Three New Bars
Golden Ratio, Dandelion, and Chin Up.
Friends,
Soon it will be January, and all the discussions of resolutions and drying out and intermittent fasting and vegan-january-ing will commence. My advice is this: we are still in December! Let’s stay in the land of debauchery for just a little while longer. Look, we are living in a world where mass shootings are happening daily, where evil seems to be climbing through the walls and institutions of our country, where science is being shelved, where humanity seems to have been trampled by insanity and vulgarity is rampant, and on and on. Things are bleak.
In the spirit of capturing glimmers – holding onto happy moments, little slivers of joy – I present you with three new bars. Have a beverage with a friend, bring your mom or dad, take a lover for a fancy cocktail, snuggle in with your BFF over a big mocktail, and shelter yourselves from the world outside for a few hours. Here are three new places across the city to do just that.
Fort Greene: Golden Ratio
Steve Wong and Piper Kristensen, the team behind Redwood Hospitality (Cafe Mado, Place des Fêtes, Laurel Bakery) opened Golden Ratio in late November in Clinton Hill, just down the street from the group’s neighborhood favorite Place des Fêtes. If you haven’t been yet, now’s the time.
It’s the ideal spot to go for plenty of NA cocktails alongside gorgeous booze-forward ones; in fact they are presented in equal numbers: 16 NA and 16 spirited cocktails, each crafted from housemade distillates made from seasonal greenmarket ingredients, foraged elements made in collaboration with Acid Joe, a local distiller with Acid Spirits, and longtime creative partner. What’s even cooler is that all the bar ingredients are also used in their restaurants, so the whole shebang is almost zero waste.
“At Golden Ratio, every drink begins with a single seasonal ingredient, and we let that ingredient tell us where to go,” says Kristensen. “We treat it as a complete ecosystem, and we pick apart its juice, flesh, skins, stems, and aromatics to understand its full range. If an ingredient has a strong, central flavor identity that works for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic formats, we rebuild it into two drinks that echo one another. But if it reveals multiple nuanced directions, we follow those paths, even if they lead to spirited and non-alcoholic drinks that are distinct from one another.”
The food from Culinary Director Daniel Martignon is built around seasonal, sustainably sourced ingredients, a menu full of small, creative, tasty and tightly composed dishes. While not exclusively vegetarian, the focus remains on produce, with a few carefully chosen meat or fish dishes prepared with the same attention to craft, sourcing, and sustainability. Think leeks vinaigrette with chile de Arbol and hazelnuts; smoked sunchoke profiteroles; crispy hake with achiote and aioli; and glorious hasselback potatoes with charred poblano sabayon.
Golden Ratio, located at 216 ½ Greene Avenue in Fort Greene, is open Wednesday–Sunday, 5:30 PM–Midnight.
West Village: Dandelion
Dandelion, the new bar from Eytan Sugarman and Will Makris, the folks behind Zero Bond and White Horse Tavern, officially opens tonight, Wednesday, December 17th in the heart of the West Village.
The cocktail program – stocked with well-made classics, creative spins, and martini service – is led by Keith Larry (Little Rascal, Employees Only, Beatrice Inn) and John Garda (previously of Seamstress and Diageo Hospitality), alongside head bartender Nikola Stankovic (Employees Only, Patent Pending). I love the sound of the “Cuffing Season,” a rye sour with brown butter fat-washed whiskey mixed with maple, tart blackberry puree, ginger, sage, and topped with bright mandarin foam, and the savory Tomato Martini with salted tomato, feta brine, and vermouth.
They are also doing something called the Green Hour, a dedicated pairing experience with Chartreuse and Vieux Pontarlier Absinthe, served on a platter alongside chilled water (for diluting to you exact preference, all paired with small bites.
Speaking of small bites, Chef Franco Sampogna, who is chef and owner of the fabulous one Michelin starred restaurant Frevo, is doing the food. His menu of small plates and late-night bites includes Damariscotta River oysters with sumac mignonette; Montauk Razor clams with pickled mushrooms and panko; shrimp cocktail with horseradish and smoked trout roe; bluefin tuna crudo with pil pil sauce and caviar; a lobster roll with citrus aioli and a nice steak sandwich made from prime rib-eye, topped with melted provolone and red pepper chimichurri.
The design by Emily Pires and Elena Hristu of E&E Creative, is art-driven and includes a full wall of work by Mexican artist Leopoldo Goút and glass-encased preserved dandelions, so the space feels almost like a fairytale.
Dandelion is located at 115 Christopher St. between Bleecker and Hudson Street. and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 5pm to 2am.
Lower East Side: Chin Up
Do you love gin? Have you been thinking, wow, I wish there were a bar that was built around a shared belief that gin deserves its own stage? Welcome to Chin Up, which opened last night on the Lower East SIde.
Founded by industry veterans Brian Grummert and Blake Walker (Nitecap, Subject, and Amor y Amargo) the bar is dedicated to highlighting both standout New York distillers and exceptional gins from around the world.
So, the cocktail menu includes gin joint drinks like the Rendezvous in Chennai, which combines Dorothy Parker New York gin, Madras Curry, coconut, apricot, ginger, lime; an Aquavit Old Fashioned made from Aquavit, Laird’s Bonded apple brandy, Granny smith apples, wasabi, and red shisho; and The Gibson, a classic, is made from Neversink New York gin, leek vermouth, sherry vinegar, pickles.
The menu is designed with bright, and acidic flavors that play off the botanicals in the spirits, dishes like smoked mussels escabeche, fried clams with wasabi, dill and crème fraiche: tempura fried littleneck clams, and a Tortilla-Espaniol-styled potato flatbread to snack on.
Chin Up is located at 171 Chrystie Street. Opening hours are Tues-Thurs, 6pm-Midnight and Friday and Saturday till 1am.