5 Long Island restaurants serving great fall cocktails
Gimme S'mores with whipped cream vodka, Mozart chocolate cream and a graham cracker rim at Husk & Vine in St. James. Credit: Newsday/Scott Vogel
If it's too late for margaritas and too early for hot toddies--what are we supposed to drink now? We posed that very question to five bartenders at some of the Island’s most popular cocktail spots. Here are their answers.
Pumpkin Spice Martini at Birdie Bar
688 Fort Salonga Rd., Northport, 631-686-3713
There’s no avoiding the gourd this time of year, and that includes at the bar. Why not make the most of it with this silky yet potent concoction? Take Stoli Vanilla, Kahlua Salted Caramel, Baileys Pumpkin Spice, grated fresh nutmeg and cinnamon, add a dash of swank from this newish haunt, and you’ve got the perfect antidote to the season’s pick-your-own frenzy. ($18)
Manhattan at WhiskeyNeat
124 E. Main St., Patchogue, 631-600-3434, whiskeyneatny.com
Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat nor gloomy drinking companions can keep us from this most weatherproof of whiskey drinks. Which is to say, no self-respecting cocktail lover should dare face the vagaries of the season without it, or this Patchogue permutation, composed of Rittenhouse rye, Carpano Antica sweet vermouth and Angostura bitters. ($15)
Godfather at Gatsby’s Landing
1362 Old Northern Blvd., Roslyn, 516-277-2318, gatsbyslanding.com
If there’s anything that straddles summer and fall it’s amaretto, which is how the liqueur finds its way into rocket fuels during the dog days and fine autumnal-leaning beverages like this one. The cocktail’s name (and chief ingredient), John Barr blended Scotch, suggests brutal and menacing days to come, but also the tempering power of almondy sweetness, at least for the present. ($17)
Black Manhattan at One10
569 Broadhollow Rd., Melville, 631-694-3333, one10restaurant.com
What, another Manhattan? Quiet, this one’s special. It starts with Henry McKenna sour mash bourbon and Amaro Averna, but then adds lemon peel and black walnut bitters, an effect that’s both sunny and rainy at once. Call it the perfect choice whatever the weather, September in a glass. ($14)
Gimme S’mores at Husk & Vine
655 Middle Country Rd., St. James, 631-250-9616, huskandvineny.com
Can’t wait for full-on fall, wherein roaring campfires, sticky masses of melted chocolate and over-charred marshmallows make you long for a cleaner, more efficient alternative? This St. James bar’s got you. Their cocktail version combines whipped cream vodka, Mozart chocolate cream, chocolate syrup and crushed graham crackers with the verisimilitude of a marshmallow floater. Ghost stories optional. ($16)
Newsday writer and restaurant critic Scott Vogel aims for a refreshing, gimlet-eyed take on the Long Island food scene, often while drinking a refreshing gimlet.
