Bar Contra
Bar · Lower East Side
138 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002
Highlights
Modern cocktail bar with experimental drinks & inventive snacks
Modern cocktail bar with experimental drinks & inventive snacks
"The day Contra closed was a sad one for lovers of dainty, seasonal plates. But there's still some elaborate recipe prep involved at Bar Contra, which replaced the Lower East Side restaurant. Their focus just shifted to drinks. The cocktails—all $21—are divided into shaken, stirred, carbonated, and on the rocks, and we'd recommend sampling one from each section of the menu. Start with the Saltair, a combination of umeboshi tequila and lime. It comes with a Modelito sidecar, and it tastes like the salty-sweet dregs of a margarita (in a good way). There are still some dainty bites here, and even if you've just stopped in before dinner, order the celeriac crumpet, and the sexy little red prawns from Montauk." - bryan kim, neha talreja, sonal shah, willa moore, will hartman
"A modernist cocktail bar marking the return of a legendary barman, known for reviving classics like the Banana Justino and introducing playful, concept-driven drinks such as a Rum-and-Coke with neither rum nor coke." - Caroline Hatchett
"A popular chicken-wing order (2 for $17) is a complex, one-of-a-kind item: wings are deboned, stuffed with a potent mixture of minced pork, minced chicken, and blue cheese, cooked slowly in the oven, then grilled while brushed in a glaze made with mirin and shoyu. The tuna mayo ($17) is a deconstructed tunafish-salad riff—tuna belly confit mixed with a coffee emulsion bound between rectangular potato-chip "bookends" and finished with a scatter of red onions." - Robert Simonson
"Bar Contra on the Lower East Side comes from the team behind Wildair—your first sign that the food here is going to be good. Bring a date, and order liberally off the tiny menu—we like the celeriac crumpet with seaweed butter, the sausage-stuffed chicken wing, and the sexy little red prawns from Montauk. Plus a cocktail, of course, like the Saltair. It comes with a Modelito sidecar, and tastes like the delicious salty-sweet dregs of a margarita." - willa moore, molly fitzpatrick, sonal shah
"Owners Jeremiah Stone and Fabián von Hauske Valtierra, flipped their former tasting menu restaurant Contra into Bar Contra last year, with Dave Arnold, known for experimental Existing Conditions, and Booker and Dax. In addition to expertly crafted cocktails (the Banana Justino is an Arnold classic) find snacks like scallops and stuffed chicken wings. It’s currently a 2025 James Beard semifinalist." - Emma Orlow
