We were in New York City for a few days in December to visit some friends and enjoy some holiday cheer. The highlight was Slava’s Snowshow, an absolutely delightful theatrical show by a Russian mime/comedian troupe.
We went to a matinee with our friends and the show ended just at Happy Hour started, so we stopped into a nearby cocktail lounge, Valerie, for a drink and some snacks. Valerie is an upscale cocktail lounge that offers a pretty broad menu of American bar food as well.
The house cocktail list is extensive, some classic, and some whimsically named modern inventions.
I only had time to try one, so I chose “A Kentucky Bride with Smokey Eyes.”
The cocktail starts out as a riff on a Boulevardier (bourbon, Campari, and vermouth, with an amaro standing in for the vermouth here), then takes a sudden turn south of the border with the addition of Mezcal and ginger bitters. The “Kentucky Bride” is, of course, bourbon, which forms the backbone of the drink. The “Smokey Eyes” comes from the mezcal, tequila’s country cousin that gets a smokey flavor from the way it is produced. This was a nicely balanced and flavorful drink.
We ordered some duck wings to snack on.
These were big, meaty wings that had been marinated in Char Siu sauce, smoked, and fried. You are most likely to have had Char Siu in a Chinese restaurant, where it is usually pork that has been marinated in a barbecue sauce, then roasted or grilled. Char Siu sauce is often colored bright red with food coloring, but the base flavors of the sauce come from Chinese five spice, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, soy sauce, garlic, and molasses. There are many variations on the recipe, but all are sweet and flavorful. All of this came together in some really terrific wings.
Easier to put together, but no less delicious, was a charcuterie and cheese board.
Toast some sourdough wheat bread and bring out whatever sausages and cheeses you have handy and you have a great lunch, snack, or even dinner.
Valerie was busy and lively, but it was not too loud for conversation. The food and drink we sampled were all really good, and there were many more items on the menu we would have liked to try. If we’re ever in the neighborhood again, I’m sure we’ll stop by.
Steadfast
Address: 45 W 45th St New York, NY 10036
Phone: (212) 302-4545
Reservations: opentable.com
Website: https://www.valerienewyorkcity.com
Dress Code: Business Casual
Price Range: <$30
Hours: Brunch, Saturday – Sunday 11:00am – 3:00pm
Lunch, Monday – Friday 11:00am – 4:00pm
Dinner, Sunday – Saturday 4:00pm – 12:00am
Credit Cards: AMEX, Discover, MasterCard, Visa
New York, NY 10036
The author has no affiliation with any of the businesses or products described in this article.
All images were taken with a Sony Alpha a9 camera and a Zeiss Batis 40mm f/2.0 CF lens using ambient light. Post-processing in Adobe Lightroom® and Adobe Photoshop® with Nik/Google and Skylum® Luminar® plugins.
