It was a long, cold and windy walk from the Paris Theater on 58th and 5th down to Macdougal Street in the West Village, but it was well worth it. The air was clear and crisp, the stores still had their lights up, and bums still had their Christmas trees (or at least one did). The tourist and suburban holiday crowds had dissipated like snow on a subway grate. You could actually walk without bumping into anyone. New Yorkers possessed Midtown again.
I had been wanting to try The Up & Up ever since The Gothamist proclaimed The Hailstone as, "the best thing he had drunk all year." I had hours to kill before dinner. Who wouldn't want to make a pilgrimage?
The location was unusual for an upscale bar. Macdougal is right near NYU and known for cheap pizza, falafel places and tacky t-shirt shops. Right next door a placard screams, "4 shots for $10 EVERY DAY!" But the block Up & Up is on also has several long-time and excellent establishments; a revamped Dante's which I hear serves an excellent barrel-aged Negroni, and Minetta Tavern, a standby since the '30s which was renovated in 2009 and is now a celebrity-studded Parisian-style cafe.
The Up & Up is actually down. You enter a steep set of stairs into a dark, dimly lit basement. There's a host at the base of the stairs, and when I arrived at 5 pm on the dot, the door was locked and the heavily bearded host told me to come back at 5 pm when they opened. Ok.... I killed about 10 minutes and came back. He was very gracious and even mentioned that he had looked at his phone after I came by the first time and it actually had been 5 pm. No problem.
Unlike a lot of bars, but becoming more common, the host seats the customers so the bar will never be too crowded. There is a long banquette on one side of the narrow room and a bar on the other. Simple. I can see why they need to keep the numbers controlled as I think it would be a little claustrophopic when packed. I was seated at the bar, given a menu and a tall glass of delicious, ice-free New York City tap water right away, both of which I appreciated. The bartender was the perfect combination of friendly (we exchanged names but I am sorry to say I can't remember his), and professional. We chatted easily about Brooklyn, my weekly visits to New York, and how he came by his training. As I was alone and the bar was empty, it was nice to be engaged in such a genuine way and with natural curiousity rather than with merely perfunctory service.
The menu, a tri-fold piece of paper, could have had a bit more heft to it, and seemed incongruous with the darkly elegant interior. I love when bars have a nicely printed menu, maybe something with a leather cover. In their defense, it allows them to change up the drinks without incurring a lot of expense. Just a small tweak I think could be made.
The menu is full of the most delicious-sounding cocktails and great names for each. Running the gamut from, "One-star Yelp Review" to "Dreadlock Holiday" there are drinks for every palate and taste. Rum, gin, scotch and rye dominate the menu, but there is a vodka cocktail and even 2 Aquavit-based cocktails; the "Stone Crush" which also features vermouth and beer, and the "Grand Hotel" with Creme de Cacao and orange bitters. To be honest, most of the gin drinks looked tempting to me.
I decided to start out with the Window Seat ($14) which featured Aviation gin, Dimmi, absinthe, honey, lemon juice and orange bitters. Every flavor I love served up in a coupe glass. I was not disappointed. I did not know what Dimmi was, and not being shy, asked. The young bartender was very patient and informative. He described it to me and even gave me a sample. It's an Italian liquor not unlike St. Germaine, but with a kind of orange-vanilla essence. You can read more about it here: http://postprohibition.com/liquor-cabinet/dimmi-liquore-di-milano/
It added levels of floral flavor that were new and blended well with the herbals in the absinthe. The drink was slightly yellowish and was refreshing even on a cold day. On a hot, sticky day in Manhattan it would be very welcome.
The bar doesn't offer much in the way of food, it's drink-focused. The snacks are by chef Jessica Meter and feature potted spreads with toasts. I was hungry and one should never drink on an empty stomach, so I ordered the eggplant foriana ($10), basically an eggplant spread with golden raisins, pine nuts, pecans and capers. It was delicious and I do confess to both asking for extra toast and scraping the little jar clean. With the knife, not my finger. I had a little restraint.
