The Astor Room

The Astor Room
34-12 36th St
Astoria, NY 11106

(Drinks only)

I'm a little jaded when reviewing cocktail bars. Since my initial discovery of Milk & Honey - when it was still a very underground secret in the early 00's - the explosion of cocktail bars has (for better or for worse) dramatically changed the drinking landscape in NYC. Nevertheless, each successive addition sets the bar (no pun intended) even higher, to the point where, flashy suspenders, handlebar mustaches, and decently made cocktails don't cut it for me anymore. There has to be a bar that explores new territory (Cienfuegos - rum drinks; Mayahuel - mezcal), offers an original cocktail recipe (Gordon's Breakfast and Penicillin @ Milk and Honey), presents bartending firepower (Clover Club; Milk and Honey, again), or a distinct sense of time and place (Campbell Apartment, Flatiron Lounge) to register on my cocktail radar.

Surprisingly, the Astor Room scored with the solidly made drinks, but disappointed with the lack of terroir. As well noted, the bar used to be the former commissary of Paramount Pictures. The bar aspires for that 1920's/30's retro feel, but it tough to accomplish with an empty bar, chintzy piano lounge music, and a lack of interior decorating touches that suggest a throwback to the Golden Age of Film. The bar menu is a compilation of simply executed drinks cribbed from the index of Gary Regan's classic mixology text "The Joy of Mixology"with a few modifying touches.

It's the few modifying touches that quite impressed me. The New Yorker was an inspired riff on a Bourbon Sour, with a red wine float that provides a fruitiness and earthiness that married well with sweet, alcoholic tang of bourbon and acid from lemon. The Fairbanks was not as good, with the apricot brandy liqueur and lemon completely dominating any herbal notes from the gin. I usually despise rum drinks for being aggressively sweet, but the Mary Pickford was the highlight of the cocktail flight that I had. Somehow the acidic and sweet elements of the rum, pineapple juice, grenadine, and maraschino liqueur balanced each other out; this has forced me to reconsider my previous position.

For those taking notes at home:
The Astoria = Gin Martini (dry)
New Yorker = Bourbon Sour (w/wine float)
The Astor Martini = Caricature Cocktail
Fairbanks = Bermuda Rose (w/ dry vermouth)
Filmograph = Brandy Sour (w/ cola syrup)
Mary Pickford = El Presidente (w/ maraschino liqueur)
Valentino = Italian sour w/ Campari
Queen's Road = Queen's Road