That’s terrible news. After 20 years, there is no longer a bar named Milk & Honey on Planet Earth. Sad.
I went only twice. I didn’t like the London bar nearly as much as the York original; it was very much it’s own thing, a Jonathan Downey-ized version of the bar. But the drinks were just as good and the bartenders as expert.
Of course, Attaboy still very much retains the spirit of Milk & Honey. About the closest any of us will come to the original from now on.
This one injures me.
I spoke to both the owner and head bartender and they told me the Eater article was exaggerated and they had not confirmed the closure. They also didn’t confirm the closure to me, but they didn’t get any more specific. It was sort of a non-denial denial. Something is up there. But maybe not the absolute end of MP.
That is most welcome news.
Hearing indirect reports, today, that Existing Conditions will not be coming back. (I have no direct or inside info.)
If true, there are—to my knowledge—no important cocktail bars remaining in New York City. (Several of historical interest remain for now, but this particular wheel has ground to something like a standstill.)
Jesus. That’s the one bar I wanted to go to on my next visit (meant to happen last month). I was given a tour a few weeks before they opened. Bummer.
Existing Conditions is indeed closed for good. A heavy loss. I’m curious, Martin, what you mean by “important cocktails bars.” I know your standards are very exacting, but…
Exacting is actually probably part of it. Leadership. Pushing boundaries. The answer to when someone comes to town and asks me where they must go. I could send them to nice places, I could send them to places that were once important, I might be able to hook them up with a bartender doing something interesting. But my sense is that a chapter has ended and we’re now waiting for the next one to start.
Interesting. I can see your thinking.
My big question is why Greg Boehm, who owns several cocktail bars in NYC, and whose decision I assume this was (since he represents the Money), chose to close the best one, Existing Conditions, as opposed to Boilermaker, Mace or Cabinet, which must be costing him money the same at EC. I would have been far less sorry to see any of those go.
I didn’t mention the wildly popular Katana Kitten, because it’s probably the most successful of Boehm’s bars and the one with the sunniest future.
I haven’t asked @GregBoehm, yet, but my guesses would be: it’s probably the largest space, probably the highest rent, the landlord may be unsavory or uncooperative, and EC has very little frontage to use for café seating (implying no viable business model for potentially longer than a year). Also, they probably have the least investment in the space (hence the name). It’s not hard for me to imagine the Dave & Don show packing up and then reemerging down the road under more favorable circumstances.
Greg’s closure notice (copied from instagram):
Dear Friends,
As you know, running a bar in New York City is incredibly challenging, even during the best of times. Given the current pandemic situation, this has been exacerbated in ways that none of us could have anticipated.
After much deliberation, I have had to make one of the most difficult and painful decisions of my career. Existing Conditions will not reopen. The bar has been a great source of personal pride for me and it is beloved by its guests and the bar community as a whole. Unfortunately, the mandated shutdown has taken many options off the table and the bar is not sustainable financially.
Like many, I was captivated by the bar’s concept. Dave Arnold and Don Lee are truly original thinkers and cocktail visionaries who used science to change how drinks are made and took deliciousness to new levels. My respect and admiration for their creative talents and what they have achieved with the team is infinite. I am confident they will find a new home and platform for their brilliant work.
We thank you for your support of our bars and look forward to raising a glass or two together when we are on the other side of this crisis.
Best,
Greg Boehm
Yeah, while I haven’t gotten word of new high profile closures, here, just walking around town, I’ve seen loads of new “For Rent” signs appearing in the windows of less notable restaurants and bars. The slow-motion collapse of the hospitality industry is well underway.
Damn. That one hurts. When Nitecap was under Schapiro’s, we had just moved to NYC and were living just a block away. We were there all the time while my bottles were still being shipped from SF. Natasha was an excellent host and a warm, friendly welcome to the neighborhood. I hadn’t been there regularly since leaving the neighborhood and them moving further down Rivington, but I’d still always stop in if I was nearby.
Dammit. Another one well loved, already much missed.
The loss of Vogler’s bars is very hard to take. The high bar of SF’s drinking culture just went down a few notches.
And now Mace is closed here in New York.
The way things are going, the cocktail revival era in the U.S. will have lasted about 20 years.
I’m finding that I’ve turned something of a corner on how I view the closures. I worry about many of the people, but less and less about the businesses, and not at all about the prospects for the cocktail. The forest fire will stimulate new growth, etc.
The craft of the cocktail will probably survive. But I want surviving legacy bars from this era, just as we have (in small numbers) from other eras.
So Imbibe UK (no affiliation to Imbibe, the US mag) has just announced they are calling it a day. It’s not just bars and restaurants.
Sorry to hear that. I worry that many of the publications I write for will go belly up before long. Their free-lance budgets have certainly dried up.