Last night was a busy one in the restaurant world. Uptown Salumeria Rosi celebrated its first birthday; near Gramercy Park, the Maialino crew gave it a go on opening night; and elsewhere in the Danny Meyer empire, Eleven Madison Park toasted its 11th year in service.

The latter bash was an elegant one, as we’ve come to expect from the Meyer contingent. Read more »

Back in September, we highlighted one of our favorite drinks of the moment: the pisco sour at Yerba Buena. The classic frothy beverage combines pisco (Peru’s national grape brandy) with lime juice, egg white and bitters. The brand used at Yerba Buena is called Macchu Pisco, and it’s been popping up on cocktail menus throughout the city, along with its two sister labels—La Diablada and Ñusta—from the same family-owned company. To get a better sense of just how bartenders are using the spirit right now, TONY tagged along with Macchu Pisco owners (and sisters) Lizzie and Melanie Asher on a high-octane bar crawl covering Death & Company, PDT, The Crosby Bar, Summit Bar, Yerba Buena, wd~50 and Apothéke. Take a look at the slide show for highlights of the tour, and read after the jump to sharpen your pisco knowledge. Read more »

Joaquin Simo with Charlotte Voisey of Hendricks gin (Photo: Daniel Krieger)

Why was Joaquin Simo so smiley at last week’s Tales of the Cocktail? It wasn’t the liquid lightning pulsing through his veins. Simo tells us that after more than two years of battling the State Liquor Authority, his East Village tipular temple Death & Company has finally nailed down its liquor license. Read more »

The mixed grill at the Flying Cow (Photo: Jeff Gurwin)

The following new bars and restaurants are scheduled to open by May 6; always call ahead to confirm before heading out:

Mayahuel Death & Company co-owner Ravi DeRossi and mixologist Philip Ward are behind this cocktail bar devoted to tequila, mescal and Mexican eats. The bi-level space features a tiled bar serving tipples like the Watermelon Sugar (watermelon, sugarcane syrup, lime, mescal and tequila). Upstairs, a 20-foot-wide stained-glass tarantula chandelier lords over a dining area offering tapas-size dishes such as a baby lamb taquito. 304 E 6th St between First and Second Aves (no phone yet) Read more »

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 »

A row of tinctures

Leave it to Don Lee and Alex Day—the charismatic warlocks of PDT and Death & Company—to do what Mr. Wizard never could. Friday night’s Cocktail Chemistry class at the Astor Center focused on infusions—both the kind that yield commercial products (gin, vermouth) and the sort of inventive alchemy that produces potable juggernauts like PDT’s bacon old-fashioned. Oh, what fun chemistry can be when your cheeks are flushed and there’s no jock threatening you with a Bunsen burner. Read more »

The Brooklyn cocktail at Weatherup

There’s just no end to drinking Brooklyn’s health these days. TONY’s recent feature article on the new wealth of cocktails named after New York neighborhoods mentions the Little Italy, the Greenpoint, the Brooklyn Heights, the Red Hook and the Slope—all descendants of the age-old Manhattan and Brooklyn cocktails. But that’s just half of the story. Before going to print, we already knew of a Cobble Hill and a Bensonhurst cocktail (which you can learn more about after the jump). Since the piece was published, signature libations for Carroll Gardens and Bushwick have come out of the woodwork. Continue reading for recipes and lore. 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 »