![]() ![]() If the bar does indeed move toward accepting walk-ins, as was indicated to me-and I hope it does!-the food situation may change.Īt first, before Adam had arrived, I thought the Lounge would be a great setting for a thoroughly hypothetical affair the odds of running into someone you know seem slim. Of course, most folks at the bar will be heading into (or coming from) a mammoth meal upstairs. At Atera, you’re presented a cavalcade of “snacks” before your meal surely the foodlab could roast some nuts, but then I’d argue that any $16 cocktail should come with some sort of food accompaniment. We were surprised there were no nibblybits. The Winter Walnut was good, although I would’ve preferred more walnut and less alcohol-but that’s probably a result of my own walnut-y hopes getting in the way. The Sass was excellent, in a glass cooled by liquid nitrogen. (“You wouldn’t get any of them,” said Adam, because I blanch at paying more than $14 for a glass of wine.) And we were a bit concerned that the menu doesn’t list cocktail prices, although it does for wine. The “navy strength rum” in the drink description gave me pause, but Brandon said there was just a splash. I was curious about the Winter Walnut because while dining at Atera in April, Adam and I had liked the Nux Alpina walnut liqueur we were served so much that I tracked down a bottle at Chambers Street Wines. We asked Brandon Duff, who designed the menu with chef Matthew Lightner (and who I knew from when he worked at RBC NYC and Weather Up Tribeca), for a recommendation, and he suggested the Sass because it has real sassafras, brought in by the restaurant’s forager. This being an Atera operation, some of the ingredients on the menu were unexpected or unfamiliar: vinegar, geranium, tonka bean, marigold, orgeat…. (The famous Slayer machine from RBC NYC is now in the Lounge.) The restaurant was closed last week, and the bar is designed mainly for dinner guests who want a pre- or postprandial drink or coffee. It certainly helped that another couple came in. But-and this could be the alcohol’s work-as we loosened up, the place seemed to, too. The mood started out as hushed and reverent as at Atera upstairs, quiet enough that I could use Shazam to identify the music (Lower Dens, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Alabama Shakes…). I’d guess that if Adam and I were a straight couple we might have been seated side by side, airplane-style, but instead we got the two-dudes option, across from each other. The sofas and chairs are black leather, and the tables are low the overall effect is somehow both butch and precious. It’s a small, dark-walled, dimly lit, L-shaped room, with seats for 10 and three stools at the bar. ![]() (And/or an actual dog, as during my visit.) ![]() It’s the same elevator used by Water4Dogs, The Wagging Tail, and Worth Street Veterinary Center, so there might be some dogginess in the air. You have to reserve by email at You enter the 77 Worth lobby, where there’s no sign at the door, and when the restaurant host greets you, you’re asked your name-or at least I was, even after it I had said the reservation was in my partner’s name-and escorted via elevator to the basement. The newish Lounge at Atera isn’t your average neighborhood bar. ![]()
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