With the first-ever reveal of North America’s 50 Best Bars 2022, sponsored by Perrier fast approaching, set to take place at an awards ceremony in New York on Tuesday 7th June, local expert and 50 Best TasteHunter Kat Odell provides her insider’s recommendations on the best new restaurants and bars to try in town
Despite a tough two years, the Big Apple’s resilient operators have weathered the pandemic storm to emerge stronger than ever, ready to introduce a swell of exciting new restaurants and bars. From venues that opened during Covid to freshly minted additions, like white-hot chicken specialist Kono and perpetually packed Taiwanese-American drinking den Double Chicken Please, now is the time to eat and drink in New York City. Here are eight spots that locals and visitors alike should be checking out now.
Kono
Kono's popular skewered chicken dish (image: Ben Hon)
Atsushi ‘ATS’ Kono is the first yakitori chef in the United States to earn a Michelin star during his tenure at Midtown’s Torishin. So, when he spun out to pursue his own project last summer, people took note. After a successful rooftop pop-up, Kono launched his sleek, namesake skewered chicken counter on the Bowery, where a meal runs to $165 and spans from chicken skin crackers to around 11 courses of skewers, including tail and soft bone. Grab one of the 14 counter seats to watch the chef meticulously grill his organic, free-range Pennsylvania-sourced birds, which he brushes with a five-year-old tare sauce and carefully cooks over Japanese kishu binchotan charcoal at around 900°C. While yakitori in Tokyo can range from street food to haute engagements, Kono falls on the more high-end side: expect dishes accented with truffles and garnished with gold leaf.
46 Bowery
yakitorikono.com
instagram.com/yakitorikono
Mena
New Jersey scallop with squash leche de tigre and ají limón at Mena (image: Daniel Krieger)
Mena is the long-awaited, 50-seat, upscale bistro-designed project from acclaimed chef Victoria Blamey, who cut her teeth at iconic eateries including Gotham Bar & Grill and Atera. Since January, the Chilean chef has been plating a concise, $125 four-course menu that changes weekly and is reflective of her South American upbringing. Think minimalist, seafood-focused plates like cholgas secas (dried mussels) with charred cabbage and fermented potato bread; and scallop mousse with sea lettuce and vin jaune. Meanwhile, former Atla barman Gustavo Zamora is behind the bright, fruit-forward cocktail program that leans into South American spirits, featuring pisco with pomegranate and citrus, and mezcal with velvet falernum, kiwi, and green Chartreuse.
28 Cortlandt Alley
menanyc.com
instagram.com/menarestaurantnyc
Martiny’s
The interior of Takuma Watanabe's bar, Martiny's, in New York (image: Martiny's)
Takuma Watanabe clocked eight years at one of New York’s most iconic and pioneering cocktails bars, Angel’s Share, before spinning out on his own this April to debut Martiny’s: a new temple of Japanese cocktail making. Claiming a 200-year-old carriage house in Gramercy and spread across three 450-square-foot floors, Martiny’s provides a series of unique imbibing experiences. One enters on the ground floor, where Watanabe is behind the bar mixing cocktails like the green-tinged Tea Ceremony (matcha, Japanese whiskey, cacao, coconut water and Japanese sugar), while the second level serves as more of a spirits-focused lounge accented with vintage furniture from Upstate. Down below, the basement floor is equipped with a small kitchen, which will serve as a private events space once it opens at a later date. Martiny’s is a proper drinking den where reservations are required, bartenders don sharply-tailored suits and expert libations come served in stunning featherweight Kimura glassware.
121 E 17th Street
instagram.com/martinysnyc
Cadence
Cadence has a focus on plant-based cooking and low-ABV cocktails (image: Cadence)
Restaurateur Ravi DeRossi has made a name for himself with a slew of excellent bar-focused establishments, from bitters-embracing Amor y Amargo to the late Mother of Pearl tiki den. His most recent hit, Cadence, highlights the plant-based cooking of chef Shenarri Freeman, who taps into her Southern roots via dishes like fried lasagna with red wine bolognese and pine nut ricotta; and smoked grits with fried oyster mushrooms and rosemary butter. Because of the restaurant’s proximity to a nearby church, Cadence is not licenced to serve spirits, which means the inspired house cocktails favour low-ABV and omit the hard stuff. Don’t miss tropical-tasting Mahalia’s Gospel (Pommeau de Normandy, Cocchi Americano, verjus, passion fruit) and the effervescent Sweet Emma (Lillet Rosé, fresh strawberry, cola extract and seltzer).
