Tag Archives: cocktails

Why “Our?” This isn’t an aggregate blog, it’s just my personal blog. But I speak for several of my girlfriends when I say this bar ROCKS. Let me explain…

Last Friday I went out with the girls to see a great play, (thanks for the free tickets Liz!) called Love, Loss, and What I Wore. Think Vagina Monologues, but funnier, and with clothing instead of Vaginas. Five women acted out adorable/hilarious/heartbreaking life stories with clothing as the backdrop. Breast cancer and bras, wedding dress shopping, terrible and uplifting romances with cocktail dresses and purses, it was wonderful. I recommend. (Except if you are a guy, then I wouldn’t recommend.)

Afterward we all stood on the corner, discussing where we wanted to get drinks. Girly, fancy, fun drinks. As we talked, I heard a guy shout, “Don’t fall, don’t fall, don’t fall!” A woman hit the ground next to me. Apparently she had tripped on a manhole, and struggled to catch herself until she finally spilled on the sidewalk. Her cigarette smoked on the ground next to her. Several concerned bystanders helped her to her feet, she was fine, and she left.

One minute later a guy walked by, and in one fluid motion scooped up the cigarette, put it in his mouth and walked on. Oh, New York.

After a misstep where we briefly stepped into a rooftop bar in midtown (“Do you smell vomit?” “Yeah, I was wondering why this place smelled like a frat party.”) I led everyone to the Ace Hotel. I was just thinking the lobby bar, where I’ve been a couple times. But at the door three adorably-attired male employees in suspenders and jeans told us we would have to go through the restaurant next door.

We stepped into The Breslin, and after taking in the vintage decor and calm ambiance, decided to stay. We followed a wooden staircase to the second floor where we seated ourselves in a tiny area with only three tables. “Can I fit my butt in there?” I asked a guy who was seated on the bench at the table next to ours.

“Well, of course,” he said graciously, “You can most certainly fit your butt in here.” What a gentleman.

All five of us crowded around the little table to peruse the drink menu. When the bartender popped over from the bar, merely seven feet away, I ordered a Surfer Rosa with “Rum, Dry Olorosa Sherry, fresh lime juice and artisanal grenadine.” The other girls ordered a Synchronicity (“Pimm’s with fresh lemon juice, mint, cucmber, grapes, Topped off with Prosecco”) two Lust for Lifes (“Gin with lavender syrup, mint and fresh lemon juice, topped with soda water”), and a Rush of Blood to the Head (“Prosecco with Blood Orange Liqueur, Hibiscus Syrup and lemon zest.”) Feeling thirsty yet?

We struck up conversation with the three friends next door. Julie is a recently fun-employed Food Advocacy gal. She filled me in on Breslin’s pedigree. It’s owned by the same people who have a NYC fave, Spotted Pig, so the menu is likely to be conscious and local as well. The cocktails, if you could not gather from above, are top quality. Gin is Hendricks or Tanqueray, for example.

After we finished our first cocktails, Annalee and I decided to test our bartender. We are currently obsessed with St. Germaine, an intoxicating and sweet elderflower liquor. Annalee, after getting home from her demanding finance job, makes her self a g&t and St. Germaine. Classy!

“Can you make us two – no, three – drinks with St. Germaine?” Annalee asked. “And please make them all different.”

He came back with two martini and one highball glass, various colors, with ingredients like orange bitters, tonic, lemon juice, and agave. I love a bartender who uses agave. We kept doing that all night. “Can you make us something….sweet, with blah blah?” He performed every time.

We talked with our neighbors some more. They shared their cookie plate, roasted almonds, and caramel popcorn with us, talked food policy, cracked jokes, discussed the merits of Brooklyn versus Manhattan, and just generally made good neighbors. If these are the kind of people you can expect to find there, than I will hang out there all. the. time.

In fact, you’ll find us all back there again tonight, sipping on inventive cocktails and being girly. Care to join?