This was my first stab at reproducing a drink I had at Milk & Honey, a cocktail bar in the Lower East Side. Milk & Honey has been around since 2000, and may be single-handedly responsible for kicking off the speakeasy trend in New York City. In the past decade a number of bars have opened downtown, each boasting about serious mixology and decked out in Prohibition-era decor. Milk & Honey retains its authentic exclusivity, though. Unlike the other bars, you can’t just walk in. You can apply and pay for a membership, or obtain their phone number through some vague referral process. Once in possession of the number, you send them a text when you want to go, and they’ll text you back if they have an available space. Or not. There’s a certain chanciness and willingness to wait around implicit in the visit, but on the other hand, getting the text back is a mark of accomplishment. The bar is located through an unmarked door on Eldridge Street, and its windowless darkness and lack of crowds lends it an air of instant sophistication. In case you’re less than classy, rules of decorum are posted in the bathroom. There’s no menu, instead the bartender asks what you like… you know what, I’m not going to review Milk & Honey. Sure, the drinks were great but I’m not a member and I don’t have the damn number and for $15 a drink, I can buy the ingredients and go cocktail crazy at my house–which is EVEN MORE exclusive and has a better view.

So, one of the drinks I had at Milk & Honey that I really liked was the Paper Plane. If someone asks me what I want in a cocktail, the first thing I’ll say is I like bourbon and citrus, and dislike overly sweet things. This drink hit every mark. It’s dry, refreshing, and strikes a balance between the bourbon, lemon, bitter orange, and aperol, which is herbal and bittersweet. So, without further ado, the recipe:

3/4 ounce bourbon (I used Woodford Reserve)
3/4 ounce Amaro Nonino (I couldn’t find this and used Ramazotti)
3/4 ounce Aperol
3/4 ounce freshly-squeezed lemon
Shaken with ice and served in a coupe glass (I don’t have this so I used lowball glasses with big ice cubes so it doesn’t melt too fast and get watered down)

I noted the ingredients during my visit and grabbed the proportions from FoodandWine.com. The nice thing about cocktailing at home is that you can start tweaking the recipe to your tastes. I’m wondering how this might taste with scotch, but for a first try, this was dangerously tasty.

I’m not typically a hard cider drinker, but Etienne Dupont Cidre Triple is some very hard cider (10% ABV to be exact), so I figured if I didn’t like it I’d at least get drunk. I picked up this $9 bottle at Spuyten Duyvil Grocery after a brief exchange with a salesperson who looked and sounded as apathetic as I probably did when I had a soul-crushing retail job, with the added burden of living in the most expensive city in the country. So I am going to forgive it, lady, but I really feel that booze-buying should be more pleasurable than you are making it seem.

Although I chilled this for a reasonable amount of time, the stopper shot off the bottle as soon as I removed the cage, so I strongly caution you to think of this bottle as a weapon and aim away from your face or anyone else’s. It poured out golden brown and fizzy, and I could smell the booze straight away. The first sips confirmed—this is boozy, dry, and a little sour, with a hint of apples in the aftertaste. After an initial face-pucker over the sourness, it was drinkable enough. In fact it reminded me of Oude Geuze Boon, a sour lambic, but I like the Gueze better. I will say this isn’t like any hard cider I’ve had from the deli, and at least it isn’t sweet. But I think I’ll have to keep looking for the cider holy grail.

Sold at Spuyten Duyvil Grocery
218 Bedford Ave. between North 4th and North 5th.

I started this site four years ago and I don’t think I’ve ever gone this long without updating it. It’s gotten to the point where I feel guilty whenever I think about how long it’s been since I’ve posted. All I can say is I’ve been working very hard, not to mention playing around with Tumblr–which is great and all, but I have missed my site.

There’s one thing that’s been making life a little hectic, at least this week: I’m moving to Brooklyn, after living in the East Village for seven years. I have never lived anywhere this long and I have loved it here. Although I’m excited to be leaving, there are a few things I’m going to miss, like having so much good food mere inches away, at nearly all hours.

So I’ve been using the last few days in my neighborhood to hit all of my favorite spots one more time before I’m officially outta here. Last night’s dinner included Spicy Cumin Lamb burgers from Xi’an Famous Foods. Xi’an is a tiny noodle shop, but the burgers are what put it on the map. They pack about as much flavor as you can hope for in a $3 sandwich. The bread is stiff yet tender, rather like an arepa, and makes the perfect container for the moist and generously-spiced lamb. I always work up a low-grade sweat eating these but it is totally worth it. Best eaten on a dimly-lit and breezy Manhattan rooftop, or failing that, with cold water and napkins standing by.