The next drink was selected for me by the bartender, The Never Spring ($14): Perry's Tot Navy Strength gin, lime cordial (which they make of course), allspice dram, orange juice and cinnamon. The warming spices make it a fabulous winter gin drink. Served on the rocks, or more accurately, a rock, it was described by the bartender as one of their more potent drinks. And it was. It was delicious. And strong. It would have sent me under the table, or over it, or some strange combination of both over and under if I had actually finished it.
The ice in the glass consisted of one roughly hand-chiseled sphere. I inquired about what I jokingly called their, "ice narrative," and I was strictly warned to never utter those words again. But guess what, they had an ice narrative. Bars are OCD about ice these days. Plain New York City water was frozen into gigantic cubes and then either broken up into smaller squares or hand chiseled into a large sphere. It was pretty cool to see the bartender hacking away at a giant ice cube and making a ball in mid-air.
As I was finishing up and settling the bill, the young bartender brought me a complimentary shooter of the drink I had heard so much about, The Hailstone ($14). "I'm not going to let you leave here without trying it." It was as described, an alcoholic creamsicle and every bit as good. Virgil Kaine Robber Baron Rye,cream, orange juice, mace and orange flower came together. It was perfectly balanced and delicious and I am not a big rye fan or drinker. I thought it was very thoughtful of him to make sure I tasted the drink I had spoken of even though I didn't order it.
The Never Spring was going to have me Never Walking Straight and I still had to meet my husband and old friends at the kosher meat restaurant Colbeh on 39th Street. I felt a little guilty for not finishing two-thirds of the drink, but as I've grown older I've also grown wiser. Better to leave it on the bar than suffer the consequences. The barkeep told me I should come weekly after my shrink appointment, but I told him the timing didn't work out very often. It was a friendly thing to say and I appreciated it.
It was starting to fill up with couples and the pace at the bar was increasing. It was on with the mink and back out into the city. The wind was bitter but the warmth shared by the Up & Up lingered with me the rest of the night.
http://www.upandupnyc.com/
I had been wanting to try The Up & Up ever since The Gothamist proclaimed The Hailstone as, "the best thing he had drunk all year." I had hours to kill before dinner. Who wouldn't want to make a pilgrimage?
The location was unusual for an upscale bar. Macdougal is right near NYU and known for cheap pizza, falafel places and tacky t-shirt shops. Right next door a placard screams, "4 shots for $10 EVERY DAY!" But the block Up & Up is on also has several long-time and excellent establishments; a revamped Dante's which I hear serves an excellent barrel-aged Negroni, and Minetta Tavern, a standby since the '30s which was renovated in 2009 and is now a celebrity-studded Parisian-style cafe.
The Up & Up is actually down. You enter a steep set of stairs into a dark, dimly lit basement. There's a host at the base of the stairs, and when I arrived at 5 pm on the dot, the door was locked and the heavily bearded host told me to come back at 5 pm when they opened. Ok.... I killed about 10 minutes and came back. He was very gracious and even mentioned that he had looked at his phone after I came by the first time and it actually had been 5 pm. No problem.
Unlike a lot of bars, but becoming more common, the host seats the customers so the bar will never be too crowded. There is a long banquette on one side of the narrow room and a bar on the other. Simple. I can see why they need to keep the numbers controlled as I think it would be a little claustrophopic when packed. I was seated at the bar, given a menu and a tall glass of delicious, ice-free New York City tap water right away, both of which I appreciated. The bartender was the perfect combination of friendly (we exchanged names but I am sorry to say I can't remember his), and professional. We chatted easily about Brooklyn, my weekly visits to New York, and how he came by his training. As I was alone and the bar was empty, it was nice to be engaged in such a genuine way and with natural curiousity rather than with merely perfunctory service.
