True to her name, Ivy Mix stirs an incredible cocktail, especially in the company of Julie Reiner. The drink pros made quite the formidable pair at the Clover Club, Reiner’s Cobble Hill cocktail institution where Mix served as head bartender, but they’re testing if lightning strikes twice at this Pan-Latin follow-up. (Spoiler: It does.) In a mystic-cool space fitting for such bartender worship—rigged with Indio candles, cathedral-pew booths and a golden tin ceiling imprinted with crosses—Mix takes the reins on the cocktail menu and proves she’s worthy of the title leyenda (Spanish for legend), serving South of the Border cocktails that go well beyond tequila.
New York is stirring with next-level drinkeries—our best bars are expert-approved, after all—and 2015 was, happily, more of the same. From a sultry tiki bar upgrade in the East Village to a serious Upper East Side cocktail contender, these are New York’s best bars of the year.
RECOMMENDED: See the best of 2015