Key Points<\/p>\n
Acclaimed mixologist Ryan Chetiyawardana, known as Mr. Lyan, debuted his first New York City bar, Seed Library, in Hotel Park Avenue \u2014 a subterranean homage to the city\u2019s cocktail culture.<\/p>\n
The bar\u2019s inventive menu blends Chetiyawardana\u2019s experimental techniques with New York State ingredients, from enzyme-treated Concord grapes to fermented carrots.<\/p>\n
With drinks like the Shepherd\u2019s Delight, Unfiltered Martini, and Koji Hardshake, Seed Library NYC offers a sensory exploration that celebrates locality, sustainability, and creativity.<\/p>\n
Tucked away underground, yards from the perpetual hustle of Park Avenue, lies a new bar menu that can read more technical than local. Fermented purple carrot. Enzyme-treated Concord grape. A microwave-integrated Manhattan. But look, smell, and sip a little closer, and it\u2019s easier to see what Seed Library NYC is really bringing to the city\u2019s bar scene. This is true New York flavor, reimagined (and, thankfully, reinvigorated) by one of the cocktail world\u2019s brightest stars.<\/p>\n
Located on the ground floor of Hotel Park Avenue, Seed Library is the brainchild of mixologist-cum-entrepreneur Ryan Chetiyawardana, also known as Mr. Lyan. It\u2019s his second bar with the same name, drawing inspiration from \u2014 but not copying \u2014 the Shoreditch location in East London that opened in 2022. Established as a collaboration with Lore Group and Renwick Hospitality, this new venue is Chetiyawardana\u2019s first permanent bar in New York City and joins Washington, D.C.\u2019s Silver Lyan as his American outposts; Chetiyawardana also operates active spots in London and Amsterdam.<\/p>\n
In Chetiyawardana\u2019s words, Seed Library presents a fresh take on the prototypical \u201cManhattan Bar.\u201d That\u2019s certainly reflected in the design, overseen by Lore Group creative director Jacu Strauss, in collaboration with RD Studio. Patrons are whisked behind a street-level orange door, then escorted to a subterranean space that\u2019s aesthetically somewhere between a retro hotel bar and a low-fi vinyl lounge. About 10 bar seats are complemented by a larger array of upholstered chairs, couches, and stools, the perimeter encircled by high tops and private nooks.<\/p>\n
For guests, the 17 inaugural cocktails present a synthesis of Lyan classics and pan-New York State flavors. Upstate ingredients are fermented, dissolved, and catabolized into forms that are both familiar and, somehow, entirely unexpected. For Mr. Lyan, that was entirely the point.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the Seed Library lens, we don\u2019t want to use [New York State produce] in the obvious ways,\u201d Chetiyawardana told Food & Wine. \u201cWhen we were testing a fruit, we ended up getting things like plurality or minerality, or a very different profile of sharpness that allowed us to kind of do something different with the drinks. We can use [fruit] for sweetness, we can use it for acidity, but we don’t just want to use it as a juice component to lengthen drinks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Related: Would You Drink a Pickleback Pi\u00f1a Colada? At This NYC Bar, You Should<\/a><\/p>\n Emblematic of that effort is the Shepherd\u2019s Delight, a new twist on a Clover Club that combines Renais Gin, Maker\u2019s Mark, raspberry, and lemon with the aforementioned Concord grape. That final ingredient, sourced from New York producers, is broken down with enzymes extracted from sheep pancreas. (The listing itself carries a conspicuous \u201cNOT VEG\u201d label.)<\/p>\n In contrast, the (also new, vegetarian-friendly) Blue Hill 75 combines Hendrick\u2019s gin and Champagne with locally sourced carrots, fermented in-house. Mr. Lyan says the transformation highlights fruit and floral notes rather than the earthy characteristics often associated with root vegetables.<\/p>\n Seed Library\u2019s newest cocktails aren\u2019t the only ones getting a local touch. Chetiyawardana and his team have also ported over some existing creations, albeit with New York riffs. The Beeswax Old Fashioned mixes multiple Michter\u2019s whiskeys with bitters and New York beeswax, delivering an unforgettable, creamy mouthfeel.<\/p>\n And the Unfiltered Martini \u2014 a workhorse Lyan classic \u2014 fuses Haku vodka with New York potatoes for an absorbing yet delicate sweetness. According to Lyan, that particular cocktail presented some unique and unforeseen challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thing we found was potatoes are very different here,\u201d says Chetiyawardana. \u201cThe potatoes we have in the UK brought this incredible creaminess. It was almost like vanilla ice cream, whereas the potatoes in the U.S. are slightly waxier, which ends up giving a slightly more nutty, more potato profile into the drink. Because the potatoes have a slightly lower starch content, we ended up changing the proportion of potato. It’s actually got a lot more potato in it [compared to the UK version].\u201d<\/p>\n While some drinks were adapted to fit regional ingredients and tastes, Chetiyawardana mourns a few that never quite made it across the pond. \u201cOne of the drinks we were going to bring is called the Bone Dry Martini,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was simply vodka and a bone tincture that we made by dissolving roasted chicken bone in phosphoric acid. But we couldn\u2019t get phosphoric acid in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe can do different things in Amsterdam, London, D.C., and New York. And that to us is actually quite an exciting thing,\u201d Chetiyawardana said. \u201cHow do we play to the creative restrictions of our situation, but still apply some of these techniques that excite us?\u201d<\/p>\n