake as well, but I'm not as fond of those, they're like Japanese sangrias to me.

Sake importers have been pushing Japanese sake at liquor stores and tastings at various resstaurants in a recent push the past few years.

I'm mostly thankful that I can now get shochu made from rice, barley, wheat, brown sugar, potatoes, etc. at Japanese restaurants and shochu bars...

[Nathan]

Sake-based cocktails have certainly been becoming quite a bit more popular as well. a significant reason for this (at least in NY) is that apparently sake can be served on a wine, as opposed to a liquor, license.

Edited June 11, 2007 by Nathan (log)

[raji]

Unfortunately sake mixes about as well as red wine. Bring on the shochu boom!

[daisy17]

Chicago is about to get its first.

Is it ever.

Alchemist (aka Toby Maloney), whose exquisite libations we have enjoyed at Milk & Honey, Freeman's and Flatiron Lounge, just started a new thread here on the Heartland board about his new cocktail bar, The Violet Hour, which is opening in Chicago this week.

Only 793 miles away.

Edited June 24, 2007 by daisy17 (log)