Bar Cosme opens in NoHo with agave cocktails and a comal
Enrique Olvera's group turns the former Atla corner into a 40-seat cocktail bar with a central comal, open nightly until midnight, and a $135 counter menu.
Bar Cosme, Enrique Olvera's cocktail-first sibling to Cosme, opened on November 10 at the corner of Lafayette and Great Jones streets in NoHo, New York. It takes over the former Atla space with 40 seats, a central comal and a $135 counter menu.
The room belongs to Casamata, the hospitality group behind Cosme in Flatiron and Pujol in Mexico City. Atla, the more casual restaurant that held the corner from 2017, closed in May after nearly nine years and two stars from The New York Times. Time Out reported in July that the new venue would not replace it.
Agave first at Bar Cosme
Olvera keeps the Atla corner but hands the room to the agave list and the comal.
The drinks list is the work of Sebastián Tollius and Jorsand Diaz. Tollius spent seven years at Eleven Madison Park and helped launch its upstairs Clemente Bar in 2024; Diaz started behind the bar at Cosme and is now beverage director for Casamata, according to Eater New York. Mezcal and tequila lead the shelves, with bourbon behind them.
The cocktails are split in two: “de la casa”, variations on familiar drinks, and “de la barra”, the team's own creations. The Lestat mixes mezcal, corn liqueur, passion fruit and elote salt, a nod to the street corn of any elote recipe. The Genevieve is a savoury martini of Mexican gin, blanco tequila and mole blanco, and a sparkling highball pairs plantain with shiso. Cocktail prices have not been published. A 50-bottle wine list leans on Mexican and natural producers.
It is the second Manhattan bar this autumn built on a national drinks identity, after June Baby brought Filipino cocktails to the East Village.
Tortillas, comal and a $135 counter
Mexico City studio Taller ADG redesigned the space in stainless steel, walnut and black granite around a sculptural central bar. The 40 seats wrap an open kitchen and its comal.
The food menu is divided into seafood and crudo, meats, vegetables and sides, and sweets. Eater lists oysters with jicama, lime and charred habanero, lamb belly rubbed with chintextle, an Oaxacan chile paste, and a guava tart. Every order comes with freshly pressed tortillas and salsas. At the counter, a $135 prix fixe covers seafood, meat, a side and dessert; the window seats order à la carte, according to Joe's Daily.
Bar Cosme is open nightly from 5pm to midnight. Resy takes bookings for seatings between 5pm and 9pm, and a limited number of seats are held for walk-ins. Cosme opened on East 21st Street in 2014 and entered The World's 50 Best Restaurants at No. 40 in 2017. Twelve years on, the group is betting that the late trade on Lafayette Street will be led by the bar rather than the dining room.
