Make mine a double
Sip & Guzzle, Greenwich Village
RESTAURANTS • First Word
The contrast between the two spaces at month-old Greenwich Village bar concept Sip & Guzzle couldn’t be more stark. Upstairs, in the space that once housed Cornelia Street Cafe: a classic American saloon vibe, brick walls adorned with paintings and tchotchkes, a bar running the length of one room (above), the other room filled with tables for drinking and eating. This is, in the parlance of the house, Guzzle.
Downstairs, find a subterranean cocktail den. With a sliding wooden door to enter the room, and jazz music playing at a very reasonable volume, it’s instant transport to Tokyo. Consider a seat at one of the low tables, or at the five-seat bar at the back of the room, where mixologists work magic. This is Sip.
Tracking the lineage of the concept (which does in fact come to NYC by way of Japan) and the mixologists working each of the spaces (including alums of many great NYC cocktail bars) requires an intensity of focus that could obscure the fact that both of these venues are extremely exciting spots, making for two (or is it really one?) great additions to the NYC bar (or is it restaurant?) scene.
On a recent night, we started upstairs at one of the two-tops in the packed Guzzle dining room. To drink, a spicy Paloma with a black lava salted rim, and a pecan old-fashioned, the pecan set atop the top of a single giant ice cube. Neither could be mistaken for anything other than a Paloma or an old fashioned, yet both drinks’ twists did nothing less than elevate them subtly into greatness. In other words, the ideal “update” of a classic cocktail.
The first food to hit our table was an instant showstopper: a long twisted strand of fried mochi, coated in (laced with?) housemade nacho powder, the uncanny Doritoesque flavor delivered via textures both chewy and crunchy. Odd, and outstanding. Next, two “bikinis,” wafer-thin waffle sandwiches filled with melted compté cheese ganache, jamon Iberico, and (for an $18-per supplement), shaved périgord black truffle, instantly my frontrunner for best bite of 2024.
When our server brought us two gloves and a large pair of scissors for our third course, electric chicken, I realized something amusing about dining at Guzzle: There are no utensils to be seen. Instead, pick the big piece of fried chicken up with your glove hand and cut it into bite-size servings with the scissors, then taste a tingly delight. And finally, further showcasing chef Mike Bagale’s sense of humor, a build-your-own dish of extremely elevated pork belly tacos, with tiny umeboshi tortillas made by Williamsburg’s Sobre Masa.
Downstairs at Sip (above) for a nightcap and dessert, we settled into two bar seats, the older couple to our right digging into a large serving of golden osetra caviar, served with puffed chicken skin ($165 per, as befits the more elevated menu at Sip, where food is also by Bagale and vintage silverware is indeed provided). We opted for a special dessert new to the menu, a crown melon parfait, served with a chalice of 1986 Château d’Yquem not to be sipped but rather poured onto the dessert itself. Over the top, and not to be forgotten. –Lockhart Steele
→ Sip & Guzzle (Greenwich Village) • 29 Cornelia St. • Reserve • Walk-ins welcome.