When the high-end Korean restaurant Jungsik announced in 2023 that it was offering a non-alcoholic wine pairing to accompany its Signature Menu, you had to know that something was up for the restaurant and the city. Sure enough, Jungsik made headlines again last month for its receipt of a coveted third Michelin star (the only restaurant in town so honored this cycle), and staying dry (or at least damp) has become big business for local bars.
Handcraft Kitchen & Cocktails, in Kips Bay, seemed to go whole hog last year, when it converted its back room into a speakeasy complete with a secret entrance (behind a sliding bookcase). But apparently business wasn’t brisk enough to justify the total transformation, and recently the bar reverted to serving alcohol. A few alcohol-free mocktails have been retained on the menu including an espresso brewtini and a senza negroni. Handcraft Kitchen & Cocktails, 367 Third Avenue, 212-689-3000.
I don’t know anyone who’s old enough to remember Dante when it first opened in 1915, but the bar has become a West Village staple. In large measure this is due to the originality of its Dry January offerings, which include an espresso shakerato — made with fresh espresso, orange juice, and vanilla — and its “cosmojito,” which is fashioned from cranberry, fresh mint, pressed lime, orange bitters, and Perrier. The food menu, there to sustain you through the next round, features a pot of steamed mussels in a spicy pomodoro-and-white-wine sauce served with lightly toasted onion-and-potato sourdough for dipping. Dante, 551 Hudson Street, 212-982-8799.
If you are ready to embrace temperance in all its virginal purity, you are ready for Hekate Café & Elixir Lounge, in the East Village. Named for the Greek goddess of magic and witchcraft, Hekate describes itself accurately as “an intimate sober bar and bottle shop serving 0ABV beers and wines, as well as a vast array of delicious alcohol free cocktails.” Indeed there is nothing stronger to drink than the tap water, which is supplied by New York City. Hekate Café & Elixir Lounge, 167 Avenue B, 646-590-3404.
The circular bar at La Devozione, in Chelsea Market, may be the only one with that shape in town, but it’s the non-alcoholic potions that emerge from that bar that tell “The Devotion’s” most compelling story. There are only three, but all transmit depth and vibrancy. Even the Flying Dog “Deep Fake” IPA, offered in a can, tastes like the real deal. Don’t miss the Chinesso blended from ice espresso, Chinotto, and Demerara sugar. La Devozione, 428 W. 16th Street, 646-720-0215.
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