111 E 7th Street
overthrowhospitality.com/venues/cadence
instagram.com/cadence.newyork
Temple Bar
Temple Bar has re-opened in New York with new management, interior and menu (image: Dillon Burke)
After a four-year shutter, NoHo’s acclaimed Temple Bar is back under new management, which includes David Rabin and Maneesh Goyal of Flatiron Indian hit, Sona. And now, two of the city’s most respected bar talents, Sam Ross of Attaboy (No.34 on The World’s 50 Best Bars list), and partner Michael McIlroy, have stepped in to shape the cocktail program. Within the polished mahogany-bedecked space – which feels classic New York with a pinch of downtown cool – you can expect the requisite fixings of a posh imbibing experience: a martini menu, Champagne cocktails, plus caviar service and raw bar options. Maintaining the bones of the bar’s previous incarnation, interior designer Melissa Bowers has breathed new life into the space via emerald green velvet drapes, green leather banquettes and a good old disco ball.
332 Layafette St.
templebar.co
instagram.com/templebarnyc
Maison Sun
Chef Brendan Skiber dishes at Maison Sun are part of a pop-up tasting menu (image: Brendan Skiber)
First-time restaurateur Carlos Gasperi launched Maison Sun a year and a half ago as a roving tasting menu pop-up with no fixed locale. Currently, the haute, eight-course tasting menu engagement – which runs to $365 and includes a five-glass wine pairing – hosts its 18-person dinners between Soho and Tribeca. Chef Brendan Skiber, formerly of Masa and The Modern, takes charge of the seasonal menu that derives inspiration from France and Asia, with dishes rotating every week or so. Expect courses like a golden royal Ossetra caviar and porcini tart, and a lamb porterhouse with curried cauliflower.
Various locations
maisonsunnyc.com
instagram.com/maisonssun
Double Chicken Please
Double Chicken Please's signature cocktail: Cold Pizza (image: Abby Faelnar)
After traversing the country for a year and a half in a vintage, mustard-hued 1977 VW minibus while throwing cocktail pop-ups across the country, Taiwanese-American drinking den Double Chicken Please moved into its permanent home on the Lower East Side, debuting during the pandemic. Since then, co-founders Faye Chen (previously of Speak Low in Shanghai) and GN Chan (Angel’s Share) have nabbed the No.54 spot on The World’s 50 Best Bars list for their excellent, whimsical cocktails. They offer a mix of quick-serve, lower-ABV options on draft at their front bar, which call for ingredients like oolong tea and longan, as well as the ‘mixed and muddled’ selections in the rear inspired by iconic dishes, from Cold Pizza to Sticky Rice and French Toast. While the place has been packed since day one, hungry imbibers know to order the playful Taiwanese snacks from chef-partner and EMP alumnus Mark Chou. The standout hit is his now-iconic hot honey fried chicken sandwich.
115 Allen St.
doublechickenplease.com
instagram.com/doublechickenpleasenyc
Place des Fêtes
Chef Jacob Harth cooks season-led dishes at Place des Fêtes (image: Chris Coe)
As a follow-up effort from the team behind Brooklyn’s Michelin-starred tasting menu engagement Oxalis comes Place des Fêtes, a rustic, European-feeling natural wine bistro that’s been slammed since its debut in Clinton Hill in March. Here, beside a wide selection of affordable-priced, low-intervention bottles, chef de cuisine Jacob Harth is plating a high-acid, seasonal medley of share plates heavy on sustainable seafood. Grab one of the many counter seats, or a table in the back, for sashimi-style yellowtail served beside freshly grated horseradish, green almond and lemon, and don’t sleep on the excellent red shrimp dressed with a fermented gooseberry and habanero vinaigrette – though the pro tip here is to order the chewy sourdough to soak up the extra zingy dressing. The wholly inspired bill of fare carries on to include addictive tempura-fried maitake mushrooms with an umami-rich black garlic dipping sauce, and an intense strawberry sorbet accented with olive oil and spruce tips.
212 Greene Ave.
pdfnyc.com
instagram.com/pdfbk
The brand-new list of North America’s 50 Best Bars 2022 will be revealed at an event in New York on 7th June. The ceremony will be livestreamed on the 50 Best Bars TV YouTube channel and on the 50 Best Bars Facebook page. Follow now to be the first to know the details of the event and receive a reminder of its screening.
