Best of Lounge - 2018

Fredo Ceraso is this year's Lounger Number 1 despite his ardent protests.
He humbly accepted the award at the Loungerati Staff Beefsteak Dinner held on Repeal Weekend in NYC.

Wow! 2018 done already? What happened? It was a blur and we are looking forward to the last year of the "teens". Loungerati's 2018 Best of Lounge Awards go to:

Lounge Scene Awards 

Best Burlesque Act or Performer*: Francine The Lucid Dream's Pink Room Burlesque, NYC

Honorable Mention: Gin Minsky, Miss Puss-n-Boots, Gal Friday, Glitter Gutter at Slipper Room

Francine The Lucid Dream & Friends

* Editor's Note: We could probably list dozens of terrific shows, performances, and acts that Francine was involved with this year - it is truly remarkable. We are convinced she must have doppelgangers to do it all and wish her best of luck with her nomination for Broadway World Cabaret Awards Best Burlesque Show!! 

Diane L. Naegel Award for Best Lounge or Vintage Event: Don Spiro's Green Fairy at the Red Room  

Honorable Mention: Dances of Vice - Great Gatsby Party, The Easter Parade, Loungerati Beefsteak Dinner

Viva La Musica Award for Best Jazz, Lounge, or Swing Band: The Glenn Crytzer Orchestra

Honorable Mention: Brian Newman, Dandy Wellington & His Band, Michael Arenella's Dreamland Orchestra

Glenn Crytzer

Most Sought After Ingredient or Bar Tool for the Home Bar: Nikka Coffey Gin

Honorable Mention: Bigallet 'China-China' Amer, I Just Came for the Drinks by Sother Teague, Old Overholt Bonded Rye

Best Dressed Lounger: Ashton "Dandy Dillinger" Warren 

Honorable Mention: Eff "Occhi Azzurri" Blangiardo, Brian "Showboat" Newman, Lesley "Jee-Jee" Martin

Dandy Dillinger with Don Spiro of Green Fairy

Cocktail Bars and Lounges

Best New Cocktail Bar or Lounge: Tie: Katana Kitten (West Village) & Osamil (Midtown)

Honorable mention: The Polynesian (Times Square), Gibson & Luce (Midtown), George Washington Bar at Freehand Hotel (Gramercy)

Ben Rojo of GW Bar & Jelo of Osamil at Osamil

Best New York Cocktail Bar or Lounge: Dante (Greenwich Village)

Honorable Mention: Long Island Bar (Cobble Hill), The Dead Rabbit (FIDI), Clover Club (Boerum Hill), Dear Irving (Union Square)

Best Barfood: Korean Fried Chicken at Osamil (Midtown) 

Honorable Mention: Deviled Eggs at Ward III (Tribeca), Steak Tartare at Employees Only (West Village), Katsu Sando at Bar Moga (Greenwich Village)

Best of the New York Hotel Bars: Rum House at Hotel Edison(Times Square)

Honorable Mention: Lantern's Keep at the Iroquois (Times Square), Nomad at Nomad Hotel (Midtown), Gin Parlour at Intercontinental Hotel (Midtown)

Best Cocktail of 2018: The Calpico Swizzle (Bombay Sapphire East, Nigori Sake, Calpico, lime, sansho pepper, blanc de blanc)at Katana Kitten (West Village)

Honorable Mention: K-Town Sidecar at Osamil (Midtown), Commodore Perry Cooler at George Washington Bar(Gramercy), Permanent Vacation at Grand Banks (Tribeca)

Calpico Swizzle at Katana Kitten

Editors and Staff Picks:

Best Seat in the House: Dug Out seat at Ward III (Tribeca)

Honorable mention: Snug booth at Dead Rabbit's refurbished Tap Room, the seat farthest from Phil Ward in Long Island Bar or Rockwell Place, & F14 at Clover Club of course when in Brooklyn (natch!)

Affinity Cocktail with Harleston Green Blended Scotch and
Deviled Eggs in the Dug Out Seat at Ward III

Best Cocktail for the Road**: Army & Navy Cocktail (London Dry Gin, Lemon, Housemande Orgeat) at Flatiron Lounge (Chelsea)

Honorable Mention: Irish Coffee at Dead Rabbit (FiDi), Ichi-mas Boilermaker (Sapporo lager & Toki Japanese Whiskey) at Katana Kitten (West Village), The Derelict (rums, bourbon, banana, cinnamon, passion fruit, absinthe and juices) at Polynesian (Midtown West)

Army & Navy Cocktail at Flatiron Lounge (RIP)

**Editor's Note: The last cocktail we ordered at Flatiron Lounge the week before it closed was the classic Army & Navy. What a way to say good-bye to a cocktail stalwart!

