New York can be notoriously inhospitable to outsiders - be they Alain Ducasse, Tim Love or Miguel Sanchez Romera. Heck even Iron Chef Michael Symon couldn't cut it here - remember Parea? So we were curious about the arrival of highly regarded Parisian cocktail bar The Experimental Cocktail Club (191 Chrystie Street). Would it be clubby and hard to get into? Would it be off the wall wacky in a way the letdown that is Booker & Dax is not - sorry but hot pokers heating up booze is not all that interesting after it's done once. And what do the French have to teach us about cocktails anyway?
Every few weeks, a frenzied culinary hypestorm descends on
NYC like a Nor'easter - some newfangled spot materializes with just the right
pedigree, the media goes apeshit and you inevitably succumb to its awesome power.
In the case of the latest, "newfangled" proves an apt description indeed. Yes
folks, we're talking about Booker and Dax in the former Momofuku Milk Bar space
behind Ssam Bar.One week in, we slipped inside early and perched ourselves on open stools at one of the two bars. The somewhat awkward space doesn't lend itself to comfort, with the bars replacing the former service counter and mini-kitchen, which oddly still churns out buns, infecting the place with a sour pungency that does not mix well with cocktails.
The molecular gimmickry, courtesy of FCI whiz Dave Arnold, mainly consists of liquid nitrogen to chill glasses and a hot poker to warm drinks, while the drinks themselves lean heavily towards the bitter - from amaros to various aromatic bitters. The Laurel and Hardy (rye, cognac, maraschino, fernet, benedictine, mole bitters) was far too cold thanks to the aforementioned liquid nitro super chilldown and when it did warm up enough for the flavors to come through, they were mainly medicinal and not altogether pleasant. Jenny and Scott was a spicy mix of yamazaki, mole and hellfire bitters. Pretty good but the kick was surprising given the innocuous menu listing. Possibly the best drink was the Friend of the Devil, rye, campari, sweet vermouth, pernod & bitters, given the hot poker treatment. The result is a very warm drink with a nice caramelization, nearly too sweet but good for a cold winter's eve. Unfortunately, the less said about pistachio trainwreck Mustachi-ode, the better. Cocktails are $14 each.
Sometimes things live up to the hype and sometimes they don't. For a bar to attain staying power, it needs good drinks, not just a floorshow and fancy doo-dads. Booker & Dax may have the latter but in this town, that's just not enough.

While not quite Marienbad, the last night at M. Wells did have a slightly surreal quality - a mix of industry folk and devoted followers lined up outside the battered diner on the corner of obscure and nowhere in Long Island City, ready to dive once more into an order of bone marrow and snails. Surprisingly it was our first and only visit to this now legendary institution - one which we had imagined to be found at the end of some epic journey, surrounded by a sea of taxi lots and the remnants of industry, rather than just steps from the 7 train two stops removed from Manhattan.
Danny Meyer restaurants are known for service, attention to detail and devotion to great ingredients, but often overlooked are the beverage programs. Sure the group has published a book of cocktail recipes, but no one ever seems to talk about their cocktails.
There aren't many reasons to trek up to the East 70s but we've found one - the recently opened Czech restaurant Hospoda (321 E. 73rd St, website). 
