It’s just three simple ingredients: Campari, gin and vermouth. Perhaps there’s also a whimsical peel of orange thrown in. But much like Brat, or being rich and famous, Negronis are a lifestyle. It’s impossible to not look sophisticated ordering one. Take one sip and you’re guaranteed to exude class and elegance. It’s as if you’re a character in a Fellini film, perhaps even La Dolce Vita. Heck, it’s like being in The Lizzie McGuire Movie. One swig and suddenly one turns either into a dapper Marcello Mastroianni. Or Hillary Duff, on the cusp of making out with an Italian pop star. Nothing can bother you today: the only things on your mind are love and how to find more of it. Or in the case of Lizzie McGuire, to blow the lid off the fact that that aforementioned Italian pop star was lip-syncing all along.
In honor of the cocktail, the third week of September is Negroni Week. It was christened that way by the Pope, or at the very least by bartenders looking to educate the public on the drink. And in honor of it, I embarked on a mission to find the finest places to have a Negroni in all of New York City. My task, if I chose to accept it, was to have my favorite cocktail at some of the best bars and restaurants in the Big Apple. Please don’t pity me: I’m sacrificing myself for my craft. Teachers are the real heroes.
One of the stops at the top of my list was Dante. Do you know how every mom and aunt across the globe now chugs Aperol spritzes like water? Dante was an early New York champion of the cocktail, as well as Negronis, too. Just look inside: there’s a shrine to its main ingredient, Campari, adorning its walls. In 2019, Dante was anointed World’s Best Bar. Not bad for the century-plus-old establishment: it first opened in 1915 as an Italian cafe and, as I read, a mobster by the name of Jimmy Lollipops used to frequent the space. That was all good enough for me.
As I walked in on a bustling Saturday, I did the sign of the cross at the Campari wall shrine and sat down. I then tasted a Negroni flight. Yes, that’s right: four different types of the cocktail; including one made with mezcal, another with chocolate, a white Negroni, and a classic variation. They make theirs with Bombay Sapphire. (The kind of gin a Negroni is made with is a key ingredient, after all.) They went down smooth, none standing out above the other because all were delicious. Next to me, my entertainment was a couple in their 50s. Upon sitting down, the woman had a question for the waitress: “Can I have a hot towel with lemon to clean my hands?” Ma’am, the Spa at the Four Seasons is located Downtown.