The menu, a tri-fold piece of paper, could have had a bit more heft to it, and seemed incongruous with the darkly elegant interior. I love when bars have a nicely printed menu, maybe something with a leather cover. In their defense, it allows them to change up the drinks without incurring a lot of expense. Just a small tweak I think could be made.
The menu is full of the most delicious-sounding cocktails and great names for each. Running the gamut from, "One-star Yelp Review" to "Dreadlock Holiday" there are drinks for every palate and taste. Rum, gin, scotch and rye dominate the menu, but there is a vodka cocktail and even 2 Aquavit-based cocktails; the "Stone Crush" which also features vermouth and beer, and the "Grand Hotel" with Creme de Cacao and orange bitters. To be honest, most of the gin drinks looked tempting to me.
I decided to start out with the Window Seat ($14) which featured Aviation gin, Dimmi, absinthe, honey, lemon juice and orange bitters. Every flavor I love served up in a coupe glass. I was not disappointed. I did not know what Dimmi was, and not being shy, asked. The young bartender was very patient and informative. He described it to me and even gave me a sample. It's an Italian liquor not unlike St. Germaine, but with a kind of orange-vanilla essence. You can read more about it here: http://postprohibition.com/liquor-cabinet/dimmi-liquore-di-milano/
It added levels of floral flavor that were new and blended well with the herbals in the absinthe. The drink was slightly yellowish and was refreshing even on a cold day. On a hot, sticky day in Manhattan it would be very welcome.
The bar doesn't offer much in the way of food, it's drink-focused. The snacks are by chef Jessica Meter and feature potted spreads with toasts. I was hungry and one should never drink on an empty stomach, so I ordered the eggplant foriana ($10), basically an eggplant spread with golden raisins, pine nuts, pecans and capers. It was delicious and I do confess to both asking for extra toast and scraping the little jar clean. With the knife, not my finger. I had a little restraint.
The next drink was selected for me by the bartender, The Never Spring ($14): Perry's Tot Navy Strength gin, lime cordial (which they make of course), allspice dram, orange juice and cinnamon. The warming spices make it a fabulous winter gin drink. Served on the rocks, or more accurately, a rock, it was described by the bartender as one of their more potent drinks. And it was. It was delicious. And strong. It would have sent me under the table, or over it, or some strange combination of both over and under if I had actually finished it.
The ice in the glass consisted of one roughly hand-chiseled sphere. I inquired about what I jokingly called their, "ice narrative," and I was strictly warned to never utter those words again. But guess what, they had an ice narrative. Bars are OCD about ice these days. Plain New York City water was frozen into gigantic cubes and then either broken up into smaller squares or hand chiseled into a large sphere. It was pretty cool to see the bartender hacking away at a giant ice cube and making a ball in mid-air.
As I was finishing up and settling the bill, the young bartender brought me a complimentary shooter of the drink I had heard so much about, The Hailstone ($14). "I'm not going to let you leave here without trying it." It was as described, an alcoholic creamsicle and every bit as good. Virgil Kaine Robber Baron Rye,cream, orange juice, mace and orange flower came together. It was perfectly balanced and delicious and I am not a big rye fan or drinker. I thought it was very thoughtful of him to make sure I tasted the drink I had spoken of even though I didn't order it.
The Never Spring was going to have me Never Walking Straight and I still had to meet my husband and old friends at the kosher meat restaurant Colbeh on 39th Street. I felt a little guilty for not finishing two-thirds of the drink, but as I've grown older I've also grown wiser. Better to leave it on the bar than suffer the consequences. The barkeep told me I should come weekly after my shrink appointment, but I told him the timing didn't work out very often. It was a friendly thing to say and I appreciated it.
It was starting to fill up with couples and the pace at the bar was increasing. It was on with the mink and back out into the city. The wind was bitter but the warmth shared by the Up & Up lingered with me the rest of the night.
http://www.upandupnyc.com/