Double Chicken Please
This year, GN Chan and Faye Chen were summoned to attend The World’s 50 Best Bars ceremony, where their New York City establishment, Double Chicken Please, was awarded the highest new entry and sixth best bar on the globe. Chan always wanted to combine his interests in industrial design and street magic with his skill at creating unique drinks, while Chen had a mission to reinvigorate the industry.
Five years ago, they embarked on a cocktail road trip, driving a VW minibus and making acclaimed appearances in Los Angeles, Austin, Las Vegas, Atlanta, New Orleans, Nashville and Miami. They served 1,200 cocktails, which was a good way to create a repertoire for Double Chicken Please, their restaurant and bar, where today guests make reservations for a two-hour seating allotment.
Doubling the experience, Chan and Chen created dual areas. The front room pays homage to the Lower East Side of yesteryear, serving chicken sandwiches and 14 fast-paced “taptails,” ontap cocktails that constantly rotate. The night I visited the #2—with Cazadores reposado tequila, Cocchi Americano, Italicus, Earl Grey and grapefruit—was like nothing I never had. But the real fun happens in the dimly lit back room, where chef Mark Chou creates conventional but spectacular tasting bites such as chicken-liver mousse with caramelized shallots, ruby port and coffee butter and a Bolognese grilled cheese sandwich with thyme-garlic butter, mozzarella and pecorino. But the drinks are a challenge. We opted for what sounded safe: Mango Sticky Rice, a beautiful libation with Bacardí Ocho, mango, sticky-rice pu’er tea, wakame, cold brew and coconut; Butter Raisin Biscuit, a creamy, sweet potion made with Château de Montifaud Vieux Pineau, black raisin and brown butter; and a classic dirty margarita, whose question-mark embellishment should have alerted us because no one had ever heard of such a margarita. This completely clear libation—made with Ilegal joven mezcal (whose hints of green apple, citrus and white pepper can compete with gin), Cocchi Americano, verjus, shiso and the herbaceous Italicus—tasted like a mezcal dirty martini with a big olive. Now we were ready for round two, and the best was yet to come. We became adventurous, and Chan stopped by to give us strong house shots to encourage us. Then we ordered the Japanese Cold Noodle, with white rum, pineapple, cucumber, coconut and lime; with the addition of sesame oil, it tasted exactly like a cold noodle soup—yum. Key Lime Pie, with Bombay Sapphire, The Plum, I Suppose (an Empirical spirit with nutty notes of plum kernels and marigold), winter melon, sweet cream, lime, egg white and soda, is out of this world, and much better to drink than to eat. And the amazing Cold Pizza is hard to convince anyone to try, but once you do, you will be hooked. Don Fulano tequila, Parmigiano-Reggiano, burnt toast, tomato, basil, honey and egg white doesn’t sound that great, but trust me, the taste takes you on a journey, like having a cold slice of pizza and washing it down with a perfectly mixed tequila cocktail. doublechickenplease.com