Tiffany Hanson: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Tiffany Hanson in for Alison Stewart. Well, last hour we talked about holiday party tips, we got a tour of New York, and now we're combining the two in a sense. We have a guide to New York's best cocktails for when you feel like hitting the town here for a little holiday festivity. The New York Times has put together a list called "Manhattan's in Brooklyn, and 25 Must-Try Cocktails in New York City." With us now is one of the co-authors, Becky Hughes. We're going to take your calls. Hi, Becky.

Becky Hughes: Hi.

Tiffany Hanson: Listeners, join us. What's your favorite place to get a cocktail here in New York? Any boroughs, for that matter? You can shout out your favorite spot. What do you like to get there? You can call us, you can text us. 212-433-9692. We're talking cocktails. Becky, before that, let's just talk about this list that you curated. You have it divided into groups. Before we talk about those groups, I just want to talk about your methodology in general because I'm imagining you going and pitching people at the Times and saying, "I'm going to go drink at every bar in New York City and tell people what the best drinks are. Was it really that simple?

Becky Hughes: Yes, it's a pretty great job when you think about it. I was talking with my editor and we were just spitballing. I think we were talking more socially and we were like, "Oh, it'd be fun to do a cocktail list at some point." Then we looked at each other and we were like, "That is so obvious. I can't believe we didn't think of it sooner." It feels really appropriate for the season because we're all hibernating. We need something to live for and to go outside for. It just became really obvious that we should do this. We brain dumped our ideas with the other people that contributed to the list. Everyone just wrote off the top of their head the cocktails that--

Tiffany Hanson: I love the blah at this place.

Becky Hughes: Both cocktails we loved and then cocktails that we felt represented New York in a specific way, something that felt like it represented a sphere of New York or a neighborhood or some piece of New York history. Once we dumped all of those in there, then we broke them out into categories and everyone picked their cocktails based on what they were most familiar with, what they were most excited about, and then we all split and got to the fun part.

Tiffany Hanson: There is a method to the madness. The groups, you have them grouped by, in this article, you have martinis, easy drinkers, the wild cards, and new and old classics. Did I get that right?

Becky Hughes: I think that's right.

Tiffany Hanson: I think martini is pretty self explanatory. Easy drinkers, you mean stuff that's just-- do you mean sweet necessarily?

Becky Hughes: I think most of the cocktails in this list wouldn't be called sweet. Sweet, it's a bad word when it comes to cocktails. No one ever identifies as wanting a sweet drink. These are cocktails that are either lighter or just less boozy than a martini, something that doesn't really smack you across the face. Feels more like a mixed drink that is nuanced and goes down easier.

Tiffany Hanson: Wild cards are like the crazy things?

Becky Hughes: Yes. They're drinks that represent New York in different ways but don't fall into the category of a martini, or it's not a riff on an old fashioned. They're more inventive than that.

Tiffany Hanson: Got it. Then I'm assuming new and old classics, that's pretty self explanatory as well. Let's talk about martinis, because you do spend quite a bit of time on it. You write that the best martini is usually the coldest one that can be in your hand the fastest. What is it about a cold martini that just makes it-- There's something about when the martini has been sitting there for a while and it's all room temperature, and you're just like, "It's really lost its luster."

Becky Hughes: What I think is such a nice touch, and they do this at the Hillstone and Houston's restaurant chain and they do it at a lot of much nicer places, when halfway through your martini, they take it and they transfer it into a frozen glass. At that moment when you start getting like, "Ugh, I've been looking at this for too long. It's kind of getting tepid. I'm over it," then it's like getting a fresh one, and then the excitement starts all over again.

Tiffany Hanson: That's kind of genius, actually.

Becky Hughes: Such a nice touch.

Tiffany Hanson: What are the criteria for a good martini? There are so many versions right now, but if we're just stripping it back to the basics, so we have the temperature, it needs to be cold.

Becky Hughes: Ice cold. A perfect glass, the glassware, I think, makes a big difference to me. I want to drink out of a really glass. I don't like a martini in a coupe. I don't want it in a Nick & Nora glass. I want it in a V-shaped martini glass. That's my specific need. Then I want a glass that's very light and tall and makes me feel like I'm fancily drinking a martini. I love when there's a sidecar with the extra from the shaker. My parents call it the extra. When it comes with the extra over ice, that's the best.

