The Best Bars to Celebrate Lunar New Year in New York City
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When one hears Lunar New Year is near, one thinks of Chinese dragon dancing, firecrackers, dumplings, and red envelopes. But what are you drinking during these celebrations? Luckily we’re in a renaissance of Asian-American cocktails. You can find flavors that distill Chinese medicinal herbs, baijiu, and Korean citruses at your neighborhood bar these days. Whether it’s your first time celebrating Lunar New Year, or you’ve got centuries old family traditions to honor, we’ve found the best bars in New York City to ring in the Year of the Dragon.
Asian-Americans are pulling their drinking culture and cuisine out of the categorization of niche and into the embrace of mainstream consumers. Sean Ro, the co-founder of Lunar Hard Seltzer, is an innovator in the alcohol and beverage industry. He went back to his South Korean roots to find inspiration for the flavors that made his hard seltzer company a staple not only amongst Asian-Americans but young seltzer aficionados across the country
“I spent some of my childhood in Korea, and I still have family there, so it's very much a big part of my identity and who I am," says Ro. So, the yuzu and the Korean plum are flavors that I grew up with. And Kevin Wong [co-owner], drew inspiration from the summertime visits that he would make to see his grandmother in Taiwan for the lychee and passion fruit seltzers. We wanted to share the things that make us who we are.”
A cocktail can tell a story about the past and where we’ve been, or weave a new narrative for the future. The following establishments are not only going to be a blast to celebrate in, but they all boast cocktail menus using heritage inspired flavors from Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong in bold flavor combinations.
Bonnie’s
Bonnie’s is cementing itself as the go-to place to celebrate Lunar New Year in Williamsburg. Their specially crafted cocktail for this Year of the Dragon is the Dragon Dreamsicle, a delightful mix of Chinese and American flavors just like the rest of Bonnie’s menu. It features D'Usse Cognac, Ming River baijiu, Cointreau and a mandarin orange milk blended with some vanilla. It’s sweet, tangy, with a deep undercurrent from the strong floral notes of the baijiu. Calvin Eng, chef and owner, found inspiration for the new cocktail from the Chinese tradition of gifting oranges as a symbol of good luck to loved ones for Lunar New Year. “Mandarin oranges are such a symbolic fruit during Lunar New Year," says Eng. "The leafy Mandarin oranges are all over Chinatown. It's what we give as gifts, and it's what we have in the house." Eng suggests pairing the Dreamsicle with the salt and pepper squid and the BLT fried rice.
Reception Bar
Reception Bar, has become an integral part of the Chinatown neighborhood in Lower Manhattan. Owner Katie Rue looks forward to every Lunar New Year, when the lion dancers from Chinatown come down her street and come into the bar to bless their space for the year to come. Rue uses South Korean flavors from her culture to flavor the soju forward cocktails in her bar. She recommends the Yuja 88 to get the citrus flavor many people associate with Lunar New Year. “It’s made with yuja, and the whole point is for us to showcase that yuja is different from yuzu,” Rue says. “Everyone kind of knows the Japanese yuzu, but they aren't familiar with other citrons from different parts of Asia. It's a little bit sweeter than the yuzu counterpart.” The cocktail Yong Blood, also reminds Rue of the festive occasion. “Yong in Korean means dragon,” says Rue. “It's also a red colored drink, and it's called Yong Blood because it has a deep purple color from our bokbunja wine, which is a Korean wild berry wine. It also has a little bit of spiciness with the Korean pepper infused soju.”
Ms. Yoo
With splashes of neon pink signage and dangling flowers and vines adorning the ceiling, Ms. Yoo feels like an indoor greenhouse and a disco in one. The upstairs, nicknamed Mr. Yoo, boasts DJs every weekend. The first floor space is where you'll find their extensive cocktail menu as well as many Korean-American bites. Karl LaMarca, resident bartender, recommends the Stairway to Heaven, a Thai basil infused vodka drink that’s sweetened with pineapple juice and topped by Gochugaru powder. Gochugaru is a chili powder often used to flavor kimchi, and it gives a deliciously tart and spicy bite to the sweet cocktail. The Winter Sonata is another fun venture in combining South Korean flavors with American favorites. It's an old fashioned that adds plum vinegar to the mix and glazed with a tiny drop of sesame oil that gives it a decadent and nutty flavor.
