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I'm putting this on here as a single topic, not as a series of individual posts because that's what made the most sense to me. Feel free to change that, obviously. First, a few caveats. I have not been to all, or even most cocktail bars in New York (most notably I have not been to Angel's Share, or Milk and Honey, etc, and I'm very curious to hear people's takes on the spots I'm missing). Others know far more about this topic than me, and certainly have more to offer. In some cases I have only visited the bars listed below a single time, although in most cases I've been at least a few times, and in a heroic effort to crystallize my thoughts on the matter I hit five of the six over one 48 hour period this past weekend. Second, if you visit any of these places I'm pretty confident that you'll have a good experience, and that you'll get a good cocktail. My main takeaway from this weekend was that, at least of the first five bars, I'd go to whichever is closer and/or has the shortest wait time. Anyhow, here goes: 1. Death and Company This is my favorite cocktail bar in New York, and perhaps my favorite that I've ever been to. The staff is friendly and courteous, they only allow as many people in as they have seats, which means that you can actually have a conversation and don't have to box people out to preserve precious bar space, and the cocktails are exceptional. I also just love the feel of the place, they play music, and it is loud enough that it doesn't feel stuffy and dead. Finally, although I'll speculate that this has just been dumb luck, I've yet to have exceptionally long wait times to get in when I've stopped by. 2. PDT For those who don't know, this is the "speakeasy" attached to Crif Dogs, a hot dog place in the East Village. To get in you can either make a reservation, which required repeatedly calling right at 3 pm on the day you're hoping to drink there, or showing up and trying to secure one of the small number of seats actually at the bar. When you arrive at Crif Dogs, you enter a phone booth, pick up the phone, and wait for the panel to pop open to talk to the hostess. In my experience you'll then likely have to hang out in the hot dog joint for a few minutes even if you have a reservation. Anyhow, I'm of two minds on all of that. On the one hand, the whole exercise is kind of fun. On the other hand, sometimes I just want a drink without going through all of those steps. Phone booth aside, the bar itself feels rather secretive when you're inside, it's small, has low ceilings, and has many taxidermied animals hanging on the wall. Again, service was fantastic, the cocktail list was extremely interesting, and I thought all of the drinks were great. 3. Booker and Dax This is the bar attached to Momofuku Ssam Bar. I'd been here a number of times under its previous name, Momofuku Ssam Bar Bar, and went this weekend for the first time under this new moniker. The place looks exactly the same, but still has a different feel than before. Before it served essentially as a waiting area for the Ssam Bar, but now they only allow folks in if they have a seat. Also, while before they made excellent drinks, they now are doing all sorts of crazy stuff as well. This includes using liquid nitrogen to chill their glasses, and centrifuges to clarify the grapefruit juice for one cocktail. Whether or not you care about these touches (I enjoyed them on the whole), this is a cool spot for an extremely well made and inventive cocktail. 4. Mayhuel Mayahuel is different than the rest of these spots. Owned by the same folks as Death and Company, they focus on tequila and Mezcal drinks. I really like this place. It feels kind of divey, and has a menu roughly the length of a Russian novel. Even if you don't like tequila I'm confident that there's a drink on here that you'll enjoy, and the staff is knowledgeable enough to walk you through the ridiculously long list of selections. 5. Pegu Club The Pegu Club felt much more staid, quiet and reserved than any of the rest of these spots. I've only been here once, however, and it was on the early side (although no earlier than my trip the next day to PDT), which might explain that impression. The bar is much larger (or at least feels much more spacious) than any of the others, and is just "fancier" in the way that it is laid out. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, cocktail menu is extensive and interesting, service is great and knowledgeable, and the drinks are killer. If I were trying to have a quiet conversation, and wanted to do so over an extremely well made cocktail, this is probably where I would go. 6. Employees Only It probably isn't fair to include Employees Only in with the rest of these bars, as there are a number of key differences. All of the places above will only allow folks in if they have seats available. At Employees Only they'll pack the place to the gills. When visiting on a Saturday night, as I did this past weekend, you have to fight your way to the bar to place your order, and work hard to carve out space to sit our stand to enjoy your drinks. I left quite impressed, however. Despite my initial concern at any bartender who doesn't measure when mixing a drink (free pouring is apparently one of their core beliefs here), our drinks were very good. And everybody in the bar was drinking cocktails, and you didn't have to wait long to get them. The guys behind the bar were really moving. Of the six spots this is probably the one I'm least likely to return to, but that doesn't mean it's bad. If I had a larger group and hadn't planned in advance this is probably where I'd go. --- [The following posts have been split into separate threads: PKNY (Gadarene) Dead Rabbit (SeanMike) Amor y Amago (cheezepowder)]
