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There is still time to plan a trip to Italy this summer. But if your upcoming trip is still a ways off (or if it just isn’t in the cards this year), a new Lower East Side bar has brought the European tradition to you.
As of April 3, the neighborhood welcomed Ms. Alice, a moody, red-lit lounge that’s built around European aperitivo culture. The space is the latest from Parched Hospitality Group, whose concepts promote Australian hospitality, via coffee shop and brunch spot, Hole In the Wall, and Aussie-style daytime cafe and restaurant that serves kangaroo skewers, Isla & Co. Ms. Alice slightly deviates from the rest, this time focusing on an aperitivo and martini-focused beverage program.
Crafted by Parched Hospitality Group's beverage director, Jeremy Ortiz, the dedicated martini menu features a classic 50/50 alongside a dirty bleu martini shaken with bleu cheese-washed vodka. There’s also a blueberry Gibson martini with Roku gin, shochu, vermouth, pickled blueberries and sesame. As for something light and bubbly, there are two fruit-forward spritzes to choose from: the salted watermelon spritz with Aperol, watermelon and tomato vermouth and the strawberry rhubarb spritz. And if you decide to come early Monday through Friday from 4pm to 6pm, you will be rewarded with $12 spritzes, negronis and martinis for apero hour.
To bring home the balance of food and drink, aka the aperitivo way, executive chef Clint Snowling has drummed up a selection of bites ready for snacking. There’s a starting menu of raw selections, including oysters, shrimp cocktail and bay scallops (or you can go for gold and get all three with an order of the petite plateu). Italian bar bites continue with gnocco fritto with prosciutto and stracciatella and focaccia, while larger appetites can be satiated with the bowl of rigatoni. But if you've ordered a martini, the choice snack has to be the cacio e pepe-style fries with chicken salt and Parmesan foam.
Martini and cacio e pepe fries? We may have found your new bar snack. Ms. Alice is now open at 79 Rivington Street.