When it came to conceiving the restaurant’s design identity, Hotchkiss had a wild array of references on his moodboard. Many had their origin in the ’80s—the fictional Babylon Club from Scarface, the legendary LGBTQ+ discotheque Paradise Garage, Wolfgang Puck’s Chinois on Main—but other inspirations, like Peggy Guggenheim’s palazzo in Venice, exude a more worldly elegance. Indeed, the cuisine at Holiday Bar is very much international in influence: Chefs Dina Fan and Marc Howard have devised a seafood-centric menu that looks to ports as far-flung as Saint Barths, Amalfi, and Chiang Mai for inspiration. (Standouts include king crab with spicy tofu vinaigrette, squid pasta with itameshi broth and smoked chili flakes, and jerk chicken with roasted red pepper and Caribbean hot sauce.)
Meanwhile, the drinks menu is deliberately sparse and reminiscent of the days before the craft cocktail craze took over New York. There are painkillers and gin fizzes, but the most popular offering is a lychee martini, served in a glass with a squiggly stem.
If I’ve given you the impression that Holiday Bar isn’t a cohesive concept, I apologize, as it is—very much so. Hotchkiss, who is also the man behind downtown hotspots Saint Theo’s and American Bar, is a maestro when it comes to encouraging high-octane energy: every choice he makes, from chairs to cuisine, is in the name of fostering a very boisterous kind of elegance. Rarely do you go to his places with a date you’re trying to get to know, or your mother who is in town; instead you stack a booth with your friends, down one too many martinis, and trash-talk way more than you should.
A signed Alex Katz print on the wall.Courtesy of Holiday Bar
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