Tiffany Hanson: Any strange martinis you won't try? My Instagram feed is now full of, "There's this holiday drink that everybody is putting the frozen rosemary in to make it look like a tree and the little cranberries and all of the little white dust and the edible glitter is in all that stuff. I was horrified, horrified, I tell you, [chuckles] by the martinis that were showing up right before Thanksgiving.

Becky Hughes: Oh, I'm afraid I know where this is going.

[laughter]

Tiffany Hanson: Cream of mushroom soup.

Becky Hughes: Ooh.

Tiffany Hanson: I kid you not. Then the garnish on it was a green bean, and then [laughs] the other one was, I think it was creamed corn.

Becky Hughes: Oh, no. That's disturbed.

Tiffany Hanson: Hey, if you love it, great, go for it.

Becky Hughes: Everyone should take what they want.

Tiffany Hanson: Everyone do what they want.

Becky Hughes: [unintelligible 00:06:02]

Tiffany Hanson: Except if it's that. Obviously, I feel like the cream of mushroom soup is probably over the line for you. Are there others that you won't-- maybe a little more common. Everybody loves the pickle thing now.

Becky Hughes: Pickle is really common. I wrote a story a couple years ago, I think we called it the Martini Has Lost Its Mind about how these martini combinations are getting out of control and people are just going as savory as they possibly can. I tried a lot of interesting ones for that story, like a Caprese martini at Jac's on Bond, which it was a Caprese salad, so it had-- what's the name?

Tiffany Hanson: Mozzarella. Basil. [unintelligible 00:06:41] tomato.

Becky Hughes: Yes, basil, olive oil, tomato infused vodka, balsamic vinegar. It was quite sweet from the tomato and the balsamic. That was not what I was expecting it to be and I was not totally moved by it, but I'll try anything. I like the idea of getting really, really savory with it. I think when I'm expecting a dirty martini to be really dirty, I want it. There's one that I wrote about in this story which I didn't try because someone on the Internet made. It was a chicken soup martini that's made with a chicken bouillon mixture and it's intensely savory, chickeny stock base. That sounded amazing to me.

Tiffany Hanson: Did you try it?

Becky Hughes: No. I think I'll pass on that. We have a text here that says, "Tooker Alley in Prospect Heights, the house cocktail is Evening Falls gin and lavender." That sounds lovely.

Becky Hughes: That does.

Tiffany Hanson: We're talking cocktails and some of the best cocktails around the five boroughs for these holiday festivities that we have coming up. If you're headed out and about and looking for a good cocktail, the New York Times has put together a list called "Manhattan's in Brooklyn, and 25 Must-Try Cocktails Around New York City."

We're talking with one of the co authors, Becky Hughes, and we want you in this conversation, of course. What kind of cocktail do you like to get when you're out and about? Any boroughs? Shout out your favorite spot. What do you like to get when you go there? You can call us, you can text us at 212-433-9692. We're talking martinis, it's gin, vodka, discuss.

Becky Hughes: I see. I do dry gin with a twist, and I like it with Hendricks. I have one exception, which is when I go to my local bar, which is Fanelli Cafe, I always have a dirty vodka. I don't know why I've associated a specific type of martini with going there, and now I can never change it. Everywhere else, I'm consistent.

Tiffany Hanson: I like it. All right. let's bring Michael into the conversation. Michael in Manhattan, good afternoon.

Michael: Good afternoon. I like traditional drinks, and I love Cosmopolitans. I have sort of made it a study going about the city, trying to find the best one. Rather by accident, I went to Michael's restaurant on West 55th street and had the most incredible Cosmopolitan cocktail I've had anywhere in the country.

Tiffany Hanson: Michael.

Michael: So Incredible. They're invariably too sweet or taste like they come from a mix, but not at Michael's.

Tiffany Hanson: I love it. Michael, presumably you're not Michael of Michael's restaurant.

[laughter]

Michael: I only wish because then I could enjoy them every day, but no.

Tiffany Hanson: Love the suggestion.

Michael: I live in Harlem, and so it's a long way from me, so I don't get to go there as often as I'd like to.

Tiffany Hanson: Well, thank you so much for the suggestion. A good Cosmo. Any other good suggestions there, Becky, for a good Cosmo?

Becky Hughes: Yes. I think Michael's is the perfect place to be drinking a Cosmo. I love that suggestion. Also, I think the one we wrote about in the story is at Long Island Bar, which is where the bar owner invented the modern Cosmo at the Odeon and now works at, I'm pretty sure I have this right-- someone is going to fact check me-

Tiffany Hanson: Of course.

