Cocktails For Two NYC
With all for the amazing lounges, bars and restaurants in NYC, you have to wonder why any true hipster would opt for a "lounge night" when all one truly needs to lounge is good atmosphere and a skilled bartender. Vik has recently struck out on a mission to find the swank spots in the Big Apple and is back to report things look very good indeed. Cocktails For Two NYC will report on fab watering holes throughout the Big Apple. Currently, First, Liquids and Barmacy are Vik's fave hangouts, but with thousands of places to choose from, that could soon change.
B-Bar & Grill
Bowery + 4th St. 212.475.2220
Right next door to Marion's sits an old gas station coverted in the ultra chic B-Bar & Grill. The food here is good (if not pricey) and the drinks creative (if not pricey). The clientele appears to be the hipster elite of the East Side art and fashion scene. (Vik knows for a fact records industry weasels take the B-Bar over each year for a post-MTV Music Awards party). The attraction to the B-Bar are a couple of unusual cocktails. The Ginger Kamikaze and Ginger Cosmopolitan are made the ginger infused vodka for an absolutely amazing coktail.
Beauty Bar
231 East 14th St.
Careful heading over to this bar. You'll miss it completely if you're not paying attention. Why? Because the sign out front reads "Thomas' Beauty Salon," and that's a clue as to what awaits you inside. The owners of this bar have preserved and old beauty salon, installed a bar, and packed it full of antique beauty supplies. Sit in the vintage hair dryer seat up front (with those groove chrome beehive dryer units) or grab a seat in the manicure area in back. Rather small (it gets quite unbearable late at night), the drinks are good and the atmosphere unique.
Barmacy
538 E.14th St. 212.228.2240
As if to prove they could do it again, the materminds behind The Beauty Bar took over a vintage pharmacy to create this new nightspot. Still too early to be trendy, it is catching on fast. The old soda counter serves as a bar. The walls are lined to antique pharmacy items giving the place a museum feel. Some drinks are served in beakers, and the music can be swinging (or just passable). Vik hears they do various specialty music nights...call to see what happening. Currently one of Vik's fave lounges.
Candy Bar
131 8th Avenue 212.229.9702
Interesting frozen twists on traditional cocktails. Get your Cosmopolitan, Caipirhna and more serves traditonally or as a slushy. Food is also pretty tasty.
First
87 First Avenue
Fan of the vodka-tini will not want to pass by this bar/restaurant. Over 30 varieties served in three sizes (small, medium and large). Each 'tini is offered up in a carafe submerged in a bowl of ice with a chilled glass. From the traditional (citrus, kurrant) to the bizarre (Apollo 13 with Tang), it's a journey through the truly creative are of mixology. Great breadsticks, too!
Global 33
93 Second Avenue 212.477.8427
Modelled after a Danish airport lounge, the atmosphere makes up for a bit of overcrowding (well it was the weekend) and a lack of swinging tunes (too loud techno). Try it during the week, it gains in swankness!
Liquids
266 E.10th St. 202.529.3953
For sheer loungin' comfort, nothing compares to Liquids. A large loft-like space with huge couches and brick walls, this is like drinking in a comfy living room. Get there early, as the frat boys and brige-and-tunnel crowd turn it into a meat market in the late hours. Potent drinks with bizarre names (example: The Succubus - vodka and white chocolate liqueur) are the house specialty.
Marion's
354 Bowery 212.475.7621
If the East Coast Cocktail Nation has a ground zero, then it surely must be Marion's. The infamous "Lounge Summit" of Sam Wick, Ashley Warren, The Millionaire and Joseph Holmes occurred here back when "lounge" still wasn't a media meme. One wall carries a reproduction of the painting on the Sound Gallery Volune 1. It serves the best Metropolitan in NYC. And it's just plain swank as hell! Vik's had one late night dinner here, but nothing to really rave about. The drinks are good and it's all the free goldfish crackers you can eat. This is what a lounge is supposed to be.
Online NYC bar/lounge listings
Sauza's Dive Bar Guide
Time Out NY Bar's of '97
Time Out NY Basic Bars