New York City's Tableside Cocktails

New York City's tableside cocktails



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At Noir in New York’s midtown, drinkers can buy drinks from an antique-looking cart that is wheeled to your seat. (courtesty of Thrillist)

Always eager to offer something new, Big Apple restaurants and bars are turning to an old and elegant ritual: drinks made tableside.

In a nod to the US custom of preparing everything from beef tartare to crepes Suzette at your table during haute cuisine’s mid-20th century heyday, your cocktail is made right in front of you on a wheeled cart, and in some cases you’re invited to play bartender as well.

When 16-year-old midtown steakhouse Maloney & Porcelli opened this spring after a revamp, it rolled out roving wooden martini carts. As you relax in a burgundy leather booth, waiters in plaid ties and white vests mix martinis to order ($14 each) atop gleaming two-tier stations with compartments for liquor bottles, cocktails glasses and a tray of garnishes.

The arrival of the NoMad – a spectacularly baroque hotel and restaurant, full of opulent dining rooms with plush carpeting and heavy draperies -- heralds the rapid changes occurring in New York City’s grungy garment district. Chief among these is the big improvement in drinks options, particularly for those who order the updated spin on bottle service available in the restaurant's burnished Library bar. Purchase a bottle of liquor ($250 to $275 for the equivalent of 15 cocktails) and a custom-built cart will be wheeled to your seating area, complete with shakers, spoons, mixers and garnishes, plus an insulated drawer holding special long-lasting ice cubes made from purified water in a special ice machine. The cart is designed for do-it-yourself cocktailing, but if you're a mixology novice, staff will fix drinks to order or even stage an impromptu lesson.

In the upstairs lounge of Noir, a newly opened bi-level restaurant and bar in midtown, drinkers can purchase scotches, cognacs and whiskeys by the ounce ($25 to...