One of the best cocktail bars in NYC, officially
If you frequent the East Village in Manhattan, you have heard of SUPERBUENO. Whether it’s from TikTok, Instagram, or your friends who love to have a good time out, SUPERBUENO is a spot that not only delivers amazing food, but inventive and delicious cocktails.
In fact, SUPERBUENO was recently recognized as the Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar presented by Diageo Bar Academy in the 2024 Tales Spirited Awards. SUPERBUENO was created by New York bartender and hospitality owner Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Jimenez and aimed to celebrate his Mexican heritage while merging with his life in New York City.
The result is a vibrant fusion of American and Mexican cultures through the lens of food and drink. And we got a chance to sample some of SUPERBUENO’s offerings this past week.
Starting with the cocktail menu, this is where Jimenez’s Mexican roots shine. SUPERBUENO’s approach to its cocktail menu is to throw new and exciting flavors and ingredients at guests that they normally would never have. There isn’t another place in New York City that has a Mushroom Margarita on the menu alongside a Green Mango Martini. Every drink had something exciting to offer.
To start, we opted to try the Green Mango Martini and the Vodka y Soda. The Green Mango Martini is made with tequila, mango eau de vie, sauternes, green mango, and a bit of honey. Since this is a martini it is going to be spirit forward. But the usage of tequila in a martini fashion allows for the natural sweetness of the agave to shine through. 
This same sweetness marries beautifully with the notes of green mango that add both a sweetness to it but also a bit of bitterness which helps break up a lot of the prevalent sweet notes. And the addition of the chili oil on top coats your palate in a subtle heat that makes you want to keep going back for more.
Next up was the Vodka y Soda which is made with vodka, guava, pasilla, and soda. Now while this drink might sound simple by the way it sounds, it is not simple at all.
The first sip of this drink bursts with sweet, vibrant guava flavor. Pairing it with soda water brightens the sweetness up and adds a nice lightness to each sip – somewhat like the guava flavor is floating in the air as you take each sip. The addition of pasilla adds a nice subtle heat that contrasts the forward sweetness of the drink. And there was a touch of salinity added to it which helped accentuate the fruitiness of the guava.
Lastly, we had to try some of the food to pair with our drinks. I don’t know how most people approach Mexican restaurants, but whenever I see nachos on the menu, I order them And SUPERBUENO’s NACHO’s NACHOS dish takes the traditional nacho dish and elevates it with fresh, vibrant ingredients. For ingredients, NACHO’s NACHOS are made with mole negro, mushroom carnitas, poblano, pickled jalapeño, red onion, crema, Mexican cheese blend, and cilantro.
The chips were perfectly crisp and the entire dish had enough chips to satisfy two people. The crema coated each chip in a luscious creaminess and had such a pungent cheese flavor to it. The pickled jalapenos were acidic and added a beautiful brightness to the dish which helped cut through a lot of the cheese and cream. And we have to mention the mole negro that covered each chip. Where you might see whole black beans on regular nachos, this mole negro added a rich and deep savoriness to the dish that takes these nachos to the next level.
All in all, we loved everything at SUPERBUENO. Not only is the drink menu inventive, creative, and delicious, but the food menu is something that makes SUPERBUENO worth coming back to. We cannot wait to try everything on the cocktail menu and we hope to see you there when we do.
