Apothéke: Pretentious but Delicious

So what do you do when you save money on dinner ? Spend it on drinks of course! Deep in the roots of chinatown, there is a speck easy just across the way from Joe's Shanghai. The entrance looks like a run down restaurant, and there were 2 shady looking bouncers at the front. I was scared!

ooOOoo, this is a real shitty picture spooky walk to the bar

The inside was rustic and romantically themed with themed with dime lights and plush seating. I wanted to smoke a cigarette from one of those quellazaires. Alas, I hate cigarettes, so that wasn't going to happen.

Light up Marble counter tops!

Lavender Fields

This was made with fresh lavender, tequila, pressed limes, and kalamanci fruit. The main taste was tequila, I am not a huge tequila fan so this was not my favorite. I couldn't taste much lavender, but there were definite notes of lime.

Pepper Infusion

This was made with fresh green peppers, peppercorns, vodka, fresh dill, and fennel oil essence. This was pretty tasty,  nice hint of fennel with a light salty finish. It was like drinking a meal. Alcoholics rejoice! Who needs dinner, when you can drink it?

Jasmine Sour

This was made with house brewed jasmine tea, vodka, ginger juice, candied ginger essence, and and egg white. This was kind of spicy, the foam of egg white was a nice touch, I never drank egg white before. It was super light and fluffy, like a kittens belly ( I am running out of analogies here..) anyway, the herbal hint from the tea, mixed with the ginger made my mouth smelling fresh for the rest of the night.

Price: All drinks are $15.00

Verdict: Pro's : Carefully made drinks, extensive menu, and attentive bartenders. Con's: Utterly pretentious bouncers in fedoras and zoot suits (come one... really?)and atmosphere. Breaks the bank after 1 drink. Call it what you want, but this place is worth giving a shot at least once. It was a fun experience, and while my drinks were double the price of my dinner, it brought on good conversation with friends.

Apothéke

9 Doyers St
New York, NY 10079

www.apothekenyc.com/

Drinks Only: The Smith

During the a nice day, Buddy and I decided to take cover from the sun for a little bit and grab a drink. After searching high and low for a quiet bar, we ended up at the Smith. 

The Bar

The Dirty Jane

This was vodka with green tomato juice. Please take note my 4 yummies is for the place and the fries only! 

This was the most disgusting drink I have ever had... it was like drinking liquid garlic juice. With that being said, you definitely get your moneys worth of vodka. They used Stoli and I estimated about 3-3.5 shots were in my drink.  However, no amount of alcohol would get me to drink this again. Liquid garlic. Literally. 

Price: $11.00

Fries

We decided to get a bar snack as well, these fries were the perfect treat. They were crispy, thin and starchy in the center. I really like how some of the fries still had the skin on (that is my favorite part!). I usually like dipping my fries in ketchup and ranch dressing, but lucky me...all I had to do was sip my gross drink to get the garlic flavor!

Price: $5.00

Buddy and I

Testing my new camera on something other than food!

Origami, Cold drinks and nice weather, what more could you ask for?

Verdict: I love the atmosphere here, it's modern, spacious, and lively. Service is wonderful and the food here is always good too, but I will have to say...I am never getting that green tomato drink ever again!

The Smith

55 3rd Ave

New York, NY 10003

www.thesmithnyc.com

Drinks Only: Liquiteria

I love the nice weather we have been having, but walking around New York in the heat can make a girl in much need of a cool refreshing drink. I have passed this place plenty of times before, but  was kind of hesitant to ever get anything because the juices seemed kind of pricey. However, they did use fresh fruits and vegetables, and on this particular day I decided to treat myself to something cold and healthy.

Outside seating to enjoy your fresh beverage

The inside, made me feel super happy and vibrant, and the people there were very nice and friendly. There were so many kinds of drinks to choose from, from "liquid meals", freshly blended juices,  to bottled juices. They even had sandwiches!

Fresh fuits and veggies ready to be juiced and in my belly. I love how it automatically makes me feel healthier looking at them!

The Brain Teaser

Out of the choices, I decided to go with the Brain Teaser since it seemed to have the most interesting mix of veggies and fruits. The juice was made with carrots, kale, apple, red cabbage, parsley, ginger, lechithin memory booster.

Wow, this was EXTREMELY spicy. The ginger was fresh so its flavor was very potent. After each sip, the heat hit the back of my throat and I had to wait a while to take another sip. If you are a ginger lover, this is the drink for you! The only other ingredients that stood out were the apple and carrots (though barely).It was served a tad bit cooler than room temperature and I longed for a freezer to blast chill it a bit. So if you are looking for a cold drink, just grab one of their pre-made refrigerated juices.

Price: $5.45 for a 14 oz

Verdict: Maybe picking the "interesting" choice didn't pay off here, the flavors were very imbalanced but boy did that ginger wake me up! I might come back to try one of their smoothies, or perhaps even their pb and J sandwich, which they deem "amazing"

Liquiteria

170 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10003-5793

www.liquiteria.com