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All Posts Tagged: ‘pegu club’

NewsFeed

7/22/08

2:00 PM

$5 Margaveza Among ‘GQ’ Top 20 Cocktails in America

Eben Freeman gets his shake on.Photo: Abbe Benson

GQ chooses their favorite twenty cocktails in the country, and, no surprise, some New York mixologists take top honors. Pegu Club’s Gin Gin Mule gets the nod (this is as obligatory as choosing the Shake Shack as a favorite burger), as does Eben Freeman’s Kaffir Collins and Death & Co.’s Cinder (a jalapeño-infused, mescal-enhanced margarita). The real surprise is the $5 Margaveza that Eric Copeland of Black Dice created while bartending at Daddy’s — essentially the thinking man’s Tequiza, it’s a bottle of Sol topped with four ounces of frozen margarita. Hey, if the Michelada (Mexico's spicy beer-and-tomato bevy) can work, so can this.

The 20 Best Cocktails in America [GQ]

More: NewsFeed »audrey saunders, cocktails, daddy's, death and co., eben freeman, kaffir collins, margaveza, mixology, nightlife, pegu club, tailor

NewsFeed

7/11/08

3:30 PM

Kirschen-Clark Leaves Jimmy’s for Pegu

Philip Kirschen-Clark, back in his Jimmy's days.Photo: Melissa Hom

Philip Kirschen-Clark, the “secret chef,” is leaving his underground home at Jimmy’s to take over at the Pegu Club. As of last night, Kirschen-Clark was settled in at the cocktail mecca and working on a new menu of his intense, modern, painterly dishes. His food will have a new tone, he says: “Sexier, lighter cocktail cuisine.” Like a peekytoe-crab roll with Kewpie mayonnaise, Korean red-chile flakes, and a medley of citrus zests, rolled up in a raw cucumber; or a diver-scallop-seviche “slider” with grilled corn, fava beans, green tomato, currants, red verjuice, and heirloom sweet peppers, on a tiny grilled brioche roll. There’s also a tentative plan to pair Kirschen-Clark’s dishes with classic Pegu cocktails. We hope that plan comes to delicious fruition.

More: NewsFeed »cocktails, jimmy's no. 43, nightlife, pegu club, philip kirschen-clark

User's Guide

7/ 9/08

5:18 PM

Five Chef Families

In the beginning (or around 1941), Henri Soule created Le Pavillon. Le Pavillon begat La Côte Basque … and the New York restaurant genealogy began. Ever since, every restaurant that attains prominence in New York serves as a feeder system: A chef makes his bones and leaves to open his own effort, and his chef de cuisine rises to chef; the sous becomes chef de cuisine, and so on down the ranks. In this way spreads the great New York family tree of restaurants. Some are oaks mighty enough to support several branches; others more closely resemble saplings from A Charlie Brown Christmas.

We’ve created our own set of chef family trees here, charting the stars that emerged from four of New York’s best restaurants, Le Cirque, Daniel, Jean-Georges, and Craft, plus the now-closed-but influential 71 Clinton Fresh Food. Given the popularity of cocktail bars, we also looked to see what Pegu hath wrought. Chefs (or mixologists) on the tree must be currently heading their own kitchen (or, as in the case of Johnny Iuzzini, a pastry kitchen). Welcome to the triple-canopy jungle that is the New York restaurant scene.

