TWO SIDES OF THE PARK
Central Park is dusted in the beginning of a snowfall as we arrive at one of New York’s most creative cocktail bars. The Aviary NYC is perched 35 floors above Central Park and Columbus Circle in the Mandarin Oriental, New York, and it’s easy to see why chef Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas of Alinea Group chose this as their first venue outside Chicago.
What looks like a science experiment is placed before me, the blue flame of a bunsen burner working its magic on amber liquid in a beaker. It bubbles up to a vacuum coffee pot and plumes of scented smoke soon waft out the top.
