Reception Bar

"Reception Bar owner Katie Rue brought her Korean American background to her soju bar located in the Lower East Side, where she experiments with Korean ingredients and spirits to tell a story of what it means to be Asian American. What started as a family-style, multi-course dinner series at Rue’s apartment turned into a community-based bar where she hopes to recreate some of the interpersonal connections between patrons that were so central to the dinner series. The cocktails are made with Korean spirits like soju and makgeolli and incorporate fresh traditionally Asian ingredients like chrysanthemum and osmanthus. We particularly like the Cereal Milk and Melon Dew drinks, which are both makgeolli-based. The Cereal Milk is made with walnut milk, rice orgeat, jujube honey, and chocolate walnut bitters and remind us of the milk leftover from a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, whereas the Delon Dew keeps it simple with honeydew and honey and tastes like a crossover between a Melona bar and a cucumber agua fresca." - izzy chen, with warm welcome, neha talreja, bryan kim

"Reception Bar owner Katie Rue brings her Korean American background to her Orchard Street soju bar, where she experiments with Korean ingredients and spirits to tell a story on what it means to be Asian American. What started as a family-style, multi-course dinner series at Rue’s apartment turned into a community-based bar that hopes to recreate some of the interpersonal connections between patrons that were so central to the dinner series. “When people start to drink a little, they loosen up, and they start opening up,” Rue said. “So even having our bar at the center of our indoor space, and giving it a curved shape, encourages people to talk to each other and to the bartender to understand the story behind the drinks they are experiencing.” The cocktails are made of Korean spirits such as soju and makgeolli, which is a milky, slightly fizzy Korean rice wine, and incorporate fresh traditionally Asian ingredients like chrysanthemum and osmanthus. I particularly like the Cereal Milk and Melon Dew drinks, which are both makgeolli-based and reminiscent of my childhood. The Cereal Milk is made with walnut milk, rice orgeat, jujube honey, and chocolate walnut bitters and reminds me of the milk leftover from a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, whereas the Delon dew keeps it simple with honeydew and honey and tastes like a crossover between a Melona bar and a cucumber agua fresca." - Izzy Chen & With Warm Welcome

"Joy Cho, a former pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern, will be serving sweet and savory pastries from Reception Bar on the Lower East Side starting tomorrow. The pop-up, an extension of the baker’s boxes she sells through Instagram, is open Wednesday through Friday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m." - Luke Fortney