Becky Hughes: -[chuckles] now works at Long Island Bar. That one is just phenomenal. The one at the Odeon is lovely. At any sort of classic Manhattan institution, I feel like you get a great one.

Tiffany Hanson: Good recommendation here. "Perhaps the sour cream and onion martini at Corner Store," says a texter. Have you had that?

Becky Hughes: I've had that, yes.

Tiffany Hanson: And?

Becky Hughes: It really does taste like it's billed. It's lovely. I actually was really surprised to find how much I like it, given that I am a classicist about these things.

Tiffany Hanson: Here's another text. "My German grandmother used to like to stump the bartenders by ordering a bullshot."

Becky Hughes: Oh, yeah.

Tiffany Hanson: "They never knew what that was, and she'd happily tell them that it was vodka with beef bouillon." Wow.

Becky Hughes: I actually have been seeing that at a couple bars recently, I think. Oh, I don't want to say the bullshot is going to have a moment, but there's a new-

Tiffany Hanson: Potentially.

Becky Hughes: -bar on the Bowery that's serving it on the menu, and I have seen people ordering it there. It's not just a gag.

Tiffany Hanson: All right, Becky. Let's bring Monk in Brooklyn into the conversation. Hello.

Monk: Hi. How's it going?

Tiffany Hanson: All right.

Monk: I know of a bar in Brooklyn called Blinky's Bar. It's been there since 2020. They had this amazing drink called the Rose Gold, which is basically Dorothy Parker's gin, which is actually distilled right around the corner from there, as well as some rosemary, bitters, lemon juice, and I'm sure some other delicious things. It's just so crisp and refreshing, and it's incredible. I just wanted to shout out Blinky's Bar.

Tiffany Hanson: Love it. All right. Thanks, Monk. That's the Rose Gold at Blinky's. One of the places on your list, Becky, for martini, is on the upper east side at Bemelmans. Why is that one of your picks?

Becky Hughes: As I wrote in the story, it's so impossible to say where the best martini is, but I do think Bemelman's is the most beautiful room that you can drink a martini in. It is sort of a room that feels like a martini itself. It's beautiful, gold everywhere, live jazz music, and it's covered in these murals from the 1940s painted by Ludwig Bemelmans. It's just a room that makes you feel okay paying over $35 for a martini. [chuckles]

Tiffany Hanson: There is something about the hotel bar because you had another one on your list here. Oh, I guess it was King Cole Bar.

Becky Hughes: Yes. Another gorgeous bar with a gorgeous mural.

Tiffany Hanson: Back to Bemelmans, though. They have a whole list of martinis. Which one did you pick for your list?

Becky Hughes: I think I wrote that it's just however you pick your martinis.

Tiffany Hanson: I noticed there's one like Elaine's Smoke Show. I was poking around their list. Madeline's Martini. We were talking about the gin vodka debate. That's a mix of gin and vodka. Like you said, though, we're talking $30 minimum for a drink, but at a place like that, you expect it. It's then an outing.

Becky Hughes: Yes. You're paying to be in the room, really, and you're paying for live music and you do get free snacks that they refill. I don't know. [chuckles] You got to balance that-- [rosstalk]

Tiffany Hanson: Oh, we have more bullshot people chiming in here. "A good bullshot contains a bit of tomato." Wow. "Also, please say where your guest article is." I shall. It is in the New York Times. The article is called "Manhattan's in Brooklyn, and 25 Must-Try Cocktails in New York City." The co-author with us here is Becky Hughes. We're talking about the best cocktails in and around the five boroughs. I'm wondering about Katz's Martini. We're talking about strange martinis. This is at The View. Is this enough to get me to go to Midtown?

Becky Hughes: [laughs] I'm really loving The View. I think it's phenomenal. It's the restaurant at the top of the Marriott in Times Square and it spins, which is a gimmick and maybe is not necessary because it is just a fabulous bar on its own. Some of the cocktails on the menu are inspired by beloved New York dishes.

There's one that's inspired by the Magnolia Bakery banana pudding, and then there's one that I love that's a Katz's Deli inspired martini where they fat wash the gin with beef tallow and then they put aquavit in it to make a wet martini. Aquavit has that caraway and dill flavor. Then they garnish it with a pickle. It really does taste like pastrami and rye bread, and also a really strong, lovely drink.

Tiffany Hanson: Not sure that'll get me to Midtown, but it was a good effort.

Becky Hughes: Fair enough.

