PDT

It was a short stroll to our last stop of the evening. As you know, most speakeasies are disguised and you need to look for landmarks. As soon as I saw the Crif Dogs sign or the other that says: “Eat Me”, I knew we were there.

The long counter of stools were filled and there was a short line to use the phone booth. Yes, I said phone booth and it was sporting an “out of order” sign.

The routine is simple, dial 1 and wait. The adjacent wall opened to a magnificent dim,  yet sultry lit bar. The young lady asked for my name and said it would be 5 minutes. So we hung out with a very young crowd and when they called my name, we heard grumbles from the peanut gallery.

I was borderline righteous at this point and said:

“Hey Scooter, you should have made reservations…Rookie!”

We took seats at the bar. Gorgeous backlit bar with high-end spirits. Several taxidermy items on the walls made my two vegetarians nervous.

Our bartender presented us with our cocktail menus and I spotted my first drink:

Paddington
Banks 5 Island Rum, Lillet Blanc, Lemon & Grapefruit Juice, Bonne Maman Orange Marmalade, St George Absinthe

An amazing presentation of a craft cocktail with magnificent balance of citrus flavors. If the first one was this good, I can’t wait to try my second choice.

Shark
Butter infused Bacardi Silver Rum, Wray and Nephew Overproof Rum, Frangelico, Blue Curaçao, Lemon & Pineapple juice, Cream, Bitterman’s Elemakule Tiki Bitters

A true Tiki drink, I wanted the bartender to turn on some Buffett tunes at this point. The girls truly enjoying their drinks too.

And was it worth the trouble of getting reservations…

I can honestly say, this is one of my favorite bars of all-time. I will be back and will tell all my friends about this place.

At the end of the night, NYC got the best of me but tomorrow will be another day of go, go, go. This country boy is ready for another day of fun. Music and more cocktails are on the docket.

Did I mention brunch and boobs too!