The Bar on Fifth Review – A Revolving Door of Decadent Flavors and Enchanting Jazz | Splash Magazines

Located inside the Setai Fifth Avenue Hotel, The Bar on Fifth is a posh new lounge featuring unique and award-winning cocktails as well as your traditional adult beverages in conjunction with an elaborate bar menu and superb live jazz. It opened up the very first of November in 2010 and has been making its way into the bustling social calendars of New Yorkers and Big Apple visitors, alike. During our trip to New York for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week for Fall Winter 2011, the Editor-in-Chief of Splash Magazines was invited to duck into this up and coming hotspot not far from Times Square in the illustrious Midtown neighborhood for a review. Immediately upon entrance, guests are besieged by the halcyon atmosphere curiously paired with a chicly modern overture. Here you have a serene and swanky oasis in the flurry of Fifth Avenue pretense.

The Bar on Fifth

As your body adjusts to the soothing, luxurious new environment, your auditory senses are greeted by the intimate but noninvasive four-piece band, Jazz Trio. These four young men were picked up at another bar a few months back and now regale patrons of The Bar on Fifth with their serene litanies from eight until eleven o’clock every night of the week. Several guests in attendance murmured about regaining their ‘usual spot’ so it’s safe to say they are developing a moderate following here in Midtown.

The Bar on Fifth's Jazz Trio

Nick, the bar manager, assisted our party in locating the perfect table for us and helped us with our preliminary menu choices while we enjoyed an unusually savory mix of bar nuts. Also offered periodically, are tray-passed hors d’oeuvres boasting very unique and flavorful morsels for your tasting pleasure.

Nick, the bar manager, was infinitely helpful

The Bar on Fifth offers an award-winning Specialty Cocktail menu that was created by celebrity mixologist, Allen Katz. We ended up choosing two of their tantalizing specialty cocktails and a third from their Classic Cocktails list; all three of which were beautifully presented and immensely gratifying, if not altogether revered.

Jey Lee Vega enjoying her Bittersweet Breeze Specialty Cocktail

I’ve described the bar menu so far as decadent. The Bar on Fifth is being quite modest to refer to their menu as a ‘bar menu’ as they prefer to do. Notorious for his innovative flair for fine French dining, Executive Chef Dale Schnell presents some truly terrific signature selections. The menu is not terribly extensive but the choices available at The Bar on Fifth far surpass the usual montage of edibles found at your average neighborhood bar. Given the supreme location of The Bar, however, it does adequately deliver the highly-esteemed goodness one might hope to expect from a swanky lounge in the Heart of Manhattan.

The tartines are presented beautifully

The divergent menu begins with Tartines, which can be described as artisan breads toasted and topped with the crowning glory of your choice. Among a few less unusual selections, we chose the Duck Rillette, which was accompanied by blueberry chutney on a grilled baguette, and also the Smoked Salmon with watercress, quail egg, and topped with a savory horseradish mousse. One of the guests in our party is a vegetarian and she was very satisfied and wholly appreciative of the vegetarian choices presented on the menu. She chose the Grilled Asparagus with tomato confit and parmesan for her Tartine selection. The asparagus and the salmon were absolutely delicious, although the unusual texture of the duck has encouraged me to steer clear of rillette in the future.

The Smoked Salmon Tartine was topped with watercress, quail egg, and horseradish mousse

Our party chose to skip past the Pumpkin Soup and the Akaushi Cheddar Cheese Burger among other ambrosial options listed in the Soups and Sandwiches as well as the more traditional salad options located in Petites Lettuce. For our own evening’s intentions, we headed instead for Coquottes, where we ordered and enjoyed Braised Beef Short Ribs and Sea Scallops as our Main Courses. Both of which will make your mouth water upon presentation, and although neither dish was ground-breakingly innovative, they were both absolutely satisfying and quite competitively priced, especially given the location of The Bar.

Duck Rillette with Blueberry Chutney

From the Shared Plates section of the menu we chose nearly all of the items from the Small Bites and Savory Bon Bons list as well as several of the Frites. There was also a Crudités option- which was vegetarian but that we chose to skip based on the plethora of vegetarian choices available in somewhat smaller portions. We also skipped Oysters and Seafood and Boards but I feel inclined to mention them anyway based on my claims regarding the decadent and divergent menu. The star of the Savory Bon Bons was the Warm Cheese Puff Gougeres, which were flawlessly executed in terms of the consistency of the molten gruyere cheese that lied in wait inside the crispy, golden chassis. This particular cheese puff was very artfully created and an absolute delight to consume.

Warm Cheese Puff Gougeres

And least but not last, we have Desserts. As visitors of the Great City of New York, we indulged in the New York Style ‘Cheese Cake’ Pops, which ended up being a very light, exceptionally creamy cheese dusted in crumbled graham cracker crumbs and dipped in huckleberry dipping sauce. The ‘pops’ are perfect as a light finisher to an otherwise robust meal.

New York Style 'Cheese Cake' Pops with huckleberry dipping sauce, Creme Brulee, and the Chocolate Sampling

But not to be missed by patrons carrying a torch for all things cocoa, The Bar on Fifth offers a Chocolate Sampling platter, which consists of four fabulously chocolatey items that all showcased Valrhona brand Chocolate and the unique creative talents of Executive Chef Schnell.

The Chocolate Sampling

And last but not least, there was the Crème Brulee, topped with passion fruit and vanilla ice cream. Also expertly concocted, the brulee was fairly unusual due to the choice of utilizing passion fruit for the topping but as far as crème brulees go, this one is not one to be missed.

The Creme Brulee was served with passion fruit and vanilla ice cream

The Bar on Fifth is destined to become a quintessential Midtown landmark in its own right, as its prestigious mother ship, The Setai, leads by example and continues to be an effervescent crowning jewel both in South Beach and on Fifth Avenue. Great things are on the horizon and in the heart of The Bar on Fifth.