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You don't need to trek to the Upper West Side to drink among fossils and curious creatures anymore. Bushwick's newest cocktail bar is basically a natural history museum where the exhibits come with booze.
The Museum Bar is now open at 1329 Willoughby Avenue, bringing crystals, fossils, dinosaur-themed cocktails and actual insects to the neighborhood's nightlife scene. The new spot—inspired by the wide-eyed feeling of wandering through a natural history museum—is designed to make drinking feel a little more like discovering something weird and wonderful.
“Growing up, I was allowed very limited television time, unless it was related to science or animals—then I could watch as much as I wanted,” said co-founder Misha Chavez. “My love of learning was encouraged early in life and I’ve always been inspired by that happy, enthusiastic feeling of discovery.” Chavez opened the bar with Bill Liu, a banking professional turned sommelier.
The space itself unfolds like a museum visit. Up front, the eight-seat Gift Shop is a casual, café-style bar specializing in lower-ABV cocktails inspired by tea, coffee and pastries, including a daily spritz and rotating milk punch. From there, guests pass through an Exhibition Hall lined with crystals, fossils and other oddities pulled from the team's personal collections.
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The main Museum bar sits in the back, where the cocktail menu is split into “permanent exhibits” and limited-time “special exhibits.” (Dinosaurs are the first temporary theme, because obviously.)
The permanent collection gets even stranger: Insectarium mixes honey gin, fig, red bitter, black ants, wormwood and crickets; Ocean Life combines rum, coconut, lime and curacao with cuttlefish ink; and Fossil Record blends reposado tequila with sesame, sherry and turmeric. Lead bartender Bobbi Adler says every drink is research-driven, with inspiration ranging from animal behaviors to evolutionary history.
Chef Trevon Reffell's globally inspired snack menu includes sweet banana Acra Fritters with West African pepper sauce, shishito peppers with suya and garlic aioli and Pad Dan Noodles, a mashup of pad Thai noodles and dan dan sauce. There's also a plate of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets with housemade Carolina-style barbecue sauce.
The Museum Bar + Gift Shop is open Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 5 pm to midnight and Friday and Saturday from 5pm to 2am. Consider this your permission to get tipsy and learn something.