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Sip & Guzzle

New York

Where Japanese and American bar cultures meet

For industry insiders, New York City's Sip & Guzzle represents a dream team of global bar talent. For the uninitiated, the Greenwich Village hotspot is simply the city's hottest bar.

Sip & Guzzle is an offshoot of Japanese maestro, Shingo Gokan's Tokyo masterpiece, SG Club. SG spawned an empire that includes a record number of The 50 Best Bars entries, including the (now closed) The Odd Couple, a collaboration with Employees Only legend Steve Schneider. At Sip & Guzzle, Schneider returns to his hometown to lead half of the bi-level concept.

Upstairs Schneider presides over Guzzle, a warm, brick and wood filled saloon. A lively, multigenerational crowd sips on Japanese beers, venerated highballs, and easy-quaffing cocktails. A marriage of gin, sweet vermouth and strawberry-infused cocktail bitters is fat washed into the crowd favourite, the Miami Vice Negroni. Downstairs, there is a more structured Japanese programme in a small rice paper-lined room evocative of the Edo era. Here, the negroni riff, Negroni in the Shade, is more complex, a slower sip featuring a white negroni base infused with melon, kiwi and Japanese green tea.

On both floors, the elite food is the work of executive chef Isaac Leidenfrost, formerly of Brooklyn restaurant Aska. Keeping with the lighter vibes upstairs, the Guzzle menu features dishes like the Electric Chicken. Downstairs, Bagale embraces super-premium ingredients presented in a fun fashion. The undisputed king is the Royale with Cheese Meal, a Japanese wagyu sandwich perched in a gleaming gold container, accompanied by an alcoholic take on a Cherry Cola Float.

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