Top Scotches: The Macallan Masters of Photography

Top Scotches: The Macallan Masters of Photography. Written for Departures.com. Published November 25, 2013.

If there’s one thing that excellent photography and choice Scotch have in common, it’s the knowledge that timing is everything. For the fourth edition of its Masters of Photography collection, The Macallan offers its most ambitious campaign yet, releasing 58 brand-new single-cask whiskies in collaboration with photographer Elliott Erwitt, who recognizes that it’s more than just timing that the two crafts share. “It’s the ability to create something extraordinary out of the ordinary,” he says.

GQ City Guides Insiders’ Picks

GQ City Guides Insiders’ Picks. Written for GQ. On-going series.

We picked our favorites, but we can’t pick ’em all—so we asked the talented ladies ands gents featured in our GQ City Guides to tell us their most treasured and underrated shops, bars, and restaurants in the cities they call home.

Steve Grasse, Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction: Philadelphia (November 19)

Derek Mattison, Mattison: Los Angeles (November 18)

Donnie Madia, Blackbird, Avec, The Violet Hour, etc.: Chicago (November 11)

Colin Tunstall, Josh Rosen and Morgan Collett, Saturdays NYC’s: New York (October 28)

Sid Masburn, Sid Mashburn: Atlanta (October 23)

Justin Pike, Tasting Table: Los Angeles (Oct 22)

Jim Meehan and Jeff Bell, PDT: New York (Oct 15)

Bar Review: Golden Cadillac

Bar Review: Golden Cadillac. Written for Just Opened New York. Published on November 7, 2013.

If there’s one new bar ready to prove that the moment for neo-speakeasies has come and gone, it’s the East Village’s Golden Cadillac.

Conceived by renowned cocktail historian Greg Boehm (the owner of Cocktail Kingdom) and nationally acclaimed bartender Giuseppe Gonzalez (Clover Club and Painkiller), this 1970s-inspired bar reinterprets history’s least celebrated cocktail era, putting on a modern genius’s twist on infamous classics.

Bar Review: Whiskey Soda Lounge

Bar Review: Whiskey Soda Lounge. Written for Just Opened New York. Published on November 1, 2013.

The fastest way to Bangkok from New York is by way of Andy Ricker, the chef behind Pok Pok and Pok Pok Phat Thai, and four famed restaurants in Portland, Oregon. Now, the mastermind is back with his newest Brooklyn outpost, Whiskey Soda Lounge in the Columbia Street Waterfront District.

Serving up aahaan kap klaem (the Thai equivalent to the Japanese ikazaya), the 42-seat spot is a place to drink first and eat second. Accordingly, Whiskey Soda Lounge is decidedly without ambiance, modeled after a Thai shop house and covered in wood, photos of Muay Thai fighters, and few Thai antiques. “It is what feels right to me and echoes some of my favorite low key places to eat and drink in Thailand,” Ricker says.

Bar Review: Bar Below Rye

Bar Review: Bar Below Rye. Written for Just Opened New York. Published on November 1, 2013.

Having already made his mark on the palate of Brooklynites—as well as their bridge and tunnel counterparts—Rye chef and owner Cal Elliott (formerly of Dumont and Dressler) has yet another reason to draw the gustatory-inclined to Williamsburg.

His newest venture, the aptly named B.B.R. (Bar Below Rye), is an intimate wooded nook tucked beneath his handsome, speakeasy-esque restaurant. With the room’s three sides of reclaimed wood—designed to be reminiscent of a ship’s hull—the sleek space pays its respects to Elliot and his grandfather’s careers as offshore fisherman, while leaving the grittier details to the streets above.

Bar Review: Paul’s Baby Grand

Bar Review: Paul’s Baby Grand. Written for Just Opened New York. Published November 1, 2013.

Walking into Paul’s Baby Grand at the Tribeca Grand is like stepping into one flamboyant mid-19th-century Miami Beach living room. That, or one of Gauguin’s primitivist paintings. Either way you spin it, the newest—and first solo—venture from DJ and nightlife expert Paul Sevigny (Beatrice Inn, and Kenmar) is nothing short of a spectacle.

Restaurant Review: Toro

Restaurant Review: Toro. Written for Just Opened New York. Published on November 1, 2013.

For over a year, award-winning chef Ken Oringer and his chef-partner Jamie Bissonnette teased New Yorkers with news of bringing Toro, their hit Boston concept, to Chelsea. After months of delays and anticipation the pair have finally opened their bustling Barcelona-style tapas bar to the public. This’ll be in collaboration with partners Doug Jacob and Will Malnati of nearby American eatery, Willow Road.

Set in the cool comforts of a refurbished Nabisco Factory—with its hints of reclaimed wood, exposed brick, tall ceilings, and sweeping views of the river—Toro’s sleek design and open floor plan draws the stylish set all the way west in search of creative cuisine and inspired cocktails.

Bar Review: Play

Bar Review: Play. Written for Just Opened New York. Published on November 1, 2013.

While it may be true that the best way to a partner’s heart is through his/her stomach, there’s one bar that’s offering its take on the best way into each others’ pants.

Play, a new bar at the Museum of Sex, invites you to explore the relationship between consumption and sex, all while licking, sucking, biting, and sniffing your way through its menu.

Bar Review: Henry, a Liquor Bar

Bar Review: Henry, a Liquor Bar. Written for Just Opened New York. Published on November 1, 2013.

There’s no shortage of good things we Americans have borrowed from the Brits. Take, for example, democracy, the corkscrew, the sewing machine, and, of course, gravy.

But when award-winning UK mixologist Ryan Chetiyawardana conceptualized Henry, A Liquor Bar—his very first venture outside of London—New York may have attained its best pickup yet.

The Man Who Eats At Restos 350 Days A Year

Photo: Jesaca Lin

The Man Who Eats At Restos 350 Days A Year. Written for Refinery 29. Published on October 9, 2013.

Chefs may run the world these days, but there’s one man who runs the chefs—for a couple weekends out of the year, at least. That well-connected powerhouse is Lee Brian Schrager, vice president of corporate communications and national events for Southern Wine & Spirits and founder of the South Beach and New York Wine & Food Festivals.

R29 was lucky enough to sit down with him, in his apartment in the Ansonia on New York’s Upper West Side. “As I always say, not everyone likes to go to tennis, not everyone goes to the ballet, not everyone likes to go to the theater,” Schrager told us. “But everyone likes to eat.”

This is the mantra the chef-cum-event planner lives by as he puts the finishing touches on New York’s sixth annual festival, which kicks off October 17. With 130 events — ranging from tailgating with Joe Namath and Mario Batali to a pie baking class with Four & Twenty Blackbirds—Schrager is aiming for “sensory overload” by way of limitless comfort food. “It doesn’t matter how sophisticated you are,” he said. “You could be eating at Per Se or Daniel or Jean-Georges and you still want a great burger.”