BARS • First Round
Fifty-seat Midnight Plus One, the new Nolita cocktail lounge and music venue below Bar Pasquale, is strewn with vinyl records, old hardcover books, and retro swivel chairs more comfortable than they look. Funk and R&B floats out of the restored Klipsch speakers, except when there’s live music, which is often.
The newest project from the Delicious Hospitality Group (Charlie Bird, Pasquale Jones, Legacy Records), Midnight Plus One opened in September and serves cocktails based on the 1936 Italian cocktail book 1,000 Misture by Elvezio Grassi. A tight food menu features crudo, arancini, and chef and co-owner Ryan Hardy’s signature fried chicken.
During an evening visit last week, I spied Hardy working the room, waiting tables. “Nothing great happens after 2 a.m.,” he told me as he delivered my gin martini. “But a lot of great things happen after midnight.” Tight window, but Midnight Plus One is through. –David Farley
→ Midnight Plus One (Nolita) • 98 Kenmare • 7p to late.