Best of Lounge 2012 - Winners

Lounger Number One for 2012 awarded posthumously to the impresario, Brian F. Paynter.
(Artwork by Dave Stolte)

The Loungerati readers have voted via PollDaddy for the 2012 Best of Lounge Awards and the results are in:

Lounge Scene Awards 

Best Burlesque Act or Performer: THE MINSKY SISTERS
Honorable Mention: Francine "The Lucid Dream", Angie Pontani, Grace Gotham

Diane L. Naegel Award for Best Lounge or Vintage Event: JAZZ AGE LAWN PARTY AT GOVERNOR'S ISLAND
Honorable Mention: Club Wit's End - A Monthly Celebration of the Jazz Age,  Liberty Belle Fourth of July Spectacular at the Empire Hotel, The Salon's New Year's Eve Eve Party

Viva La Musica Award for Best Jazz, Lounge, or Swing Band: MICHAEL ARENELLA & HIS DREAMLAND ORCHESTRA
Honorable Mention: Gelber & Manning, Ray Gelato & City Rhythm Orchestra, Queen Esther & Her Hot Five

Most Sought After Ingredient for the Home Bar: PERRY'S TOT NAVY STRENGTH GIN from New York Distilling Company

Honorable Mention: Dale DeGroff's Pimento Aromatic Bitters, Home Bar Basics (and not so basics) manual by Dave Stolte, Bittermens Amere Sauvage

Best Dressed Lounger: GIN MINSKY of the Minsky Sisters
Honorable Mention: Brian F. Paynter, Jack Newcastle, Dandy Wellington

Brian F. Paynter Award for Lounger Number One: BRIAN F. PAYNTER (Impresario)
Honorable Mention: Nicole Desmond, Eff from Loungerati, Mr. Gotham 

Cocktail Bars and Lounges

Best New Cocktail Bar or Lounge: THE SHANTY (Brooklyn)
Honorable mention:  Experimental Cocktail Club - LES (New York), Middle Branch (New York), Pouring Ribbons (New York)

Best Veteran Cocktail Bar or Lounge: CLOVER CLUB (Brooklyn)
Honorable Mention: PDT (New York), Death & Company (New York), Fort Defiance (Brooklyn)

Best Barfood: The Prime Meats Burger - PRIME MEATS (Brooklyn)
Honorable Mention: Deviled Eggs with Four Flavors - Clover Club (Brooklyn),  The Cubano - DeCoursey's Side Car (Brooklyn), Derby Cobb Salad - Astor Room (Queens)

David A. Embury Award for Best Cocktail of 2012: SAUVETAGE, Nate Dumas for The Shanty (Brooklyn)

Honorable Mention: Death & Taxes by Joaquin Simo for Pouring Ribbons (New York), KYPX by Franky Marshall for Monkey Bar (New York), Absinthe Colada by Maxwell Britten for Maison Premiere (Brooklyn)

Editor and Staff Picks:
Best Seat in the House: The "Regular" at EMPLOYEES ONLY (New York)
Honorable mention: Back window seat at Rum House (New York), F14 at Clover Club (Brooklyn), Any bar seat at the original Milk & Honey (New York)

Best Cocktail for the Road: Fernet Branca Bottle Service at BOURGEOIS PIG BROOKLYN (Brooklyn)
Honorable Mention: Underberg bitters at Prime Meats (Brooklyn), Hanky Panky at American Bar, Savoy Hotel (London), Boulevardier  at Lantern's Keep (New York)

Best Saloon: WARD III (New York)
Honorable Mention: Daddy-O (New York), The Richardson (Brooklyn), Manifesto (Kansas City)

Best of the Internationals: ARTESIAN BAR at LANGHAM HOTEL (London)
Honorable Mention:  American Bar at the Savoy Hotel (London), Happiness Forgets (London), Upstairs at Callooh Callay (London)

Best of the NY Hotel Bars: THE RUM HOUSE at EDISON HOTEL (New York)

Honorable Mention: Library Bar at NoMad Hotel (New York), Lantern's Keep at the Iroquois Hotel (New York), Breslin Bar at Ace Hotel (New York)

Best Dive aka "The Gutter Award": JIMMY'S CORNER (New York)

Honorable Mention: Jackies Fifth Amendment (Brooklyn), Montero Bar & Grill(Brooklyn), Arthur's Tavern (New York)

Don't Bruise the Ice Award for Best Ice Program: MIDDLE BRANCH (New York)

Honorable Mention: Dutch Kills Bar (Queens), Weather Up Tribeca (New York), Artesian Bar at Langham Hotel (London)

The back bar at THE SHANTY

Best New Cocktail Bar/Lounge: The SHANTY

Best of Lounge 2012 - The Voting Begins

The Lounger Number One Award
dedicated to the late Brian F. Paynter

Welcome to the Best of Lounge 2012 Voting!



