It isn’t even summer yet, but we’re calling it — Dale Talde’s new rooftop bar The Crown is the best of the season.
Rising 21 floors above Chinatown, The Crown bar and lounge tops the new Hotel 50 Bowery, located between Canal and Bayard Streets. Since almost nothing around the hotel is even close to its height, the 360-degree view stretches from the gleaming towers of Midtown to the Brooklyn Bridge, the Freedom Tower to Williamsburg.
You can take in the views from several spots: two outdoor patios, a seat at the bar, several window-adjacent couches or a semi-private lounge area. And despite such a lofty name, the bar has a comfortable and casual ambiance, the kind of vibe you wish more rooftop bars would adopt.
The Asian-influenced cocktails and fare are inspired by the neighborhood. You’ll wonder where the Thai basil and watermelon margarita has been all your life, while Szechuan tincture leaves a tingling finish on the signature Crown Manhattan. But especially key on a hot day, their boozy slushes will change with what’s in season at local fruit vendors.
The modest menu of global street eats does indeed veer around the world, from a soft Bavarian pretzel with an intensely umami-rich mustard, spicy kimchi on a hotdog and popcorn sprinkled with nori. It’s pure Dale Talde, a chef known for not hewing to tradition whatever cuisine he’s taking on.
The Crown is the jewel in the collection of openings that Talde, David Massoni and bartender John Bush, aka the Three Kings Restaurant Group, have amassed in less than a year, beginning with the “Italian-ish” restaurant Massoni (along with another rooftop bar, The Heights) at the Arlo NoMad and the Barclays-adjacent sports bar Atlantic Social.
The Crown will be joined at Hotel 50 Bowery later this summer by a basement lounge called The Green Lady, which will have live entertainment, and a ground-floor fusion restaurant Rice & Gold that melds cuisines from Hong Kong to Mexico and Bangladesh.
The Crown is open seven days a week, Sun-Wed noon-2 a.m., Thurs-Sat noon-4 a.m.
