Seven ways New York’s Superbueno has stormed the North American bar scene

With a potent cocktail of neon lighting, innovative drinks and vibrant Mexican-American culture, Superbueno has taken the New York bar scene by storm. The latest venture from industry veteran Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Jimenez, it bagged the No.2 spot in this year’s North America’s 50 Best Bars ranking, earning it the Disaronno Highest New Entry Award. 50 Best meets Jimenez to discover what’s fuelling the bar’s super-charged success

Superbueno’s formula is simple. In essence: veteran New York bartender Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Jimenez (formerly of Ghost Donkey) built a fun, welcoming bar that offers something for everyone.

But nailing that seemingly simple concept takes decades of experience, and Jimenez – along with prolific beverage entrepreneur and partner Greg Boehm (Katana Kitten, Mace) – did it so perfectly that his year-old Mexican-American bar on a buzzy East Village corner was voted the second best bar in North America and won the Disaronno Highest New Entry Award. Not only that, his Latin tune-playing, neon-lit 52-seat drinking den is the highest new entry on the North America's 50 Best Bars list in the history of its existence.

It’s not bueno, it’s super bueno; where every day feels like a Cinco de Mayo party and guests pack the cozy space to sip Green Mango Martinis alongside mole-laced nachos in a room decorated with white brick and luchador Mexican wrestling masks. In fact, it might be New York’s only Mexican spot where a classic margarita is the ninth most ordered drink.

Ignacio 'Nacho' Jimenez has created a vibrant homage to Mexico in New York

But Superbueno’s opening last year slid under the radar for many, which makes its splash into the top end of North America’s 50 Best Bars 2024 that much more exciting. So how did Jimenez and his team pull it off? By designing a bar that’s equal parts approachable and playful, with a relaxed, comfortable and inviting atmosphere and a drinks menu rooted in the classics that feels as familiar as it feels new. In his own words, Jimenez identifies seven key elements behind Superbueno’s success.

1. A sense of fun

“We built Superbueno to be a place where everyone can instantly feel at home. With this honour of being named No.2 in North America’s 50 Best Bars 2024 and The Best Bar in Northeast USA, sponsored by Disaronno, you could say that we accomplished our goal of being a place where all are welcome. We’re offering high-level cocktails in a carefully crafted space that offers a fun, unintimidating atmosphere. We take a lot of pride in our execution of hospitality, service and attention to detail as all that really does matter. We can have fun, our staff can have fun, but we still perform well.”

2. Cocktails with a clear identity

“Our menu offers just 10 drinks, but each one of them has a strong identity. The options are structured into different drinks styles and flavour profiles that appeal to just about everyone. We offer something for negroni fans, alongside a martini riff, a refreshing highball with a punch and fun drinks like our frozen Adobada Bam Bam. Overall, our approach to the menu is like cooking, we think of flavours first and how to extract them, then the techniques come second to figure out how to achieve that goal. For our Vodka y Soda, I knew what I wanted the colour to be and how I wanted it to taste, so I used different techniques like clarified guava and a chili-infusion to get to the final product.”

3. Not ‘just’ a vodka soda

Superbueno's Vodka y Soda infuses the minimalist drink with guava and pasilla pepper

“Most people would never think they would enjoy a vodka soda, but this drink is much more than that – it’s clarified guava soda with vodka and pasilla pepper. We sold around 2,500 of them just in April alone! It’s inspired by the Boing! guava fruit nectar I drank as a kid. I wanted to take that delicious guava flavour and elevate it in a highball.”

4. Innovative R&D

“When developing the menu, we knew the structure. We’d have a frozen, a boilermaker, a martini riff, a negroni, a sour, a highball, a milk punch and a gin and tonic variation. Then we looked at iconic ingredients and dishes from across Mexico for inspiration before playing around to see what flavours would work with each style of drink. The idea behind the Green Mango Martini came from the women who sell mango on the subway. A martini riff seemed the best way to achieve a green mango hit of flavour with a touch of heat. I knew we’d want to make this drink with tequila, so we went through 50 iterations before getting the recipe right and we're constantly evolving too. Most recently, we added a touch of mango vinegar to the existing ingredients [green mango-infused tequila, mango eau de vie, Sauternes and honey] to give more acidity and roundness.”

5. The streets of Mexico

“I worked with Cocktail Kingdom Hospitality Group’s creative director Jeannette Kaczorowski to design the space. We wanted the vibrancy of Mexico’s streets to meet the bustling energy of New York and our huge windows looking out to our corner of 1st Street and 1st Avenue in the East Village meant this could happen naturally.

“Our guiding inspiration was the street and pop culture of Mexico – the paintings of a tepache cart and muscle car, the wall of luchador masks that were purchased from a friend of my brother’s who has been collecting them for years, the rotulos signs on the wall with our cocktail names on it. All of these elements define our popular culture in Mexico.”

6. Light fantastic

Dynamic lighting can be adjusted to fit the atmosphere every night

“Another big element of the space is our lighting. This has been in my DNA since working alongside Masa Urushido [Katana Kitten] at The Daily, and the lighting in Superbueno was also inspired by places in New York like Public Records in Brooklyn. Our LED lights set the mood for the entire service, with softer green and purple lighting earlier in the day that deepens to red and burgundy at night. We can control the lights on our phones and adjust them as we like. We can even time them to a song playing or to a specific time of night or if a VIP regular walks in and we want to make them feel extra special.”

7. Beyond the classics

“I believe we are the first Mexican-American cocktail bar. Our approach to cocktails, which also matches our approach to hospitality and service, is to be more laid back. There are a lot of mezcalerias, cantinas and restaurants, but none that blend Mexican and American cultures in a cocktail bar. While the traditional Mexican restaurant or bar playbook is classic and timeless, we're able to go beyond a menu of margaritas and palomas. We’re able to create an intimate yet communal experience with our guests – they can be in a corner with their friends or on a date and, 10 minutes later, they can join an impromptu conga line and make a new friend.” 

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