Best Saloon: Hanks Saloon (Boerum Hill) 

Honorable Mention: Hudson Malone (Midtown East), American Whiskey (Midtown), The Gaf West (Hell's Kitchen)

Best NY Tiki Experience: Exotica Night at Raines Law Room (Midtown)
Honorable Mention: The Polynesian (Midtown West), Sunken Harbor at Ft Defiance (Red Hook), Cellar 335 (Jersey City)

Best of the Internationals: El Pequeno Bar (Montreal)

Honorable Mention: American Bar at Savoy Hotel (London), Fifty Mils (Mexico D.F.)

*NEW* Best American Cocktail Bar (ex-NYC) Visited in 2018: Water Witch (SLC)

Honorable Mention: Rosina (Las Vegas), Lost Lake (Chicago), Sweet Liberty Drinks & Supply Co. (Miami)

Best Dive aka "The Gutter Award": Hanks Saloon (Boerum Hill)

Honorable Mention: Jimmy's Corner (Times Square), Nancy Whiskey Pub (Tribeca), Tracks in Penn Station (Midtown) 

Was lucky enough to have a last drink served by
veteran bartender Jeannie Talierico. Thanks for the memories!  

Brian F. Paynter Award for Lounger Number One: Fredo "Don't Give Me this Award" Ceraso 

Honorable mention: David "GOH" Talaga, Joe "The Leisure Master" Desmond, Don "Mr. Absinthe" Spiro

Lastly, the New York cocktail bar scene lost too many of our favorite watering holes this past year. Flatiron Lounge, Julie Reiner's pioneering cocktail bar served its last drink after almost 15 years, Hanks Saloon, the iconic downtown Brooklyn dive bar shuttered, as did relative new comers Suffolk Arms. We will miss these joints and fondly remember the good times, friendships made, and hospitality.

Til' the next Manhattans!

- The Loungerati

Happy New Year!

This Week in Lounge: May 21st - 27th

Doppelgänger Alert at the Pink Room!

There are lots of great events happening around town this week but we hard boiled them down to our top three lounge picks. First, take a surreal trip into the double vision world of David Lynch's Twin Peaks curated by burlesque temptress Francine The Lucid Dream. Then sport your finest vintage inspired threads and get your jazz fix on at a double header of Jazz Age Harlem and Dorothy Parker Wit's End madness! Make sure a gin martini is in your mix.

Tuesday, May 22nd
The Pink Room David Lynch Burlesque: Donuts & Doppelgängers
at Parkside Lounge
 
“She's my cousin... but doesn't she look almost exactly like Laura Palmer?” – The Man From Another Place

Hosted by: Schaffer the Darklord and his doppelgänger
Performances by: Amelia Bareparts, Apathy Angel, Bettina May, Gemini Rising, Legs Malone & Francine “The Lucid Dream”
Go-Go by doppelgängers: Foxy Vermouth & Satanica

Those who have been following the adventures of Francine “The Lucid Dream” this past year will know that she is no stranger to sweet treats or dual-identities. While everyone is familiar with the tasty donuts that often frequent Francine’s David Lynch Burlesque shows, not everyone has faced their own doppelgänger. This is not a celebrity Facebook profile picture, this is a double walker of a paranormal and spiritual nature with a very Lynchian twist on it. Come meet Agent Cooper – both of them! If Laura Palmer won’t talk to you, maybe her brunette cousin, Madeline, will!

If you bring your own doppelgänger, he or she gets in free! (This applies to actual identical twins or people in convincing Lynchian costume. If a dwarf brings in an arm, they both get in free!)

Parkside Lounge
317 East Houston Street 
$10 advanced tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/246701
$15 at the door
21+, 2 drink minimum 


Friday, May 25th
The Esquire Room with Dandy Wellington and His Band
at The Rum House


Step into the era of elegance and class where fancy was in fashion and fantasies began with the pop of a cork. Enter a place where the crowd is sophisticated and melodies float through the room like bubbles in a glass of champagne. Dandy Wellington and His Band invite you... to engage in a night of sartorial splendor, majestic music and lavish libations, where the sounds of Jazz Age Harlem come alive under the lights of Broadway. 

The Rum House
at the Edison Hotel
47th btw Broadway and 8th Ave
9:30pm-12:30am
Free
 
Saturday, May 26th
Wit’s End and the Dorothy Parker Society invite you to celebrate the social life of the Jazz Age with Gelber and Manning!

Come in your finest 1920s & 1930s vintage or vintage inspired evening attire and celebrate in style with live hot jazz, vintage cocktails and good times!

Free dance lesson at 8:30 with instructors Jeri Lynn Astra and Neal Groothuis

Live jazz from Wit’s End regulars Gelber and Manning! Playing traditional jazz, vaudeville music and new songs from the turn of the century, Gelber and Manning are a Brooklyn-based musical vaudeville duo, comprised of Jesse Gelber on piano and Kate Manning on vocals.

Kimberly Fay Greenberg (One Night With Fanny Brice) will be a special guest in our salute to vaudeville!

Dress code:  Coat and tie for gents, cocktail/evening attire for ladies. 1920s, 30s and 40s vintage is encouraged!

Flute Midtown
205 West 54th Street (near Broadway)
$12 at the door

7pm-Midnight