Tiffany Hanson: A couple of texts here before we take a quick break. "I love The Five Lamps on York on the upper east side. Great atmosphere, good staff. My favorite drink is the Bramble: gin, blackBerry, lemon juice. Also, the Blue Dog on West 50th does a riff on the French 75."

We are talking about cocktails for this holiday season with Becky Hughes. The article we're discussing is the New York Times has put together this list called "Manhattan's in Brooklyn, 25 Must-Try Cocktails in New York City." We're looking for you to join the conversation. What's your favorite cocktail? You can call us. You can text us. 212-433-9692. We'll get to those calls right after this quick break. This is All Of It. I'm Tiffany Hanson in for Alison Stewart. Don't go anywhere.

[music]

Tiffany Hanson: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Tiffany Hanson in Alison Stewart today, and we're talking holiday cocktails. Well, not specifically holiday cocktails. Cocktails to enjoy around the holidays. We're talking with Becky Hughes, who's an editor at New York Times Food. We're talking about the article in the Times, "Manhattan's in Brooklyn, 25 Must-Try Cocktails in New York City." Becky, we have a couple of great texts here. "I always start off the holiday season with the classic whiskey sour at Gallaghers Steakhouse.

Becky Hughes: Lovely.

Tiffany Hanson: Let's see. Oh, there was another one here. A Mai Tai. "Gorgeous French quarter style escapism and stunning cocktails at Maison Premiere in Brooklyn." Lots of people have a little tradition around these cocktails in the holiday season. Let's, Becky, bring Andres in Brooklyn into the conversation with us. Good afternoon, Andres. Hello.

Andres: Hi there. Hi.

Tiffany Hanson: You have a good suggestion for us?

Andres: Oh, yes. I'd love it if you could come over to Pokito Bar. We're on the South 4th street between Bedford and Driggs. We've been here for 10 years. It's a small, small little bar. We call it our little clubhouse. We have great martinis. I'll always highlight The Dirty. We call it The Dirty. Everybody calls me Dre. I make the green bean spicy pickle brine for this martini, and you can ask for it with gin or vodka.

Tiffany Hanson: Got it. All right. that's Pokito Bar in Brooklyn. Green beans, but not necessarily as green bean forward, I think is the other one we were talking about, Becky. All right, let's just go ahead and bring another caller into the conversation. How about Jane?

Jane: Hi there. Can you hear me?

Tiffany Hanson: We can hear you.

Jane: Great. Thanks for having me on. My favorite cocktail right now is at Radio Star, right near Transmitter Park, WNYC, Good Friends. It's a hibiscus Cosmos. They froth it up really nicely, low on the ice, and they serve it up in a nice champagne glass, and it is delicious.

Tiffany Hanson: Jane, thank you, Becky. Another Cosmo suggestion.

Becky Hughes: People are talking about Cosmos.

Tiffany Hanson: I guess. I thought it was a '90s thing, but I guess they're back.

Becky Hughes: The espresso martini was back a few years ago. The Cosmo was sort of in its footsteps. You know what? Lately, I've been really liking to have a Cosmo, but with mezcal instead of vodka. Most places that do a great Cosmo-- [crosstalk]

Tiffany Hanson: Mezcal is smoky.

Becky Hughes: Smoky, yes.

Tiffany Hanson: You have to add smoke.

Becky Hughes: Add a little bit of a nice smoky warmth to the classic.

Tiffany Hanson: All right. Olivia in Queens joining our conversation. Hi, Olivia.

Olivia: Hi. My favorite spot is Amor y Amargo. It's been there for ages. They recently moved back into their old spot and renovated it. Sother Teague makes amazing cocktails. It focuses on bitters, so if you need bitters, that's the spot to go. They do a fantastic [unintelligible 00:19:04] highball, but if you're not sure what to get, just tell them what profile you like and bitters and alcohol, and they'll just make it on the spot.

Tiffany Hanson: Thank you, Olivia, for that suggestion. Becky, as somebody who really doesn't know much about bitters, there are a lot of different varieties. If you're a novice like me and you don't know what you're asking for, if somebody asks you, "What kind of bitters you want in something?" I don't know, what do you say?

Becky Hughes: Amor y Amargo is a perfect place for this because these are people who are experts and bidders and know everything about it. I've gone there.

Tiffany Hanson: Where is that?

Becky Hughes: It's in the East Village. I think it's on East 6th. I've gone in there and said, "I don't know anything about anything when it comes to bitters." You can really get a lesson there. It's lovely.

