As soon as we walked into the Second Annual Taste of Greenmarket benefit last night, one thing was immediately clear: It’s no accident that New York’s most lauded chefs are also those most dedicated to the farmers’ market. Read more »

Clink glasses with Julie Reiner and David Wondrich at Clover Club.

Every joker with access to a hot plate and a Boston shaker is doing supper clubs these days. But count on Clover Club—a 2009 Eat Out Award winner and perhaps the city’s greatest cocktail bar—to do it right.

What does “doing it right” entail? David Wondrich, for one. The cocktail historian will be on hand during a cocktail hour to talk timeless tipples with CC owner Julie Reiner. Next up is a three-course meal from chef Craig Rivard (rack of lamb, “Statesman Soup” with quail confit), paired with wine. If you didn’t know Clover Club had (a) a chef and (b) a wine list, well, now you know. The cost: a pricey but likely worth-it $135 (plus tax and tip).

Jim Meehan didn't become the world's best hot-dog server—but the snacks help.

Yes, we know we said we were done with TOTC coverage, but we neglected one very important item: a big fat congratulations to barkeep Jim Meehan, who was named Best American Bartender at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirit Awards on Saturday night. His bar, PDT, scored special honors, earning the title of World’s Best Cocktail Bar.

Meehan beat out some serious competition, including his own mentor Audrey Saunders (of Pegu Club, which was knighted Best American Bar). Other NYC notables included Clover Club (World’s Best New Cocktail Bar). Handshakes all around.

Glick-tim No. 2

The Glick breaks out his jeans and sneakers for a visit to Clover Club (oh, how the prim barkeep must have swooned). His poison of choice: a bowl of Harvest Punch as dictated in TONY’s 100 Best List. The elegant decor made him want to “talk in a British accent, saying, ‘Yes…indeed’ as I held a cigar,” and he likes the punch so much that he “could be quite content to sit around for an afternoon with some friends and finish off a bowl…or two.” He then skips over to Red Hook, where he hits Ferdinando’s Focacceria, finding the panelle sandwich “inexpensive, filling and delicious.” He can “think of no better vehicle for transporting food to mouth than the soft, warm homemade bun.” Would you feel the same way about the spleen sammie, Glick?

Related: 100 Best Food and Drink of 2008

A sampling of bitters. (Photo: Michael Anstendig)

Cocktail bitters, unsung heroes of the libation world, got their props yesterday at Julie Reiner’s Clover Club in Brooklyn. Artisanal drink jockeys like Jim Meehan and Don Lee (PDT), Alex Day and Joaquin Simo (Death & Company) and even the honorable king of cocktails, Dale DeGroff, were on hand for an educational immersion into this macerated realm. Read more »

Love the pig at Salumeria Rosi. (Photo by Roxana Marroquin)

As usual, the Eat Out section is shaping up to be a very bad influence indeed. Gout or no gout, the focus of the latest issue is alcohol, pork and more pork, and then another drink (a slew of NYC-inspired cocktails, to be exact). On the pig front, our critic Jay Cheshes gives his blessing to the Upper West Side’s dry-cured emporium Salumeria Rosi (recommending, above all else, the delectable meats), and Char No. 4 gets a shout-out for its economical (six pieces for $4) and altogether evil pork nuggets—a discerning person’s scrapple, if you will. Read more »

Bartending’s hairiest event took place on December 30 at the closing ceremony for the 2008 Papa Doble Beard-Off. Read more »

One person's vision of heaven—or the (ri)1 launch party.

With a name guaranteed to raise an eyebrow, (ri)1, a new rye whiskey, made its New York City debut at The Eldridge earlier this week. Pronounced “rye one,” it’s a high-style take on an often overlooked spirit that has resisted a remake to date. Aged an average of 4.5 years in oak barrels, (ri)1 has a slightly sweeter profile than most and a tad less funk, making it “more accessible to a broader audience,” according to Allen Katz, the bearded rye maven extraordinaire. At 92 proof, it held its own when mixed in cocktails by the striking Katie Stipe of Clover Club renown. Read more »