It’s not like I’ll be moving far away but sometimes a little distance makes things seem a bit tastier.

Xi’an Famous Foods
81 St. Mark’s Place between First and Second Avenue
Locations in Chinatown and Flushing

I have mixed feelings about hops in beer. Too much can tip an IPA from outstanding to borderline undrinkable. But since most beers use a combination of different hops, I never thought much about their distinct flavors. That’s part of the reason why I’m really enjoying Mikkeller’s single hop IPA series. By using a common base and focusing on a single variety of hops in each brew, this series showcases different hoppy characteristics in a way I’ve never experienced before. So far I’ve tried the Nelson Sauvin Single Hop, which is crisp, dry and citrusy, with a hint of spice and a thick, foamy head. The Simcoe Single Hop packed more of a punch flavor-wise: lots of pine and bitterness, with a bit of citrus and malt coming through. Due to the intense flavors, these beers are best enjoyed in small quantities. Both are 6.9% ABV and available at Whole Foods beer room for typical fancy beer prices ($5.99 for 12 oz).

Mikkeller is a wildly prolific Danish brewery, having launched 76 new beers in 2010. I’m looking forward to digging deeper into their beer list.

Available at Whole Foods Beer Room
95 East Houston Street between Chrystie and Bowery

I didn’t think DBGB was my kind of place. The name itself seemed like an unnecessary wink at the gentrification that’s been creeping up the Bowery above Houston Street. The shell of CBGB, a block away, has become a marketplace for designer fashion, and the upscale hotels and condos popping up around it are rapidly transforming the strip into a frolicking ground for the rich and fabulous. DBGB, housed in one of these shiny new monoliths, is chef Daniel Boulud’s take on a gastropub, and reading about his restaurant Daniel–considered one of the best in New York–is what finally piqued my interest in the downtown spot. Even though the menu is essentially comfort food, everything we had was excellent. In fact, this was one of the best meals I’ve had in a while.

We arrived at around 7:30 on a Friday evening, hoping that even though the dining room was booked (in fact, there were no reservations available until Monday) we could snag a table in the cafe area. We were seated immediately at the bar, where the full menu is offered. Although it was roomy enough for two people, it would probably be awkward seating for more. We did have a couple hovering behind us for part of the night but since we were seated with our backs to the room, the scene behind us hardly seemed to matter.

I started out with a pear sidecar cocktail, with Bulleit bourbon, peat liqueur, lemon, and rhubarb bitters ($12). If you like potent cocktails with just a hint of sweetness, this was a solid drink. I followed that up with the special beer on tap, a malty Hof Ten Dormaal dark farmhouse ale ($11). I’m not sure if this is regularly offered, but either way, beer lovers won’t be disappointed with the over 20 beers on tap, including a bevvy of Belgians.

For an entree I ordered steak frites ($28). The steak was a 10 oz black angus New York strip topped with peppered butter. I ordered it medium to medium well and it arrived I bit more well done than I would have liked, but it was tender and perfectly seasoned. The fries were fantastic, with a perfect thickness and crisp outer shell. The steak came with a small salad of watercress dressed with zesty vinaigrette, and I also ordered a side of buttery broccoli rabe ($7) for added greenery. It was a good-sized portion, and anyone who knows me knows I rarely clean my plate. This time I ate ALL OF IT.

My dinner companion ordered the house-made pappardelle bourguignon, with slow-cooked brisket, red wine, pear onions, mushrooms, smoked bacon, and herbs ($23). This was a perfect example of how comfort food can be both simple and complex. The sweet roasted tomatoes contrasted with salty cuts of bacon, which managed to be both chewy and crisp. I would order this on my next visit.

For dessert we split the sticky toffee pudding. This isn’t regularly on the menu, since our server mentioned it was a winter dessert, but it should be. The toffee pudding was warm and similar to bread pudding in texture, with sweetness provided by chopped prunes. It was served with poached pineapples and kalamansi sorbet, which added a bit of cold, citrusy sourness, and topped with a paper-thin piece of caramelized sugar. We chased the various ingredients around the plate with our spoons, trying to catch all the flavors in one epic bite.

Our bill came to $128 for four drinks, two entrees, a side, and a dessert. In other words, Snackish will not be frolicking with the rich and fabulous on a regular basis, but on this night, it was money well spent.

DBGB Kitchen & Bar
299 Bowery between E. Houston and 1st St.
Reservations recommended for the dining room