Chinato — A Girl's Guide to Drinking Alone

108 Stanton St at Ludlow St, Lower East Side

The Place: An intimate and (dare I say) immersive cocktail bar that feels like the living room of your rich friend who’s into zen and the art of mixology.

The Time: Sunday December 29, 6:30pm. I occasionally sling drinks at The Rockwell Place, and my fellow bartender, John, started working at Chinato (pronounced “key-NOT-oh”), a gig he describes as “kind of scratching the itch of the nerdiest part of my brain.” With a free night in this liminal space between Christmas and New Years, I think it’s high time I hit up this cocktail lab–sorry, cocktail bar, and pay John a visit. (But not before grabbing a big-ass bowl of soba from Cocoron on Delancey. Freakin’ yum.)

The Vibe: From the outside, it looks completely closed. Like, shuttered-Chinese-restaurant-that’s-been-sitting-vacant-for-years closed. Listen, I’ve worked at a speakeasy before, but even I wouldn’t try walking into this place if I hadn’t been explicitly told in advance that it was in operation at this exact moment. But it is, in fact, a bar! A sexy and cool one at that, with vibey music, wood-paneled walls, curtains blocking out the windows. Tis the season, so the small space is done up with tasteful Christmas garlands and other cute holiday touches. There’s just a handful of tables surrounding the pièce de résistance: a central kitchen-island of sorts that operates as the bar, with only two seats on either end. The other two sides of the island are bartender stations, with sinks, many many bottles of booze and bitters, bar tools, and any other kooky bartender nerd shit you can imagine. This is awesome for me, as I’m right next to John and can easily chat with him while he works. I guess you could consider these four bar seats as the splash zone, and the tables are more like the seats at an immersive theater show where you’d rather die than get called on to participate. There’s a more traditional bar at the back with a few stools, but it seems to function as a server station and bottle shelves, and who would ever want to sit facing that boring set-up when there’s a show happening in the middle of the room! (Ok, maybe not a show, this isn’t Sushi on Me, but still.)

The Bartender: I’m obviously biased but John is great, as is his co-worker, Wei, and the two of them operate as true triple threats of bartenders, servers, and hosts. It’s a funny adjustment to have a bartender not BEHIND a bar, but just…there, in the middle of the room, floating around like a consummate host, mixing up very elaborate drinks. (They weigh out their force-carbonated drinks on a tiny scale and that sentence should really say it all.) John tells me that the bar was named for Barolo Chinato, a high-end aromatized wine from the Cocchi brand. That makes total sense with the vibe of this place, to name the bar after an obscure yet elevated product known only by a handful of hardcore spirits heads.

The Drank: The cocktails apparently change up all the time, but the current menu is “Greatest Hits,” as each drink is named after a song. (There’s some trendy listening bar action happening here, in everything but the actual listening part, it seems.) I start with the namesake Chinato, kind of like a reverse Manhattan with the aforementioned Barolo Chinato, bourbon, baijiu, and black tea. It has a lot of berry notes, complete with a smoked garnish that John lovingly describes as “berry-flavored vape juice,” topped with a piece of dark chocolate. It’s soft and flavorful, great as a starter cocktail or a nightcap. Next, John makes me the Grey Luh. It’s a clarified milk punch that I would never be able to tell you what’s in it but it’s stupidly delicious.* I actually have no idea what would happen if someone ordered, say, a dirty vodka martini, or even a beer. They’re in the wrong bar, that’s for sure.

Was I Hit On?: A ridiculous question because of course not. But it’s also not the kind of place where I would be hit on, or even could be, realistically.

Should You Drink Here Alone?: An excellent question. I guess you could argue that I wasn’t really here alone, since I came to hang out with John. At the same time, Chinato is not a place to go if you just want to peacefully sit by yourself and read a book. I’d say it's perfect for solo drinkers who want to nerd out about cocktails with knowledgeable bartenders, or for those who absolutely adore watching drinks being made, like I do. Otherwise, bring a date who lists cocktails as an interest on their dating profile, or your friend who’s not afraid to try a drink that has asparagus in it. I fear the magic of Chinato might be lost on anyone else.

*Upon further review of the online menu, the Grey Luh contains bourbon, cachaca, mango, coconut, pandan, honey, lapsang souchong tea, and shitake mushrooms, all clarified with milk. Wild.