The categories open for your vote are:  
Best New Bar/Lounge

• Pouring Ribbons 
• Experimental Cocktail Club - LES 
• NoMad Hotel Bar
• Middle Branch
• Gin Palace
• The Shanty
• Donna
• Bourgeois Pig Brooklyn
• JBird 
• Tooker Alley

Best Veteran Bar/Lounge 

• Clover Club
• PDT
• Death & Company
• Ward III
• Employees Only
• Fort Defiance
• Daddy-O
• Little Branch
• Rum House
• Pegu Club 

Most Sought After Ingredient/Bar tool for the Home Bar

• Perry's Tot Navy Strength Gin from New york Distilling Company
• Dale DeGroff's Pimento Aromatic Bitters 
• Mexican Beehive Juicer
• "Home Bar Basics (and not so basics)" manual by Dave Stolte
• Monkey Shoulder Blended Malt Scotch from William Grant portfolio
• Bittermens Amer Sauvage
• Barman's Rucksack by Gin & Luck
• Tuthilltown Distillery Barrel Aging Kit

Best Barfood 

• Serbian Charcuterie at Employees Only
• Deviled Eggs with Four Flavors at Clover Club
• The Cubano at DeCoursey's SideCar 
• Chargrilled Lamb Burger at Breslin Bar
• The Prime Meats Burger at Prime Meats
• Mutton Chop and escarole at Keens Steakhouse
• Roasted Bone Marrow at Minetta Tavern
• Derby Cobb Salad at the Astor Room

Best Burlesque Act or Performance 

• Angie Pontani of the World Famous Pontani Sisters
• Medianoche Ber Lesque
• Nikki Le Villain's "Egyptian Snake Dance"
• Grace Gotham
• Hazel Honeysuckle
• Jo Boobs Weldan's Pink Light Burlesque
• The Minsky Sisters
• Calamity "The Asian Sexation" Chang
• Francine "The Lucid Dream" and her show - The Pink Room: David Lynch Burlesque

Best Dressed Lounger

• Brian F. Paynter
• Gin Minsky
• Eff from Loungerati
• Michael Haar
• David Lochner
• Jack Newcastle
• Angie Pontani
• Dandy Wellington

Diane L. Naegel Award for Best Lounge or Vintage Event

• Club Wit's End
• Jazz Age Picnic at Governor's Island
• The Salon: New Year's Eve Eve 
• Sweetheart Soiree at the Bogardus Mansion
• Liberty Belle Fourth of July Spectacular at the Empire Hotel

Brian F. Paynter Award: Lounger Number One

• Brian F. Paynter
• Nicole Desmond
• Eff from Loungerati
• Mr. Gotham
• Marlo Gamora

Viva La Music Award: Best Jazz/Swing/Lounge Band

• Michael Arenella & The Dreamland Orchestra
• Ray Gelato & City Rhythm Orchestra at the Blue Note
• George Gee Swing Orchestra
• Gelber & Manning
• Drew Nugent & The Midnight Society
• Dandy Wellington & His Band
• J Walter Hawkes Trio 
• Queen Esther & Her Hot Five

David A. Embury Award: Best Cocktail of 2012

• Death & Taxes by Joaquin Simo, Pouring Ribbons
• Sauvetage by Nate Dumas, The Shanty
• Clip Joint Cup, NoMad Hotel Bar
• KYPX, by Franky Marshall of Monkey Bar
• The MI5, Gin Palace 
• Maison Absinthe Colada, Maxwell Britten of Maison Premiere

Additional categories will be voted by the Loungerati editors and include:

• Best Saloon
• Best Seat in the House
• Best Cocktail for the Road
• Best of the International Bars
• Best Hotel Bar
• Best Dive aka the Gutter Award
• Don't Bruise The Ice Award for Premier Ice Program

Deadline to cast your votes is November 30th, the winners will be announced on Loungerati's 6th birthday Dec 5th (Repeal Day of course).

