Ice bar offers frozen oasis in sweltering Manhattan

Any heat-emitting devices that could melt the Arctic freeze — like cell phones — must be deposited in temperature-proof lockers at the door.

There are already two Minus5 bars in Las Vegas.

“An Experience that will chill you to your bones!” says the website of the company whose concept was created in New Zealand by Craig Ling, then tested as a pop-up igloo at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Ling is now a partner in the New York venture.

An ice carver will change the bar and sculptures every few months, with creations ref lecting the season, location, wildlife or even corporate logos and products for private functions.

The only concessions to warm comfort are some couches covered in faux deerskin.

Drinks reflect the icy

clarity: mostly vodkabased cocktails in customdesigned glasses made from Artesian water.

Bartender Paul Stavros was decked out for his eight-hour shift. He wore thermal underwear and snow boots, “just like winter in New York,” said Stavros, 27.

A photographer roams the bar, producing images that guests can retrieve later to show family and friends.

The bar has a double personality. From 2 p.m., when it opens daily, to 7 p.m., children and families are welcome. After that, the establishment caters to a New York nightclub crowd.

In the heat of summer, it’s the coolest experience in New York City — liter- ally.

And it’s a multimilliondollar endeavor. It cost over $5 million to build the Manhattan bar — “bricks, mortar, ice and all,” said Noel Bowman, Minus5’s director of operations.

“The timing couldn’t have been better for us to open here, with temperatures in the 90s,” Bowman said.

He expects the novelty to draw winter guests too, as do the Las Vegas bars.

All of them are built with a cost-saving factor.

For the drinks, “we don’t have to use ice,” Eldridge deadpanned.

Just don’t put your glass on any surface, “or it’ll slide off!”

Customer Kevin Parker, 36, a real estate broker, paid a little extra to wear a white faux-fur coat as he clutched the bar’s Big Apple cocktail, which includes Midori and lemon liqueur.

“It’s like New York: sweet and tart.”