#7 – BROKEN MIRROR SKYSCRAPER at ELSA

For the third year in a row, I’m going to attempt to eat every single item on Time Out New York’s annual 100 Best Dishes list. In no particular order, here’s my take on their Top 100. Let the gluttony continue…

SADLY, ELSA IS NOW CLOSED.

Large format dinners are big in this city. And not just due to the amount of food you get. Also because you need large amount of friends to bring down the costs and prevent bagfuls of leftovers.

We’ve seen large format punches for a while now at places like Clover Club and Cienfuegos, but now modest little Elsa is getting into the act with the Broken Mirror Skyscraper. Time Out included it on their list and said the $60 cocktail serves six. Do the math and that’s actually a cheap cocktail ($10) for this city.

I have somewhat of a connection to Elsa. It used to be the Hangar Bar, which was a favorite hangout of a close friend. It was rather grimy, sketchy, and divey. But it had character. The owners (who happen to be a friend of my friend) re-named it and spruced it up big time turning it into Elsa, a jazzy, old-time cocktail bar. It’s amazing this is the same place.

I had been to Elsa when they first opened a few years ago with that aforementioned friend (oh, let’s just call him Holt) and thought their cocktails were decent and affordably priced. I hadn’t been back since, mainly because Holt had moved to LA and it’s quite far east (between Avenue B and C). Well, it was the perfect excuse for a return visit because this cocktail was on our list. And because Holt was in town.

We got a group of 5 (I think we could manage six servings) and ordered the Broken Mirror Skyscraper. I saw it was also listed on the menu as a single portion called the Broken Mirror, but if you order the large format version, it comes served in a “skyscraper” and you have lots more fun.

It was a very dramatic presentation with a large shaker (the skyscraper), five glasses of shaved ice with mint sprigs and cucumber slices, and a bottle of a soda mixer. The server gave us some instructions on how to mix the drink, which made it sounded much more complicated than it needed to be. We just poured the liquid over the ice and then cut the strong alcohol with the club soda.

There was lots of ice everywhere, which was very sleek and cool (pun intended) and made for a crisp drink. The cocktail itself was a blend of absinthe, muddled mint, lime, and dandelion/burdock bitters. It was indeed strong, but I loved the herbal, slightly sweet qualities. The soda definitely helped mellow things out and made it much more drinkable.

I will say it’s a good thing I didn’t drink all 6 servings myself because I was wobbling out of the bar with just one and a half. But the flavors were so balance and refreshing, that major inebriation was quite tempting.

Would Elsa’s Broken Mirror Skyscraper make my Top 100 of the year? It’s both a fun, interactive experience and a delicious, complex cocktail so it gets a 9 out of 10.