[title]
We love a large-format cocktail in NYC, especially when it's summer—it's the perfect time to share a big ol' bowl of fun, festive punch with a group of friends. And at Wenwen, the self-proclaimed "Taiwanese dirty party" in Greenpoint (1025 Manhattan Avenue) from 886 restaurateurs Eric Sze and Andy Chuang, you can get a supremely boozy shareable option for the bawdy price of $69.
RECOMMENDED: Michelin-starred Taiwanese restaurant Din Tai Fung is opening in NYC this spring
The drinks menu at the compact restaurant is already a cheeky one, with both a house shot (rum blend with black sugar, Sichuan peppercorn and lime) and a shots "roulette" (one poured with Baijou alongside a trio of glasses brimming tequila) on the boozy lineup, along with a sillily named "Gourdgeous" mocktail (oolong tea, winter melon gourd and lemon) that you can liquor up with a shot of Toki or mezcal.
And then you get to The Shyboy 4XL, which is the large-format version of the menu's Shyboy cocktail, a Long Island Iced Tea-esque concoction made with mezcal, gin, vodka, Aperol, coconut, pineapple, lime and seltzer. The 4XL is, fittingly, meant for four people, served with boba-big straws in a massive glass goblet and topped with a flaming piece of youtiao, a cruller-like Chinese fried dough.
Though the by-glass price (currently set at $19) might change with the ever-fluctuating economy, Sze assured Eater that the $69 price tag won't budge, mainly because it's funny: “If selling a cocktail at a silly price, even if we don’t necessarily make our target beverage margins, can make just some people smile, then it’s okay,” he said to the outlet.
Sze and the team are known for their novelty drinks: over at 886, they host drinking games like the "Bad Idea Challenge" (sake, red wine, Red Bull and soju for $27), in which two people with "a regulation house straw" have six seconds total to finish the bowl; if they win, they get two sake bombs on the house.
That rowdiness is also seen over on the food menu at Wenwen, which is full of stuff like "Taiwan dust" (a mix of white pepper, sugar, salt and MSG that spices up the hot honey popcorn chicken and crispy fried tofu) and “B.D.S.M.” fried chicken (a yellow fat chicken that's been brined, deboned, soy and marinated—get it?).