BRIAN’S 100 BEST ’19: SERENDIPITY at EXISTING CONDITIONS

I’m counting down the 100 best dishes I tasted in 2019…

Cocktails with no alcohol sound like an oxymoron but they were all the rage this year. I found one of these surprising inventive mixed drinks at one of the city’s best cocktail bars. Existing Conditions has a full menu of low and full-alcohol concoctions, but at the front of the menu, there are five full-priced drinks with no booze. They require just as much technique and precision as any of their stirred drinks. For instance, the Serendipity features both clarified tomato and clarified passionfruit. It’s a smooth tropical, slightly sweet and savory that goes down too easy. It’s that lack of burn that is the only giveaway that this is zero proof. Price: $16