In the overcrowded New York cocktail scene, Mix stands out for much more than just a remarkably appropriate moniker. A native of rural Vermont, the 29-year-old took the long road to the hospitality industry, landing at Brooklyn’s Clover Club after an original plan to make it as a visual artist and a career-changing stint in Guatemala spent “opening beers and pouring shots of mescal.” Mix’s curious history and unique perspective has clearly paid off: In 2015 alone, she opened the thriving, Latin-influenced Cobble Hill spot Leyenda and won the Spirited Award for American Bartender of the Year. “It’s exciting, pushing boundaries of what people thought they could put in their mouths,” says Mix. Even while she invents new cocktails with challenging flavors like tamarind or Mexican herb hoja santa, she paves the way for other women to win some recognition in a male-dominated industry. Her Speed Rack female bartending competitions not only prove who mixes the best martini but, as Mix says, “the meme of a bartender isn’t a guy in suspenders anymore.”
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Red Hook is the place I go to regularly. With all the cobblestone streets, the area is so picturesque. It’s hard to get to, so there’s not a whole lot of people. I worked at Ft. Definance for a number of years, so when I go down, I know my regulars, and I’m still very much a part of that community. You’re going to see old friends, and it’s very community oriented, and in New York that’s very rare.
Fort Defiance has the best Irish coffee in the world. Most people put coffee in a mug, pour in some whiskey, add sugar and put some whipped cream on top. Which is fine. First, the owner St. John Frizell warms up the glass, so it’s hot, then he warms up the booze, then he adds the sugar as normal. But instead of coffee, he makes an Americano. So he pulls the espresso shot from freshly ground beans, adds water to the shot and then he hand-whips the cream with no sugar in it—it’s got a nice thickness, but it’s not peaky. He adds some cinnamon on top, and it is the best thing you’ve had in your life. I know they’re a pain in the ass to make, so I’m very apologetic. “Hi, I’m sorry, I’m ordering two, though! One for now and one for when I’m done with the first one!”
I love Sunny’s for live music. I happen to love country folk music. I know all the words to all the songs, because I grew up with my dad singing it and playing it on guitar. At Sunny’s, you can just go, sing and play. It’s nice to see that kind of community coming together. The bar was completely destroyed in Sandy, and I think it’s important to help out those businesses and people that were really affected.
Sitting on Valentino Pier with a flask, looking at the Statue of Liberty—that’s probably my favorite part of a day in Red Hook. It’s one stop of a tour I try to take once a month.
A lot of my background is in fine art, and 9 times out of 10, Dorner Gallery holds my aesthetic. Pace Gallery, too. The exhibits there are meditative to me, and it's easy to be around something that’s good, creative and isn’t incredibly hard to understand.
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