Double Chicken Please, a restaurant and bar in New York City’s Lower East Side neighborhood, has experienced critical acclaim, viral TikTok fandom and a sea of reservations since being voted the #1 bar in North America earlier this year.

The front room of the restaurant, which one can access without a reservation (though there’s a good chance a line will have formed outside), has a lighter atmosphere, reminiscent of an old-school soda shop, complete with cocktails on tap and the restaurant’s signature chicken sandwich. The back room, called The Coop, is reservation-only and offers a vintage, classy feel with dimmed lighting and swanky wood paneling.

(Photo: Double Chicken Please)

The star of the show at Double Chicken Please is not the ambiance, however – it’s the unorthodox cocktails with which they’ve taken over the North American cocktail scene. Each concoction is constructed to be a potable meal. For instance, the Cold Pizza Margarita is made with Tequila, Parmigiano Reggiano, burnt toast and several other ingredients playing on a cheeky Margarita-Margherita connection. We’ve covered this cocktail before on our sister site, Tequila Raiders – you can find that article here!

For our Juniper-loving purposes, we can focus our attention on a great many other gin-based libations up for grabs at Double Chicken Please. Namely, the “NY Beet Salad”. Beet salad is many things – it’s nutritional, it’s delicious and it’s typically served at lunchtime. But a beet salad as a mixologist’s inspiration? 

GN Chan, the co-founder of Double Chicken Please and creator of the aforementioned beet cocktail, detailed the drink’s humble beginnings to Punch, recalling that “A guest came in and said, ‘I’m going to see my doctor because I have cancer.’ So I made her a drink that was like a sort-of salad.”

 

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Now, we have to disclose that this recipe is not for the inexperienced home mixologist; the restaurant’s preferred way to make one would call for a can of nitrogen. However, for those looking to level up their craft cocktail game, a solid at-home NY Beet Salad can be whipped up with some substitutions and a little extra legwork.

How to Make ‘The NY Beet Salad’ Cocktail From Double Chicken Please

• 2 medium-sized beets
• 2 cups of fresh or frozen cranberries
• ½ cup of sugar
• ½ cup of water
• 30 ml Bombay Sapphire (or your gin of choice!)
• 2 tbsp Mascarpone
• 2 tbsp yogurt
• 1.5 oz simple syrup
• ¼ cup freeze-dried raspberries
• 1 sprig of dill
• 1 grind of freshly cracked black pepper
• ¼ tsp salt

1. Take the Mascarpone and yogurt and combine them in a small bowl with your simple syrup. This is where a little elbow grease may be involved, as a typical spuma, or whip, involves being charged in a Nitrogen canister. Whisk the ingredients thoroughly until light and smooth, then place them in the fridge to set for an hour.
2. While this is setting, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Peel your beets, cut them into chunks and toss them with olive oil and salt. Roast them for 30-45 minutes or until tender, let them cool, and then finish them off in the blender to make a beet puree. At the same time, take the cranberries, sugar and water, and begin to cook them on the stove, simmering and stirring until the sauce thickens. 
3. Run the resulting beet puree and cranberry reduction through a mesh strainer, and pour the remaining juices into a shaker, along with pineapple juice and the gin you’ve selected. Shake until chilled and strain into a coupe glass.
4. Remove your whipped spuma from the fridge and spread a dollop or two onto your cocktail with a spoon. Garnish with a few freeze-dried raspberries, a grind of black pepper and a small sprig of dill.

Cheers!

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