Gin Lane -- NYC

[johnder]

So I stumbled across the drink menu for Gin Lane, a new restaurant/bar that opened up in NYC on 14th street. The thing that I found interesting is their drink menu was designed by Dale DeGroff.

You can check out the menu here (pdf).

They are some classic drinks on it such as:

French 75

"Perfect" Manhattan

Bees Knees

Singapore Sling

as well as some original (I think) cocktails such as

Irish Blond

Irish Whisky, Orange Curacao, Fino Sherry, Regan's Orange Bitters

An interesting read overall -- and I like that Grey Goose only accounts for 4 out of 14 drinks, while Gin is 5 out of 14.

John

[Sneakeater]

I stumbled in there (along with Nathan) for a few drinks at about midnight on Friday.

Apparently, nobody told the people who used to go to the Village Idiot that it's not the Village Idiot any more.

The drinks were fine, but who can know what they're drinking when you're mainly focused on hoping none of the frat boys or girls will throw up on you?

[johnder]

Oh god. That's good to know. I guess I will wait for natural selection to work itself out.

What did you drinK?

[Sneakeater]

I was drinking Stork Clubs. Nathan was drinking Irish Blondes.

Interestingly enough -- we had each already had a few cocktails and dinner with wine -- the two drinks didn't taste that different to me.

[Nathan]

the drinks did taste quite similar.

it might be a relatively sedate place during the week but on Friday night it was jam-packed with the under-30 B&T crowd (unfortunately it received heavy play in Time Out)

[freshherbs]

i have only heard bad things about the cocktails at this place, which is surprising (for obvious reasons). what gives? poorly-trained bar staff?

[johnder]

Not sure -- I was hoping for great things, as Dale designed the menu. I guess the 10,000 dollar question was, did he create the drinks and pass off the recipes, or did he invest the time to actually train the bartenders.

We can probably make a quick detemination by seeing if they bartenders are free-pouring or actually measuring out the liquors with jiggers.

[Sneakeater]

I don't think anyone was using jiggers on a late Friday night with what looked like thousands of panting young people swarming at the bar. But I may be wrong. They do at Flatiron (which, OTOH, I've never seen get quite so zooey as Gin Lane was last Friday).

[slkinsey]

Several of my bartender friends at Pegu and Flatiron (the latter sepecially can get quite busy at times) have remarked that, once you learn how to use the tools, working with a jigger doesn't take any more time than free pouring. They'll go up against any free pouring bartender on banging out a dozen specialty cocktails at speed and hold their own. More importantly, the benefits of significantly better accuracy and consistency are not to be ignored. The jigger-measured drinks will have better consistency.

[phlip]

well said sam. i agree whole heartedly.

[Sneakeater]

They might have been using jiggers. I don't want to accuse anyone of anything. (I was already pretty cocktailed-and-wined-out by the time I got there.)

[phlip]

so i went to gin lane last night. first of all the menu is a bit interesting had the french 75 the singapore sling an irish blonde cocktail with irish whiskey that was interesting but... they were making as it said on the menu the sling with saphire and the 75 with hendricks all the vodka drinks seemed made with goose. hendricks and saphire are terrible choices for those drinks and there choosing reeks of matierialism rather than good bartending. next the drinks. i convince the person i was with to order a drink off the menu i decide id order a martini "a nice simple drink everybody knows how to make". my friend got the irish blonde it wasnt so bad just about good but on to my martini. i asked as he was about to make it if he intended to stir it. this seemed to confuse him. he didnt seem to know what i meant. my friend tried to explain the process to him. she said you pour the drink over ice then stir it. well then what he did was pour tanquary on the rocks and put a lemon twist in it. this at an establishment that charges 14 dollars for a cocktail. its a bueatiful space. so if you want to go look fabulous somewhere i highly recomend it. if you want a good or even great cocktail and for several dollars cheaper id reccommend another location.

[Sneakeater]

I wonder where.

[johnder]

Interesting. I will definately wait before going there to see if things shape up.

John

[Jamie B]

Had the Irish Blonde and it was crap. The list said Reagan's orange bitters and they were using Stirrings. Never a jigger was in sight (not necessarily bad), the bartender never tested my drink, the pours weren't fluid and the bartender seemed like a fish out of water.

Anastasia and Jarod trained the staff (I think) but when I mentioned their names all I got was a blank stare.

The food was great!

The room is beautiful (as were the people).

When did we start putting pineapple juice in a Singapore Sling?!?!

[phlip]

dales recipe for the sling does have pineapple juice in it. its the recipe used at the flatiron lounge and even if not exactly historically sound it is a fine rendition. i agree about the fish out of water thing.

[Sneakeater]

I went yesterday evening to see what it would be like without the crowd.

Perfectly pleasant place, although the music was a bit too loud (and sometimes too banal).

The bartender was sweet. But he was freepouring. Since I was there on a date, I decided it would be better not to raise any issues about stirring versus shaking.

I do have to say, though, that the Bees Knees I drank was perfectly adequate, if not anything approaching transcendent.

(It should be pointed out that if you walk a mere two or three blocks south, you can be at the bar at 5 Ninth.)

Edited August 15, 2006 by Sneakeater (log)

[raji]

Looks like I will be here in the very immediate future - for dinner AND drinks - who has been recently and who can provide advice to what food and cocktails were the best? Looking for guidance, any tips appreciated!

[Luckylies]

panting young people swarming at the bar. 

←

I prefer my young people panting.

[Sneakeater]

Then make the calendar.

[freshherbs]

for what its worth, i was forced to go to gin lane last week (a friend was having a bday party there). it was horrendous. i tried to order a Martinez. they had no idea. finally ordered a stork club...and they forgot the angostura. $14 bucks later i had a crappy drink

[Nathan]

I don't have the foggiest clue why there are 20 posts on this thread on this awful place.

there are five top-notch cocktail bars in NY:

Pegu Club, Milk & Honey, Little Branch, Flatiron Lounge and Death & Co. (I haven't been to the Bemelman's in years so I can't comment on that).

a rung below that are places like Angel's Share, Employees Only, Temple Bar, East Side Company Bar...etc. (at these places there's usually one or two bartenders that are really good...and some of house drinks that they can all make are usually quite palatable. all of them tend to freepour unfortunately)

Gin Lane doesn't even make the third tier (which includes many decent restaurant and hotel bars).

[plattetude]

And I don't have the foggiest clue why someone would order any off-the-menu cocktail that isn't supremely simple and well-known at a place like this, especially if they're going in with low expectations. Cripes, get a whiskey, neat. That'd be really hard to screw up.

Christopher

[Nathan]

And I don't have the foggiest clue why someone would order any off-the-menu cocktail that isn't supremely simple and well-known at a place like this, especially if they're going in with low expectations.  Cripes, get a whiskey, neat.  That'd be really hard to screw up.

Christopher

←

um, Gin Lane was marketed as a top-notch cocktail den with a staff trained by DeGroff himself.

furthemore, the Martinez is most definitely supremely simple and would show up on any list of the 5-10 seminal cocktails.

[freshherbs]

nathan, i agree with both your posts...

the only reason i posted was that i needed a place to vent!

shall we never speak of it again...