Tiffany Hanson: I love it. All right. Say the name of that again.

Becky Hughes: Amor y Amargo.

Tiffany Hanson: Amor y Amargo. All right. A text here. "My favorite cocktail in New York City is the Elope with Me at Nonna Dora's in Tribeca. It's a prosciutto washed gin house made cantaloupe cordial with basil sweet with just a little bit of salty." Can't wait. Prosciutto wash gin. Basically it soaks the gin for a while?

Becky Hughes: Yes.

Tiffany Hanson: Is that what we're doing?

Becky Hughes: Exactly.

Tiffany Hanson: All right.

Becky Hughes: I can't say anything bad about it because I was just riding really hard for the pastrami washed gin.

Tiffany Hanson: Yes, you were.

Becky Hughes: Who am I to poo poo this?

Tiffany Hanson: Who are you to poo poo that?

Becky Hughes: I'll give it a shot.

Tiffany Hanson: All right. Let's try to get off martinis here a little bit and talk about Bloody Mary's at the King Cole Bar. We mentioned that sitting in a grand bar at the St. Regis on the east side, they have the Red Snapper that you wrote about. Tell us about that.

Becky Hughes: The lore is that the Bloody Mary, which was created in France actually, in the 1930s, the creator of the Bloody Mary introduced it to the bar. They loved it and they wanted to put it on the menu, but the name was a bit too edgy, and so they renamed it the Red Snapper. That's the first established Bloody Mary type drink in the city.

Tiffany Hanson: Oh, I got it.

Becky Hughes: It's still called the Red Snapper, and it's got all the usual suspects. It's vodka, tomato juice, Worcestershire, celery, salt, Tabasco, and it's just a perfect iteration of that.

Tiffany Hanson: Help me understand what happened to our collective consciousness that we had to start putting giant, giant things into Bloody Marys that have stack of meat, usually lots of meat and things. Why are we doing that?

Becky Hughes: At that point, I think if you want to order food, you should just do that and make that choice. What I do appreciate about the Red Snapper at the King Cole bar is that it's garnished with a lemon wedge. Very civilized.

Tiffany Hanson: Oh, I like it.

Becky Hughes: No meat.

Tiffany Hanson: That does seem very similar. The no meat version. Becky, let's bring Marlene in Windsor Terrace into the conversation. Hi, Marlene.

Marlene: Hello.

Tiffany Hanson: You have a good recommendation?

Marlene: Yes, I do. For Dutch Hills. That's my son's bar in Long Island City.

Tiffany Hanson: What do you like to drink there, Marlene?

Marlene: I don't drink, period, but it's a great bar. [laughs]

Becky Hughes: That's great.

Tiffany Hanson: All right.

Marlene: The upstairs has, it's called Debbie, and it's called Debbie because there's a picture of maybe a flamenco dancer that was my aunt many years ago.

Tiffany Hanson: Oh. I love it.

Marlene: That's a little fact.

Tiffany Hanson: I love it.

Marlene: Thank you for publishing.

Tiffany Hanson: Absolutely. Thank you, Marlene. Shout out to the moms, giving props to the kids. We're always there doing our bit.

Becky Hughes: That's beautiful.

Tiffany Hanson: I love it. Let's talk about Bar Pisellino and an Aperol Spritz. Again, for somebody who is a novice when it comes to Aperol Spritz, is there only one type of Aperol? Is there only one company that makes an Aperol? I'm not going to have somebody go, "Which variety do you want?" [chuckles] It's like, you get it and it is what it is. What is it? Tell us.

Becky Hughes: Aperol is Aperol. It's an operativo.

Tiffany Hanson: It's an Italian. An Aperol sSritz is mixed with that. It's an orange color.

Becky Hughes: Prosecco, Aperol, and then often topped with soda water, and usually served with an orange wedge as garnish. The one at Bar Pisellino, I'm a fan of the Aperol Spritz. I feel like it's a time and a place. It's evocative of the summer and sitting outside. The one they have at Bar Pisellino is on tap, and it's super carbonated. It comes out, and it's that-

Tiffany Hanson: Oh, interesting.

Becky Hughes: -beautiful tangerine color. It stays really sparkly in the glass. Then they serve it with the most amazing olives I've ever had.

Tiffany Hanson: All right. We have a text here. "Kudos to the Aperol Spritz at Bar Pisellino then." We have a text here that says, "Winnie Said on Amsterdam in Harlem. The cocktail menu is full of beautiful, tempting creations, but I can't resist the S'mores Espresso Martini.

