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a killer combo!—but also because I just had to share this old-school, slightly weird, still sort
of under-the-radar experience with my friend Amanda. Even though she’s lived in L. A. for
years, she’d never been. Best Bars are places you need your best pals to know about.
When I returned home to New York, my favorite places had started to close, with messages
like “Stay Safe, See You Soon!” hastily taped to their doors. Many transitioned into makeshift
to-go operations, and that’s where my saccharine “What makes a bar a Best Bar?” reasoning
became honest fact. Could I make a semi-decent daiquiri at home? Yes, but it wouldn’t be as
transcendent as the one I picked up from the window at Brooklyn’s Leyenda (Best Bars, 2016).
Do I like martinis at home? Yes, but not as much as I like martinis at home delivered by Mis-
ter Paradise (Best Bars, 2019). Even though these establishments weren’t open in the tradi-
tional, save-me-a-stool sense, I still had to experience them. I craved their effort. Their
hospitality. The love they put into operating during a pandemic just to help their employees is one of the best somme-
get by. (And it felt good to send a little love their way, too.) liers of his generation and
So my canned answer to what makes a bar an Esquire Best Bar? A place you just can’t wait the first African American to
to experience again? It’s still my answer. Except now I really mean it. Whether they’re open win the title of Best Young
or not so open, we hope you’ll fall in love with this year’s best bars, and all past (and future) Sommelier in America. The
places in our ever-growing hall of fame, when you can. —Kevin Sintumuang wine list is also all American
and full of exquisite vin-
tages. The result is a twenty-
person cocktail hour with a
seriously consummate host.
447 Rogers Avenue —S. S.

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
GRAFT
Rarely does a wine bar suc-
THE BEST BARS IN AMERICA, 2020 from left: The Sea Flower at Chicago’s Kumiko; the music is as important as the cocktails at Public Records in Brooklyn. For ATLiens, Cardinal is part of the beautiful cacophony that imbues the city, a quality that’s hard to articulate but easy to feel. a bumping soundtrack. But
cessfully mix casual com-
fort with a nerdy passion
for fermented grapes and

Graft, the uptown Charles-
ton wineshop-meets-bar by
Femi Oyediran and Miles
White, achieves that righ-
teous blend. All the good
vibes are here, inspired
by Man Night, a living-room
ATLANTA
unlikely pebbled court-
more creative than when
with their friends. You
CARDINAL
yard, with metal chairs and
you first walked in. 233
There are two kinds of
can jam to Talking Heads
tables, shaded by a few
while chatting with
Butler Street —K. S.
people: those who plan for block and you’ll find an you feel a bit cooler and hang the buddies hosted
the full moon and those large trees. People are on the co-owners about their
who are only reminded of dates, or working on lap- & SONS favorite big, bad San-
its existence after its tops, sipping coffee or beer & Sons is almost stubborn giovese. 700 King Street,
arrival. Kathryn DiMenichi or a black manhattan, all in the singularity of its Suite B —Osayi Endolyn
and Holli Medley are the depending on the time of vision—that American ham
former. They’re the owners day. Public Records is a bar/ is every bit as worthwhile as CHICAGO
of Cardinal. And it’s closed café, record store, and the more globally revered THE BAMBOO ROOM
for full moons. Juxtapose music venue, with a killer prosciuttos and pata If tiki bars are fantasy, then
the idiosyncratic operators sound system in each, but it negras. Yes, it is a wine-and- the Bamboo Room, tucked
and the “speakeasy in a all seems like one cohesive American-ham bar. Co- within Three Dots and a
food court” vibe, and for space designed to make owner André Hueston Mack Dash, is the fantasy within
ATLiens it’s all part of the the fantasy—a rarefied,
beautiful cacophony that rum-fueled fever dream
imbues the city, a quality presided over by barman
that’s hard to articulate but ESTEBAN Kevin Beary. When you COURTESY BRANDS (DRINKS). CHRISTOPHER GRIFFITH (BOTTLE CAPS).
easy to feel. 1039 Grant By Sondre Kasin of Undercote, New York City order a daiquiri, a coupe
Street SE, Suite B40 filled with shaved ice arrives
BEST BAR 1 oz Cocchi Rosa solving the fluff like magic.
—Stephen Satterfield COCKTAILS AT 1 oz mezcal and in goes the cocktail, dis-
1 oz umeshu plum wine
BROOKLYN HOME Mix all ingredients with ice. Stir and strain into All nights should end
PUBLIC RECORDS a glass with ice. Garnish with a grapefruit twist. with a meander through a
Follow the music to the rum list of funky finds. 435
middle of an industrial North Clark Street —K. S.
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