More: User's Guide »71 clinton fresh food, craft, daniel, le cirque, pegu club

NewsFeed

5/22/08

9:43 AM

‘Best Bars in America’ Is Back in ‘Esquire,’ and a Little Baffling

Pegu is one of the great bars. But Grassroots Tavern?Photo: Melissa Hom

Esquire has released the latest installment of its annual "Best Bars in America" list, and the New York selections have us totally baffled. At least on the Website, the meaning of the ratings isn't clear, nor can we figure out why some bars get a full write-up and others a single sentence. Certainly the national bar map is cool, and possibly even worthy of an On the Road–style pilgrimage. But how, we wonder, could generic watering holes like the Saloon and Grassroots Tavern make it onto a list that is, rightfully, largely composed of one-of-a-kind drink meccas like Pegu, Little Branch, Bemelmans Bar? And while we love the bar at San Domenico, and would rather have a Prosecco there than practically anywhere, it's relatively small and part of a formal restaurant. It's also a favorite gathering place of Esquire editors. We're also glad to see that Minetta Tavern made it in for its last year of existence, like an elderly actor who wins an honorary Oscar before passing away. (Of course, since there's no mention of the place closing, it's probably more oversight than elegy.) And Bill's Gay Nineties is still the best piano bar anywhere in the world. If you're traveling and want a drink, Esquire can tell you where to go.

The Best Bars in America [Esquire]

More: NewsFeed »bemelmans bar, bill's gay nineties, cocktails, esquire, grassroots tavern, little branch, minetta tavern, nightlife, pegu club, san domenico

Ask a Waiter

3/11/08

5:00 PM

Lurie De La Rosa of PDT Asks That You Put Your Pants on and Leave

"Our hostess opened the door to see this man taking his pants off."
Photo: Melissa Hom

Lurie De La Rosa knows a thing or two about cocktails: She worked at Pegu Club under Audrey Saunders (her “New York mom”) and with Jim Meehan, who asked her to help him open his debut spot PDT. “I wasn’t sure what he meant by a ‘hot dog bar,’” she tells us. Indeed PDT is unique in that it pairs Crif Dogs with Snoop Dogg, something De La Rosa says was “scary for a little bit. I came from this world of classic music and jazz.” But she has adjusted admirably and is now part of a family that includes Wylie Dufresne, David Chang, and the occasional naked patron.

More: Ask a Waiter »blue hill, david chang, little branch, milk and honey, pdt, pegu club, per se, wylie dufresne

NewsFeed

10/17/07

12:58 PM

John Hodgman Unlikely Star of Mixologist Calendar

Forget Derek Jeter. Sasha Petraske is the real Mr. November.Courtesy Jill DeGroff

In what will surely become mixology’s version of Yankees Stadium's Monument Park, Jill DeGroff, wife of “King of Cocktails” Dale, has sketched caricatures of a dozen “cocktailians” and included them in a calendar that’s going for $17.95 (about the price of an overpriced drink!). Some of the local drink-slingers whose recipes and rosy-cheeked mugs are featured: Audrey Saunders from Pegu Club, Julie Rainer from Flatiron Lounge, and Sasha Petraske from Milk and Honey. Our favorite part, though, is the page on which a pants-less John Hodgman gives his preferred synonyms for booze.

More: NewsFeed »audrey sanders, dale degroff, flatiron lounge, jill degroff, john hodgman, julie rainer, milk and honey, mixology, pegu club, sasha petraske

NewsFeed

8/ 1/07

1:00 PM

Death & Co., Pegu Club, and Flatiron Lounge Players Engage in Musical Chairs

The bad news: The Bourgeois Pig West, easily the coolest bar on Macdougal Street, is closing after this Saturday, and the East Village location is moving. The good news: Owner Ravi DeRossi says that he and the manager at his other bar, Death & Co., decided yesterday to reopen the West Village location in about a month as a Belgian beer bar. But that’s not all! Also in about a month, the East Village location will move across the street to 111 East 7th Street (a larger space, at 1,000 square feet) and morph into what the current location’s manager describes as a, um, “female Death & Co.,” seating 50 to 60 people for chocolate and cheese fondues and a larger wine list of 100 bottles and 50 glasses.

