#44: Happenin' Scene

Growing up my family used a lot of weird phrases (mostly taken from my moms imaginative brain... for example "I had a crazy hare", and "If that's true I'll eat my hat". Recently when out for fancy schmancy cocktails, the one that came to mind is: "the men in the white coats are your friends" (as in your acting so crazy I am calling the asylum to come get you. Don't resist them).

While in the above example this is questionable, at Apotheke the men in the white coats really are your friends... They are the bartenders. Sporting lab coats and the ubiquitous handle bar mustache (popularized by Mister Monopoly and Brooklyn), they sit behind a bar of test tubes, beakers and I imagine there is a bunsen burner somewhere. They need all these tools for good reason. The cocktails are elaborate and delicious. You can choose by type of spirit, and since mine is always with whiskey I had:

IRRITABLE SCOTSMAN*

Aged Scotch Whiskey, Muddled Plum, Cardamon, House

Elderflower Bitters, Agave Honey

and

BLOOD ORANGE BOURBON SOUR

Blood Orange, Bourbon, Lime, Sugar Cane,

Egg White, Blood Orange Bitters

The thing I liked most about this place in comparison to other high end cocktail spots the wait for your concoction is brief. Despite being packed, the place is small and cavernous and the bartenders are many. Which is smart because they also work nicely as decoration. As for the location, ever been to epcot and walked around the fake streets of Italy and France ? (confession: I am from Florida). This particular one block stretch in Chinatown feels just like that: quaint and surprisingly rodent free (you know you've been in new York for a while when you look around and say "hey, there are no rats!)

As for price... Let's just say if you plan on getting drunk here it'll cost ya. I had negative money in the sky after this one (then again when have I paid attention to that)