Comments (0) Best Original Cocktails - 2006

Cortez

Though we've tried almost every mixture on Cortez's lengthy cocktail list, it's hard to pick a favorite at this bustling Union Square nightspot. We certainly keep coming back to the Journalist, a concoction of Damrak gin, Cointreau, red and white vermouth, lemon juice, and bitters, but many of the other (mostly gin-based, bitter) specialties are equally memorable. Both the Elderflower and its more ornate cousin, the Elderflower No. 10, are outstanding, and even the sissy drinks — sweet little ditties like the Raspberry Collins and the Passionate Peach — are well worth a fight through the see-and-be-scenesters who crowd the bar on weekends. The drink menu's most adventurous number, the Cucumber Gimlet, is as light and dreamy as the elegant small plates for which Cortez is so rightly famous.