We've probably spent too much money at the underground lounge at Tailor (525 Broome Street) since it opened but we wondered how the place was doing after its recent troubles, so we popped in for a visit.
The upstairs sat empty, a sad but probably inevitable occurrence since they never did make the dining side work - part location, part victim of hype and part just not hitting it out of the park menu wise. Downstairs some "djs" were spinning but the place was fairly desolate. The drinks list was pretty much the same but there was one drink that stood out - the Lovage Sour. We ordered one (gin, lemon, lovage aquavit $13) as well as the Waylon, a bourbon and smoked coke drink we've always liked ($12). The Lovage Sour was fantastic, one of the best drinks we've had all year, and the Waylon was reliably good. For a nightcap, my partner in drinks ordered the Aqua verde (tequila, tomatillo, cilantro, habanero $13), a drink that always struck me as inexplicable. It's not that it's bad - okay it's pretty bad if you ask me - but that it's terribly vegetal. There's certainly nothing delicious about it, but defiantly it remains on the menu, alongside that awful bubble gum drink.
Will Tailor survive the bankruptcy and "temporary" closure of the dining room? Who knows. You can make a lot of money in this town off booze but enough to operate a space like this and pay off debts? That's a tough one. As for the drinks, people like experimentation to a degree but you also have to put out delicious product. Tailor sometimes succeeds and sometimes doesn't. But when a drink like the Lovage Sour works, it kind of restores your faith in creative cocktail-making.
The upstairs sat empty, a sad but probably inevitable occurrence since they never did make the dining side work - part location, part victim of hype and part just not hitting it out of the park menu wise. Downstairs some "djs" were spinning but the place was fairly desolate. The drinks list was pretty much the same but there was one drink that stood out - the Lovage Sour. We ordered one (gin, lemon, lovage aquavit $13) as well as the Waylon, a bourbon and smoked coke drink we've always liked ($12). The Lovage Sour was fantastic, one of the best drinks we've had all year, and the Waylon was reliably good. For a nightcap, my partner in drinks ordered the Aqua verde (tequila, tomatillo, cilantro, habanero $13), a drink that always struck me as inexplicable. It's not that it's bad - okay it's pretty bad if you ask me - but that it's terribly vegetal. There's certainly nothing delicious about it, but defiantly it remains on the menu, alongside that awful bubble gum drink.
Will Tailor survive the bankruptcy and "temporary" closure of the dining room? Who knows. You can make a lot of money in this town off booze but enough to operate a space like this and pay off debts? That's a tough one. As for the drinks, people like experimentation to a degree but you also have to put out delicious product. Tailor sometimes succeeds and sometimes doesn't. But when a drink like the Lovage Sour works, it kind of restores your faith in creative cocktail-making.
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