Bar Exam

The new cocktail lounge the Living Room is on the lower curve of
Olive Way where the Anne Bonny used to be. The Anne Bonny—a
vintage shop—had the narrow storefront stuffed full of old
trunks, odd furniture, and slightly off paintings. It was like the
living room of your batty great uncle who’d foist miscellaneous
treasures on you every time you visited, such that you’d come home with
a necktie with horses on it or a strange old urn.

The Anne Bonny’s now stuffed into a different spot not too far away
on Summit Avenue, and the Living Room is more like the enviable loft
apartment of your favorite cousin—the one who makes exceptionally
good drinks and doesn’t mind at all if you just stop by and sit and
read. This cousin used to be goth and has mostly grown out of it,
but couldn’t resist the suedey chaise longue or the gilt-edged coffee
table. The antique couch with the carved wood arms seems like it’s
cushioned with horsehair; it enforces good posture in a way that at
first seems fatally uncomfortable, but then feels perfect on the
spine.

The Living Room’s favorite color is midnight blue. The most
coveted seats are upstairs on an abundantly upholstered couch and
chair, with the latter being big enough for two. For daytime,
there’s a skylight; for wintry nights, a glowing electric fireplace
with a cherrywood mantelpiece that’s capable of emitting actual heat.
Understandably, people tend to set up camp here and stay for hours.

The bar, tucked in the back of the main floor, is the purview of Mi
Suk Ahn, whom you might know from her fine drinks at Brasa, or, before
that, the Alibi Room. She’s an admirable combination of
no-nonsense and friendly, and she knows her business. The modus
operandi is for you to share your liquor preference, any loathings you
may have (e.g., an inexplicable hatred of anise, or the inability to
drink orange liqueur because of That One Time), and maybe your mood,
and she’ll make you something that’ll set you to rights from the
first sip. (It’s the same deal as the “secret” upstairs bar at Tavern
Law, but without the bordello-on-hallucinogens decor.)

The other very wet evening, a propensity toward brown liquor,
combined with an antipathy toward anything too sweet, plus a
chilled-to-the-bone feeling, yielded something Ahn is calling That
Cherry Drink. It’s Basil Hayden’s, a little sweet vermouth, French
cherry liqueur, sparkling wine, and a cherry soaked in bourbon long
enough so that it sinks. You might not think you’d want that float
of bubbly if you were cold, but you’d be wrong; the drink warmed
weightlessly, with a little reminder that life could still
effervesce.

The Living Room,
1355 E Olive Way, 708-6021