lower manhattan cocktail crawl.

Sasha had a few places in mind. The type that are deep in the ground and have seemingly pointless waits for cocktails that take a highly skilled barkeep five minutes to swizzle together...

We started at the Little Branch, an underground that you get to through an unmarked door, down steep steps. It feels as though minimal efforts were put into the decor: items found in second hand stores, dim lights and bartenders with bow ties. A few patrons leaned back in Zoot suits. The West Village venue is owned by the same folks that started the East Side Bar Company, which is clear in the detail and seriousness that goes into crafting their cocktails. I sipped on the Cuban Cocktail No. 3, Vadim salivated over his hot buttered rum, Brad and Sasha each had flips, then some sort of spicy gin mojito each.


The next line we stood in was at Pegu Club on W. Houston in SoHo. We checked our coats and pulled ourselves up the amber lit stairs into a room racketing loud converstation back and forth. I pushed up to the bar counter to order Vadim an Earl Grey Martini and a Pepper Pepper cocktail for myself.

The bartender's face was velvet in concentration and passion as he rhythmically measured each ingredient into the shakers, muddled and shimmied. The Earl Grey Martini frofthy and creamy with raw egg...the Pepper Pepper in a word: divine. Muddled peppers, Herradura tequila, elderflower liquor and a chili pepper floating.


Sasha insisted on the Gin Gin Mojito (gin and ginger made up this tart and spicy drink), Brad continued with his egg based cocktails and order the Earl Grey along side Vadim. At this point in the evening, we decided to forge on to somewhere with lower ticket priced cocktails and some sort of sustinence.


Enroute to Cooper 35, we discovered this moveable statue. Admittedly, Sasha and myself didn't quite have the muscle to move the statue alone. Vadim stepped in. It got to swirling...


At Cooper 35, we somehow negotiated our way past the line (by insisting that we would sit at a table for two, although we were four, and that we would be ordering food in addition to cocktails). I sipped on the offensive Blue Hawaiian (definitely had a stomach ache when I woke in the morning), Sasha the creamy orangecicile, and I'm lost in the rest. I do remember enjoying Beef Negumaki, Black Bean Gyoza and Sasha attempting the Beef Pad Thai.