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(Photo: Danny Kim/New York Magazine) |
Bottle service, traditionally more about nightclub real estate than quality drinks, has gone craft. At Fatty ’Cue (50 Carmine St., nr. Bedford St.; 212-929-5050), so-called Thai bottle service ($60 to $125 for a 375-milliliter bottle) lets you pick your spirit from a glass cabinet, combining it to taste with housemade mixers ($10 each). At the James hotel (27 Grand St., at Sixth Ave.; 212-465-2000), guests who raid the minibar can call in a $28 setup that includes bitters, simple syrup, and other accoutrements. And at the NoMad Hotel’s Library Bar (1170 Broadway, at 28th St.; 212-796-1500), you can summon a bottle of premium booze presented on a rolling bar cart with three premixed additions and appropriate garnishes—and, if you’d like, mixology lessons from the staff. Above, a breakdown of a typical NoMad bar cart.
1. The top of the
cart can be raised
or lowered to
function as a bar or
a serving table.
2. Gin garnishes
include lemon
and orange twists,
lemon and lime
wedges, and olives.
3. Double-sided
jiggers measure
one and
two ounces.
4. A selection of
straws, essential
for tasting
cocktails.
5. Bitters and
aperitifs such
as vermouth
are presented
in delicate
Japanese bottles.
6. Choose your
spirit and brand.
This gin cart, for
instance, comes with
a 750-milliliter
bottle of Plymouth
($250) and includes
cart service and
accoutrements.
7. Bartenders are
on hand to
instruct proper
cocktail-spoon-stirring
technique.
8. Fever Tree
tonic water, soda,
and ginger
ale accompany
the gin.
9. Every spirit comes
with three prebatched
cocktail
mixers. Carafes for
gin contain blends
for Southside
(mint, lemon, and
turbinado sugar),
Negroni (Campari
and Carpano
Antica), and Gin-
Gin Mule (ginger,
lime, Angostura
bitters, and
Demerara sugar).
10. Slow-melting
Kold-Draft ice
cubes are stored
in an insulated
drawer.