More: NewsFeed »death & co., east village, flatiron lounge, pegu club, the bourgeois pig, west village

Neighborhood Watch

5/23/07

3:11 PM

Pegu Club Shaking More Than Just Cocktails in Soho

Forest Hills: The layout for Trader Joe’s coming to 90-30 Metropolitan Avenue. [Forest Hills 72]
Midtown West: Sample cuisine from more than 50 restaurants including Aquavit, Buddakan, and Eleven Madison Park at tonight's Taste of the Nation at Roseland Ballroom; tickets are $200 and benefit the fight against childhood hunger. [Cakehead]
Soho: Pegu Club accused of shaking down its customers by pouring drinks that haven’t been ordered. [Majikthise]
South Hampton: Dune should pick up the slack where Cain left off. [Down by the Hipster]
Upper West Side: The lobby lounge of the Mandarin Oriental now has a cart offering $75 flutes of Dom Perignon, but at least the price includes dried fruit. [NYS] Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe hopes to see a bidding war over Warner LeRoy’s Tavern on the Green between top “concessionaires” including Dean Poll of the Boathouse and Danny Meyer. [NYO]
West Village: Awkward zoning prevents Camaje bistro on Macdougal Street from setting up outdoor seating, though it’s allowed for virtually all its dining neighbors. [NYP]

More: Neighborhood Watch »aquavit, buddakan, cain, camaje, danny meyer, dean poll, dune, east village, eleven madison park, forest hills, mandarin oriental, midtown west, pegu club, peter luger, soho, southhampton, taste of the nation, tavern on the green, trader joe's, upper west side, west village, williamsburg, yacht club

NewsFeed

5/15/07

1:22 PM

Absinthe Feels So Good When It Hits the U.S. Market

The original green-eyed monster.Photo: Courtesy of Lucid

As any frat boy can tell you, absinthe, the spirit of choice for Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Verlaine, was banned here in 1912 following rumors that its primary ingredient, grand wormwood, contained a psychosis-inducing hallucinogen called thujone — but now a Manhasset distributor Lucid has convinced the U.S. Alcohol-Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau that the green fairy is just as safe as any other liver-pickling, brain-shrinking alcohol on the market (even if the 124-proof booze’s alcohol content is more than 50 percent greater than that of vodka, rum, and most whiskeys).

More: NewsFeed »absinthe, employees only, lucid, nightlife, pegu club, stk

Openings

1/16/07

3:07 PM

Death & Co.: The Players, the Menu, the Magic

The bartender is on his way over from Pegu Club.Photo: Ben Ritter

There’s been a bit of intrigue about who’s behind the imposing wooden door of Death & Co., the two-week-old cocktail lounge and restaurant recently mentioned in the Times’ piece about not-so-secret secret bars. Though already slammed by a Friday-night crowd that has forced them to keep a waiting list, first-time owner David Kaplan and his partner Ravi DeRossi (who told us he was tripling the size of his other bar, the Bourgeois Pig) were perfectly willing to do roll call. No, the Reaper is not a partner: Head bartender Philip Ward of Pegu Club and Flatiron Lounge is joined by dapper drinksmiths Brian Miller (Pegu), Jim Kerns (Pegu and Freemans), and another chap who currently works at two high-end restaurants known for their cocktails (no truth to rumors that a Milk and Honey alumnus is involved). The startling lineup isn’t the only thing we came back with: We also scored the new drinks and dinner menus (the chef is the motorcycle-riding Frenchman Jacques Godin, former owner of B3). As for the cocktails, we’ll leave aside Kaplan’s claim that “it’s been 100 years since anyone made a cocktail worth a damn” and say merely that, from a newfangled old-fashioned that incorporates smoky mescal, agave nectar, and a flamed orange peel to a hot buttered rum made from butter that’s whipped and spiced in-house, their twists on the classics are worth a hot double damn. —Daniel Maurer

Death & Co., 433 E. 6th St., nr. First Ave.; 212-388-0882
Cocktail Menu
Dinner Menu

More: Openings »death and co, east village, flatiron lounge, freemans, nightlife, pegu club, speakeasies

Two for Eight

10/31/06

4:00 PM

Tables Open at Bette and Town; Pastis Mostly Booked

It's 4 p.m., and that means it's time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don't guarantee the results.) Today: Drinking destinations.