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Great drinks in my hometown
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Modern Mixologist Tony shakes it up.
The 323 (middle) at Bar Milano.
I was back in NYC for a few days this June and the sweltering heat just called for a couple of refreshing drinks. I hadn't been home for a few months to it was great to see what some of the barkeeps are up to. I stopped in a couple of new places and visited a couple of others I hadn't had a chance to check out.
Let's start with the wonderful cocktails devised by Tony Abou-Ganim at Bar Milano. Tony is the mastermind behind the bar program at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas and he is now off on his own consulting as the Modern Mixologist. He is basically the guy who turned me onto cocktails a decade ago and introduced me to the Negroni (and it has all been downhill from there).
Bar Milano opened in April and is a joint venture with the Denton Boys (Joe and Justin), whose uncle Harry runs our own Starlight Room. Tony tended bar there for many years before heading out to Vegas and brought us the Cable Car cocktail. His new venture with the Dentons is a rowdy Northern Italian spot on 24th and 3rd. The list features all kinds of esoteric Northern Italian wine offerings as well as fabulous bitter (think Campari) and herb-infused cocktails. I loved Tony's 323 cocktail with the rosemary-infused Henrick's gin! There are also lots of well-balanced drinks made with Campari on offer.
I also had a chance to visit the swank Death & Co on East 6th Street. I hate the name, but love the bar. It's named in homage to the Volstead Act of 1919 which outlawed alcohol consumption as "to drink alcohol was to live a life shadowed by death." This darks sliver of a bar reminds me of Bourbon & Branch in SF, but also serves food (don't miss the bacon-wrapped filet mignon and surf and turf sliders). They are making some wonderful, fresh summer drinks with Sandeman 20-Year-Old Tawny Port. I loved the tall, refreshing Dahlgren, made with Port, Tequila, lime and ginger beer.
I hope that Port-based drinks are becoming a trend, as I had an amazing one last night at the elegant bar at 1 Bleu Restaurant in the Regent Bal Harbour in Miami (more on that and other Florida cocktail adventures later). They also pair so well with food.
Last but not least I had some fabulous Sonnema VodkaHERB cocktails at the little gem of a restaurant Bobo in the West Village. The chilled pea soup was divine here on a 90+-degree day and the restaurant has a gem of a little garden out back.
I am not a vodka drinker but love this bitter, balanced herbal vodka out of Holland. It is not yet available all over the U.S. but hopefully it will be. It supposedly has medicinal roots, according to Bruce Newman, the brand's eastern regional manager. It was just divine in a spicy Bloody Mary and makes a great range of balanced drinks. I have often called it the gin drinker's vodka as it happily hoes a road between the two.
Cheers,
Liza the Wine Chick
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