Hutong
Hutong mixes authentic Chinese dishes with chic elegant interiors to make you feel like you’re dining at Jay Gatsby’s house, if Gatsby had chef well trained in Northern Chinese cuisine. This Year of the Dragon there will be even more to celebrate, as Tsingtao, one of the most recognizable Chinese beers, partners with Hutong for custom cocktails and dishes. The Xingreng Pijiu is a drink that combines Tsingtao with tomato juice with a spiced rim made of ground Sichuan peppercorns and chilis. For a lighter more sweet refreshment, the Qingfu Pijiu features passion fruit mixed with the classic light flavor of Tsingtao. The Lunar New Year menu includes lobsters, roasted pork belly, and smoked tiger prawns.
Ye’s Apothecary
Entering Ye’s feels like stepping into a Chinese herbal medicine shop in a 1970s neo-noir film. It’s lit by fringed lampshades, and the bar is stacked high with wooden drawers. You wouldn’t be surprised if a bartender reached into one of the drawers to pull out a bottle of herbs you’ve never heard of before and distilled it into a concoction of your liking. Robert Lam-Burns, beverage director at Ye’s Apothecary, is an expert on baijiu. He recommends the Red Sorghum and the Fortunella Sazerac for your Lunar New Year night out. “The Red Sorghum is a staple on our baijiu menu,” Lam-Burns says. “It's a really simple cocktail with Ming River baijiu, Aperol, pineapple juice, lime, and osmanthus jelly, which is like osmanthus tea and a syrup. It's a really nice introduction to baijiu.” The Fortunella Sazerac brings Chinese flavors to a classic recipe. “Fortunella is the kumquat tree," Lam-Burns says, "so we use a kumquat syrup, cognac, amaro and bitters.”
Wenwen
Wenwen is serving Taiwanese authentic dishes with a twist in Greenpoint, and their cocktails are no different. They can dish up a classic whole striped bass with black sugar yuzu vinaigrette and a BDSM fried chicken sandwich which stands for Brined, Deboned, Soy Milk-Battered Yellow-Fat Chicken. Wenwen's new cocktail for the Lunar New Year is aptly named Year of the Dragon cocktail for its spicy elements.
“The main spirit is tequila, and it has lime juice, a little bit of bird's eye chili for that kick, and ancho reyes poblano liqueur, which is another spice, and garnished with a few dots of our housemade chili oil,” says General Manager Farid Subandi. The cocktail may have you breathing fire. But you can put the flames out with the fixed menu that Wenwen will be serving on Lunar New Year, which features a whole cooked fish and noodles.
Mood Ring
Bushwick’s most cosmic bar, Mood Ring, has been celestially aligned ever since its opening. Their dance floor has plenty of room to dirty dance or talk about your astrological sign. Owners Bowen Goh, who is Chinese-American, and Vanessa Li, whose family is from Hong Kong, bonded over their mutual love of Wong Kar-Wai films. The lounge space and the cocktail menu boast influences from the iconic auteur and astrological seasons. Goh’s favorite cocktail is The Days of Being Wild. “It's one of Wong Kar-Wai's films from the early 90s," says Goh. "We really wanted to pay homage to his work through the cocktails in terms of how we come up with the recipes and the names."
This Lunar New Year try the Bathtub. It's Mood Ring's Aquarius season cocktail, a fun play on the scandalous scene from the film Saltburn. "We use spicy Serrano tequila with grapefruit soda and a lychee liqueur," says Goh. "So it's a little bit sweet, slightly bitter, a little bit spicy as well."
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