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A year after winning the title for the best bar in the world, Dante slipped to second place but it still remains as the top spot to drink in North America, according to the World’s 50 Best Bars’s announcement today.
Dante and three other New York bars that made the top 50—three others made the list for the top 100—are currently open (the Nomad Bar is closed for the time being). This year, these popular watering holes faced a new set of rules ever since indoor dining was prohibited between mid March until some restrictions were lifted on September 30th. The city’s bars were able to offer to-go cocktails for the first time, but they also had to serve food in order to sell alcohol.
The other New York City bars on the list include:
- #12 Attaboy
- #13 Nomad Bar
- #16 Katana Kitten
- #38 Employees Only
- #71 The Dead Rabbit
- #89 Death & Co
- #94 Amor y Amargo
The awards come at a time when the hospitality industry faces an array of hurdles during the current crisis of 2020: many of the top bars around the world had to close for months, there’s the threat of a second or third wave (some have had to shut down again), strict public health guidelines in many cities have limited the number of guests that can be served and the travel industry has taken a big hit. The counterpart to the World’s to Best Bars, known as the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, cancelled its awards this year and has plans to return in 2021.
Dante, which opened as Caffé Dante in 1915 as a bar and cafe frequented by Italian immigrants and later Village bohemians, changed ownership in 2015. In the five years since, Australians Linden Pride and his wife, Nathalie Hudson, have garnered numerous accolades for their revamp of the historic space. The Italian-style aperitivo bar, which regularly features in our best bars list, started selling canned cocktails and opened a second bar in the West Village.
This year’s winning title went to the elegant Connaught Bar, located within the Connaught Hotel in London. The bar is not currently open, however, as the city underwent another lockdown this week.
“The key is to still stay alive,” says Giorgio Bargiani, the Connaught Bar’s head mixologist, about the challenges the bar has faced this year. “The joy isn’t making the cocktails. The joy is seeing your happiness.”
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