Bodega Breakfast

Land your tastebuds in New York City 

‘Bodega Breakfast’ by Haley Traub, Speed Rack Champ 2018.

We’re headed to the streets of New York to discover April’s Cocktail of the Month. New York bartender Haley Traub describes her cocktail as, “a savoury-sweet treat that encapsulates the flavours of the iconic New York City bodega”.

We were sold on the savoury-sweet part but left wondering about the bodega business.

After some googling and far too much time scrolling on @BodegaCatsOfInstagram (we’d highly recommend checking them out), we’ve learned a thing or two about this New York City staple.

Bodegas are local shops found on almost every street corner of the city. There’s over 10,000 dotted around the city - if we trust what Wikipedia has to say - and they commonly stay open 24 hours a day.

Selling anything from dog food to coffee and bagels, we suspect they may be a regular pit stop for Haley (and her dog Harold) after late-night bar shifts in the city that never sleeps. You’ll see how she incorporated the coffee and bagels into the cocktail below, luckily she left the dog food to Harold.

You can find Haley behind the counter of Dutch Kills Bar, one of “Long Island City’s finest cocktail bars”. After tasting Haley’s ‘Bodega Breakfast’ we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the best cocktail bar in town.