Becky Hughes: Ooh.

Tiffany Hanson: It sounds pretty great. Martinis are very versatile, and they're also everywhere, aren't they?

Becky Hughes: Yes.

Tiffany Hanson: You could probably do an entire book on all the versions of martinis at all the places in New York City, and still, it would probably be a tome. I don't know. What is it about the martinis?

Becky Hughes: Whatever the s'mores drink is, I feel like probably bears very little resemblance to the martini by definition, but ultimately you serve it in a V-shaped glass. The implication of the word martini is that it's going to be a strong drink. It feels festive to say the word martini.

Tiffany Hanson: Is it that it's a good palette to experiment on? A true martini is really just either the gin or the vodka and a little bit of vermouth and that's it, with an olive or a twist of lemon.

Becky Hughes: Yes. Most people would say that the cocktails we're talking about are not martinis at all. I think it's a nice structure for people to understand when they see the word martini on a menu. They know what kind of glass it's going to come in. They know it's going to be served up and not over ice. They have a sense that it's going to be pretty boozy.

Tiffany Hanson: We were talking about a S'mores Espresso Martini. If we talk about Willie's frozen coffee at Skinny Dennis in Brooklyn in Williamsburg. Talk to us about coffee drinks and why you picked this one in particular.

Becky Hughes: This, I love. It's served at a few different bars like Skinny Dennis, Rocka Rolla, Do or Dive. They're all part of the same bar group. Everyone calls it the coffee thing. I only learned it's real biblical name through this story. It's a frozen drink. It's a slushy kind of coffee drink. It's got a whiskey floater and it's served in an anthora Greek style coffee cup. Then it's got coffee grounds on top. It sounds crazy.

Especially people who know me and what I like to drink, it sounds like something that I would never even look at, but I love it. It's surprisingly balanced. It's really a strong drink. It has like a very whiskey forward flavor. There's something fun about slurping up those little coffee grounds and munching on them.

Tiffany Hanson: All right. Let's talk with Alan in New Canaan, Connecticut. Hi, Alan.

Alan: All right. My favorite drink is actually made at home in my own personal bar, so I can't recommend that to anybody, but it's a Vesper. It's called V-E-S-P-E-R. Basically put together by Edith Fleming for his James Bond series, specifically Casino Royale. It's made of two-thirds gin and one-third vodka. The gin I use is Hendrix. It has a really nice taste to it. Shaken violently. Not just shaken, not stirred, but violently.

The most important part of it is actually the glass you use. I have a series of different glasses. They were all bought, believe it or not, at Crate & Barrel. My favorite current glass is the Verve. It's a martini type shape, but on a very thick, short base. They have a ton of really interesting martini glasses, including ones that have a shape like the [unintelligible 00:27:39] and-- [crosstalk]

Tiffany Hanson: Alan, you sound like quite an aficionado when it comes to cocktails and cocktail glasses. Thank you so much for the call. Party at Alan's in New Canaan this weekend. Becky, last recommended. It's almost Friday. Folks are thinking about heading out this weekend for a little festivity. From your list, what do you suggest for this weekend? Something we haven't touched on.

Becky Hughes: Let's see. I think if you haven't been to the bar called Superbueno in the East Village, they have an amazing list of cocktails. The one that I wrote about for this story is the roasted corn sour.

The idea is that this is a Mexican American cocktail bar. Nacho Jimenez, who makes the drinks there, thinks that this is the quintessential Mexican American drink because it's basically a whiskey sour, which feels very American, but it's infused with corn at every different stage. There's roasted yellow corn that the whiskey is infused with and that's made into a syrup as well. Then they char the corn husks at the end. That's what you see on top of the drink.

Tiffany Hanson: Oh, interesting.

Becky Hughes: It's this beautiful dark colored powder on top, and that's charred corn husk. You get basically an experience of every way that you could consume corn through this drink.

Tiffany Hanson: All right. Say the name of it again and where folks can find it.

Becky Hughes: The bar is called Superbueno and it's in the East Village.

Tiffany Hanson: All right. We have been talking with Becky Hughes, who is an editor at New York Times Food, talking about "Manhattan's in Brooklyn, and 25 Must-Try Cocktails in New York City." That's the list that the New York Times put together. People, including Becky, put that together. Becky, hey, thanks so much for your time and recommendations.

Becky Hughes: Thanks for having me. Thanks everyone else for the recommendations.

Tiffany Hanson: I appreciate it.