Cheers!

Fredo, Eff, & The Senator

(Photo courtesy of Lynn Redmile Photography)

In Memoriam: Brian Paynter

Some words from the Editors

Fredo, Bernard, Brian, and Eff at Monkey Bar, NYC - February 2012

Brian Paynter (April 22, 1954  - October 24, 2012)

This week we lost one of our own.  The venerable Brian Paynter was an iconoclast and true original. When he walked into a room, he exuded charismatic presence, and left a memorable impression on all who met him.  Brian was an old school New Yorker of Dutch and Lithuanian descent who grew up on the Upper East Side during the rough and tumble 1960s and 1970s. He was devoted husband, a loving father, and a church going man. Brian was a straight shooter who carried himself with charm and panache. He was larger than life and like no other person I know. He had a big heart and was a massive influence on me and the vintage/lounge community.

Let me be frank, if it were not for Brian Paynter there would be no Loungerati.  If not for Brian, I would not have a love for cocktails that has become a passion. If not for Brian I would not know houndstooth from glen plaid, pork pie from Homberg, Xavier Cugat from Desi Arnaz, Cohiba from Montecristo, Lost Weekend from The Apartment. To say that he left an impression on me and countless others who live by the lounge creed is an incredible understatement. Brian was our standard bearer. He was first class like Nick Charles. Brian embodied the very foundation of Lounge living and did it without pretense. In Brian's world, loyal phone company working class guys could be as dapper as Humphrey Bogart or Fred Astaire and stroll Fifth Avenue like they owned it.  In Brian's world, putting a little extra effort into how one presented themselves was not an outdated concept but rather a mark of one's character. Brian was my mentor, my template for behavior and sartorial expression.

In the cocktail community, old time bartenders often talk of discerning clients who insisted on classically made cocktails well before the current cocktail Renaissance began ten years ago. They called these die hard aficionados "lone samurai" and credit their insistence on specific ingredients and well made cocktails as inspiration for a career in mixology. Well, Brian was one of those lone samurai.  When I met Brian 15 years ago at a cigar bar called Cigargoyles in Brooklyn Heights, he was drinking a Canadian Club Rye Manhattan in a gray flannel suit and felt fedora. He was suave yet approachable and down to earth. I was impressed and this experience was a game changer. The lone samurai soon had traveling companions - dozens and dozens of finely attired, jazz loving, swing dancing, cigar smoking, cocktail drinking regular folks determined to live life to the fullest.

Brian passed away at 10pm on the evening of October 24th surrounded by family. Brian had been fighting Leukemia for three years and though he put up a valiant fight, he ultimately lost the battle.  I was lucky enough to stop by the hospital last week to say good bye. I found my old friend, alert, in incredibly good spirits, telling jokes, talking about old movies and a recent jazz show he had attended. I had smuggled in a flask of pre-mixed Manhattan and we shared a last drink. He appreciated it. Brian expressed that he had lived an exceptional life and was blessed to have a beautiful super smart daughter and the best wife on earth. Damn straight! I could not muster up the actual words "good bye" so we shook hands and he said, "I'll save you a seat." And he meant it.

Brian, I shall never forget you. I would not be half the man I am today without you in my life and I owe you big time. My heartfelt condolences go out to the Paynter family and Brian's legion of friends during this difficult time. Thank you again old friend. Rest in peace.

A closing note from our Style Editor Eff 

I am indebted to you for the generous gift of your friendship. I learned something new every single time we spoke. You were always the best dressed guy in the room and I wouldn't have had it any other way! You kept me entertained with tales of your New York: volumes of stories which somehow never repeated themselves.

You shared insightful predictions on experiences us guys younger than you have yet to experience.  I look forward to testing their reliability and validity. But already know you were right. Lastly, thanks for the trust you put in me: those times meant the world. And in a little way, let me kid myself that I somehow didn't owe as much a debt to you as I did. But in true Brian Paynter fashion, he slyly stepped away from the table and settled the bill before others could pay their share. I'll try and pick it up sometimes for other fellas...with loving gratitude to you.