Milk and Honey - NY
I recently visited NY for a few days and before leaving I’d asked some bartender friends where would be the one place they’d go. Ben mentioned Milk and Honey and so it made my short list.
Milk and Honey in NY is the little sister of a more famous membership club in London. In London, non-members are allowed entry but only with a referral, and only until 11:00 pm. After that time, it’s members only. In addition, there are house rules, which you can read here.
Even the NY club is a new version of a speakeasy - you need to know how to get in, to get in. The building is not marked, the address is not published, neither is the phone number, the door is kept locked. But you need a reservation to get in. And you may need a referral, too. At least that’s what they say. It is located on the lower east side on a rather seedy block - not a place you’d pass by while you were sightseeing. Armed with the phone number and address I planned to call once I arrived in NY. Then I had a bright idea!
While looking at the website I notice an email address so I dashed off a little note asking for a reservation for the next night and invoking Ben’s name. I had a reply the next morning when I arrived in NY, after my red-eye flight, confirming my reservation, reminding me I’d need to leave by 11:00 and indicating they looked forward to seeing me. I was a little concerned though as I hadn’t actually used a date just “tomorrow” in my message and from the timestamp on the reply I wasn’t sure if our reservations were for the date I had planned or the following night. I guess we’d find out!
We arrived shortly before our reservation time, noticed a guy entering our door as we walked toward it, went to the door and rang the bell, but it turned out they weren’t quite open yet… So we took a little walk around the block, jumped sky-high when garbage cans we were passing suddenly rattled with the sound of rats rummaging, and found ourselves sitting in a Latino barbershop watching a couple innings of that night’s World Series game while we waited for the bar to open. Other than the rats, it was a fun little adventure.
We returned at our appointed time, rang the bell, were allowed in and made our way back to check in with the hostess. There was no reservation. Not for that night or the next. Turns out the email I’d sent was for London! They were full and couldn’t accommodate us but granted us a reservation for the next night.
The place is super small. Maybe seven booths and a bar that seats three people. It’s really dark inside and everyone quietly sits in their booths chatting and sipping. We asked to sit at the bar as we always do.
Our bartender that night, Matt, was a tall, thin, intense man. Youngish but with a world of experience. He took his job very seriously. This is one of the places where each type of glass has it’s own ice cube. However, they are not made by some special machine. No, the bartender comes in before their shift and cracks them by hand from blocks of ice! Turns out it is pretty amazing what a difference that makes in a drink.
I asked Matt what his favorite drink to make was. He said Ramos Fizz so that’s what I ordered. M ordered a Margarita. Matt hand-shook my Fizz - watching him work it’s no wonder he’s so thin! - and then poured it into a chilled glass. It was truly the most perfect Ramos Fizz that I have ever had. Silky smooth, with the gin and orange flower water in luscious harmony.
M’s Margarita was voted the best she’s ever had, too! She especially liked her one giant ice-cube, as it kept the drink from becoming watered down and she loved the little metal straw she found in the glass. The straw was chilled by the drink and giant ice cube and kept the drink ice cold all the way up and into her mouth! I’ve never seen anyone so happy about a straw!
Unfortunately, we had come to Milk and Honey after an earlier party and so could not indulge in a second round of cocktails. That was a darn shame!
I have to say that even with all the exclusivity and cloak and dagger rigmarole I really liked this place. On that second night when we actually got to stay, we found both the bartender and hostess to be quite charming. And the drinks, well the drinks were wonderful. Wonderful does come with a price though. Although this is NY where everything is more expensive the drinks at Milk and Honey were spendy even by NY standards. Our drinks were $15 each. It does pay to chat up the bartender, though, as he comped us for one of them.
Ben recommended Milk & Honey for our recent NYC trip too. We loved the feel of the place and the drinks were great. I’m a bit skeptical about how big a difference some hand-chipped ice can make, but it seemed like all the bars in New York were into it. Loved the Pegu Club too.