The Best Bar EVER!

I didn't have to work last Friday, so on Thursday night I saw my friends Francesca and Eric perform stand-up comedy at the Laugh Lounge in the Lower East Side. They are both largely responsible for my own personal interest in stand-up, and I will definitely be doing a few shows with Eric while I'm up here. I'll try and put some video up.

After the show I wanted to go to an interesting place, and Jonny delivered.

I can't tell you the name of the bar or it's location (partly because I don't remember, and partly because they are very secretive about their existence).

All I can tell you is that we walked into this random food shack with scattered diner tables and arcade-style video games (very classy). Before I could ask Jon why we were at a hole-in-the-wall, he quickly jumped into a phone booth, picked up the phone, and briefly pressed the one button that was on the phone.

Before we could blink, a hostess named Ari opens the back wall of the phone booth and asks how many people we were with. We told her only two, and she asked for Jon's number so that she could call us when some space opened up. We were going through a hole-in-the-wall (God I'm clever).

After going across the street to grab a drink while we waited, I became extremely anxious to see what was inside that phone booth. We headed back over about 20 minutes later, and lied to the very polite hostess that Jon's phone was off and we wanted to check if they had called. Jon's phone was working just fine, we were just trying to expedite the process.

And it worked, Ari went in and got people to move down the bar to consolidate spaces and open up two seats. I'm freaking out with excitement by this point.

I discover that the bar was opened during prohibition, and the run-down restaurant we entered through was nothing more than a distraction built by the bar owner to deter police. The gorgeous dark wood bar was stocked with a countless number of bottles I've never heard of (which I was informed were all pretty pricey). They also boasted over 20 different varieties of bitters, most of which were one-of-a-kind homemade versions, created and donated by some of their many loyal patrons.

The bartenders who work here are real professionals and from what I understand have to be invited to work here. You can't just walk in off the street and apply for this job, although I would love to.

One thing that I loved was that every drink on the menu was $12, regardless of the ingredients. $12 is a relatively normal price for a good drink in the city, so for this kind of experience I was happy to pay the set menu price.

After painstakingly combing the very detailed descriptions of all their drinks, I decided on my first cocktail of the night, an old-fashioned with an interesting twist.

A very nice aged bourbon was infused with bacon...yep...bacon, and paired with Grade A maple syrup, a dash of bitters, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Wow! That is literally the first thing that came out of my mouth when I tasted this drink. I was previously unaware that a beverage could result in the complete bombardment of all my taste buds.

At first sip there is the freshness of the lemon juice, which is immediately followed by the deep oak flavor of the aged bourbon and the sweetness of the maple syrup. Towards the end, a subtle but clearly noticeable bacon flavor sweeps over your mouth. It was like going on a fantastical tasting journey all in one sip.

We ordered other cocktails, trying to taste as much as possible, however that wonderful sweet bacon beverage would not leave my mind. I'll write about some other drinks next time I go, which I will be doing without question.

Cheers!

(Sorry I have no pictures, they don't allow flash photography.)