Alinea's Award-Winning Cocktail Bar The Aviary Is Coming To NYC
March 6, 2017, 2 p.m.
On the 35th floor of the Mandarin Oriental.
Chef Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas are bringing their award-winning cocktail concept out of Chicago and into NYC. The Alinea Group will open another location of The Aviary inside the Mandarin Oriental on the hotel's 35th floor. This will likely be the toughest reservation since...Achatz and co. were last in NYC.
This is also the first time I've seen a "Coming Soon: Bar" trailer, so there's that.
"The planning has taken over three years," Kokonas told the Chicago Tribue. "It's very challenging to redesign such a space and, further, to do the construction while the hotel continues to operate."
Expect some serious cocktail wizardry—along with dope views into Central Park—and Achatz's food. The Chicago version employs a ticketing system (they still take walk-ins) so maybe they'll do the same here, though it's not mentioned in the current information available to press. They'll definitely be operating The Office, an exclusive bar-within-the-bar speakeasy that requires a key.
