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Awards season for the bar world launched final Tuesday, with North America’s 50 Greatest Bars Awards going down for the second time in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Whereas the No. 1 bar, Mexico Metropolis’s Handshake Speakeasy, was predicted by practically everybody spoken to, it was New York’s Superbueno that had individuals speaking, getting into the checklist at No. 2 simply 363 days after opening. The Cayman Islands entered the chat for the primary time with Library by the Sea at No. 35. And whereas Canadian illustration continues to develop (with seven of fifty bars on the checklist), nobody from the pleasant north was in a position to crack the Prime 20 this yr. In the meantime, the night’s extracurricular chatter appeared to heart on the continued challenges of merely being open, the stress between constructing a legacy and staying contemporary, and the looming affect of PR on who makes it into the Prime 50. Right here’s what we overheard on the night time of the awards.
“Each time we see London and New York within the cocktail scene. I really feel Mexico Metropolis now could be the third place on the earth, or fourth place on the earth [for cocktails]. This is essential for our trade.” —Marquitos Di Battista, Handshake Speakeasy, Mexico Metropolis (No. 1)
“I believe typically the awards are usually slightly little bit of a circle jerk… [They] gravitate in the direction of an elite group of individuals and associates that flow into and work with one another. I hope that may change. However I additionally assume that the intentions are there. It’s simply type of how human nature works.”
—Nameless
“Individuals who go to a bar as a result of it’s the ‘finest in Canada’ don’t perceive the transient nature of lists. And the way lists will not be a lot about your legacy. We’re 4 years outdated now. I believe so much about how I need us to be a legacy bar. And whenever you take a look at legacy bars on the checklist, they’re often decrease on the checklist. I’d slightly be that than struggle for No. 1 in North America. I don’t assume we’re No. 1 in North America and I simply don’t need that strain. I really feel like typically when individuals get these awards, they then have to fulfill the expectation of the company [who travel there] an excessive amount of slightly than actually cater to the company that love them already.” —Christina Veira, Bar Mordecai, Toronto (No. 40)
“LA particularly goes by means of this factor the place nightlife feels very lifeless. Individuals who do come out are nice. The clientele’s nice. It’s simply not as many individuals proper now. It’s going to bounce again. We had the pandemic and an enormous leisure trade strike proper after. They first hit the writers. After which it hit everybody performing, which then trickled right down to individuals behind the digital camera, caterers, all the pieces. It simply fucked our metropolis up. It’s nonetheless not again. So individuals aren’t spending cash. Labor retains going up, gross sales maintain happening. However we’re so fortunate that we get some press and other people come; we’re a vacation spot. It’s not all California folks that come to our bar. It’s individuals from everywhere in the world. We’re doing properly. The group is stellar. We now have no turnover. It’s loopy. We’re blessed in a really severe means.” —Nameless
“I believe that Latinos in New York Metropolis don’t essentially have a really large protected area to be and revel in who they’re. [Superbueno] lastly places components of my tradition which have been pushed to the facet, to the forefront. I keep in mind after I first met Nacho [Jimenez, Superbueno’s owner], his No. 1 rule was, ‘We’re by no means enjoying English music right here.’ You already know, there are one million good songs. They don’t at all times should be reggaeton, however there are classics. You already know, whenever you play a extremely good one and the whole bar begins singing and everybody’s like, My mother performs this on a Saturday morning. You already know, and it’s that feeling… that’s Superbueno. And that, to me, is residence. I really feel like I’m residence day by day that I’m there.” —Sthefany Gomez, Superbueno, New York (No. 2)
“I’ve been on [the list] as excessive as No. 23 [in 2022] after which I haven’t been on the checklist in any respect since then… My bar simply turned 13 in March, so perhaps we’re attending to that place of oldness, the place we will turn out to be that legacy bar. You already know, it takes a decade to be an in a single day success. However I do see that most of the new bars that open and which have cash behind them and PR behind them, they do come screaming outta the gate with numerous sizzle and never as a lot steak. It’s the sluggish burn that I’ve been after, and that’s how I’ve run my profession. However I see each side of the coin. Every thing deserves its seat within the pantheon.” —Sother Teague, Amor y Amargo, New York
“In the entire of my profession… Nicely, I’m 41. So it’s been some time. However the entire of my profession [what I feel proudest of] was ditching PR and going again to the bar. I imply, I cherished working in bars and eating places, after which I made a swap based mostly on what different individuals thought I ought to be doing, and after I actually listened to myself and went again to one thing that I knew I cherished, all the pieces simply clicked.” —Kate Boushel, North America’s Greatest Bartender 2024
“As a bar who has by no means had PR, doesn’t have the finances for it, and prefers to take that PR finances and put it again into my neighborhood and my workers, it’s irritating how a lot PR elements into these items. However I actually consider [that] with dedication and slightly little bit of consciousness from the awards, issues can change.” —Kate Gerwin, Comfortable Accidents, Albuquerque
“There’s extra character to locations which are owner-operator. You’re extra nimble, you’re extra agile, you’re in a position to relate to your workers, to maintain workers, to create a extremely wholesome working tradition since you’re in it with them. It’s additionally cool that it’s not simply the large guys who can spend cash on PR that get acknowledged. Shoutout to each bar who doesn’t pay for it. Like we don’t pay for it. The place we’re all out right here hustling, selling ourselves. It’s actually cool. I believe the checklist is skewing increasingly within the path of bars which are out grinding to earn their place on the checklist and innovating, slightly than simply paying for it.” —Mike Capoferri, Thunderbolt, Los Angeles (No. 8)
