The weekend is the perfect time to experiment with making homemade cocktails, and, luckily for residents of ARO, they have plenty of neighborhood bar options to inspire them. Each has its own atmosphere, and with one of their signature cocktails, you can bring a bit of them home with you today.
With a history that has featured more than 90 years of sports teams celebrating wins, celebrities receiving accolades for outstanding performances, and industrial titans sealing deals over glasses of Scotch, Gallaghers Steakhouse is as storied as a place can be in the metropolis of NYC. Excellent service, USDA prime dry-aged beef, and hickory coal grilling all make for a memorable experience. The Ziegfeld Follies was invented a few years back for the restaurant’s reopening and brings together 4 thin slices of cucumber, ½ ounce of honey syrup, 1 ounce of fresh grapefruit juice, and 2½ ounces of Spring44 Honey vodka. Add these things together and then strain into your favorite cocktail glass.
It’s true that you can’t replicate The Rum House: the piano player plunking out jazz standards, the copper and wood decor, and, of course, Times Square’s ambient dulcet tones infiltrating the front of the house. Thankfully, you can still bring that classic spirit from one of NYC’s best cocktail bars into your own home with just the right pretheater drink or nightcap. Nothing can be simpler to make, or tastier to drink, than a Rum Old Fashioned. All you need is 2 ounces of Brugal Anéjo Rum, 2 dashes of orange bitters, a splash of water, a teaspoon of sugar, and an orange peel to garnish. Put the sugar and bitters in a rocks glass with an ice cube, stir until the melting ice dissolves the sugar, add 3 more cubes with the rum, stir for another minute, and then squeeze the orange peel into the concoction to release some of its oil. Garnish with the orange peel, make a toast to the best of times, and enjoy.
The Iridium, an NYC landmark known for hosting the world’s best blues, jazz, and rock acts in its intimate performance space, draws iconic performers and emerging artists every night of the week. While the wine list is truly where it’s at for drinks at The Iridium, they’re also utterly capable of making a refreshing NY Cosmopolitan. Start with 4 ounces of lemon vodka, ½ ounce Cointreau, 2 ounces cranberry, and 1½ ounces of lime juice. Place all ingredients and ice in a cocktail shaker and shake to combine and chill. Fill a few glasses with ice and pour over both in equal quantities. Garnish each with a lime twist to add a bit of visual panache and serve immediately.
The best of NYC still shows through, and that includes its food and drink scene. Sweet, spicy, complex, or simple, new flavor profiles await, ready to excite the senses, as do old classics to ease and comfort you. ARO’s no-fee apartments in Manhattan are just around the way from some of the finest places to relax and appreciate a good drink. So, bring it home, mix your versions of the neighborhood’s most appealing cocktails, and raise a glass to the future of these institutions—and your future too. Here’s to NYC.
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