At Latha, the dishes, like the drinks, take inspiration from across the African diaspora.
• While drinks alone justify a visit, the kitchen’s African diaspora-inspired dishes are not to be missed. They range broadly from pineapple-glazed piri piri wings, a mango-studded shrimp aguachile and an oxtail grilled cheese stacked with chutney and pimento on milk bread.
• The front porch is a laid-back hang during the day, but from Wednesday to Saturday nights it turns into a live Afrobeat jam session.
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Sidewinder sits up on Roosevelt Street in Garfield, with dive-bar grit, cold beer and zero frills. A few blocks north, Pretty Penny turns out some of Phoenix’s most creative cocktails. A short drive beyond that, Wren House pours stellar local beers from inside a century-old bungalow.
NOTABLE AND NEARBY
Latha is a full-service restaurant, yes, but also an excellent spot for cocktails and a kind of cultural node. It’s part of the Diaspora Collective, founded by Evelia Davis as a space for gathering, tasting and reconnecting. The name means “flavor” in Swahili. Drinks pull from across the Black diaspora: the Caribbean, Brazil, Africa and the American South. Start with a smoky tamarind Margarita laced with turmeric and serrano pepper, or a clarified rum sour topped with Chartreuse foam. Ingredients like the Dominican drink mamajuana, Nigeria’s ògógóró and a pan-African gin show up throughout the menu, and Will Brazil runs the bar like he’s telling a story. Presentation matters to him as much as flavor and experience. You can order a custom drink based on your vibe, or a three-pour tasting flight that spans the Atlantic. In a city often painted as flat or one-note, Latha doesn’t correct the record, it just proves it wrong.
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Around the corner on Grand Street, Fresh Kills (from Richie Boccato) has been quietly serving some of the best cocktails in Brooklyn for nearly a decade.
NOTABLE AND NEARBY
• When outdoor seating is available, the wisteria-draped garden (book ahead on Resy) might fool you into thinking you’re somewhere between Louisiana and Provence.
• While Maison excels at the A-list classics, look closely and you’ll find lovingly executed takes on B-side hits, like the Yellow Parrot and the Obituary, that make the case for revival.
NICE TO KNOW
Staff Favorite Dive Bars
Pete's Candy Store
I moved around the corner from Pete’s in 2008, and have found myself wedged into the bar’s tiny back music venue on countless nights since. The crowds may have changed, but Pete’s still maintains a bygone Williamsburg combo of grit, disaffection and surprise and delight. —Talia Baiocchi, editor-in-chief
Happyfun Hideaway
If you’re looking to make out on a dance floor, this no-frills, tropical-themed queer bar is the spot for you. —Irina Groushevaia, senior social media manager
7B Horseshoe Bar
7B stands out from the hoards of East Village icons not only because it opens at noon (ideal for killing time before, well, anything) but because it has one of the friendliest staffs of any bar, let alone dive, in the city. —Chloe Frechette, deputy editor
Sunny’s
This outer fringe of Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood is not easily accessible, but it’s worth a trip to experience a bar that’s been resurrected from the brink of closure several times. Live music starts most nights at 8 p.m., and there’s plenty of outdoor space for loitering. Don’t forget to bring cash. —Allison Hamlin, director of network development
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The Hibiscus Aperol Spritz (left) and oxtail barbacoa (right) are not to be missed.
The signature cocktail of the original Rogue Cocktails, the Gunshop Fizz uses a full 2 ounces of Peychaud’s bitters.
The Howitzer, the first original cocktail to be featured on a Cure menu, is a bourbon-based riff on the French 75.
Photography by Grace Stufkosky, Kyle Ledeboer, Alex Kline and Latha.
McConnell Quinn is a Phoenix-born and raised writer covering food, drink and travel, with work spanning the U.S. and global destinations. Their writing has appeared in Eater, Condé Nast Traveler and more.