Attaboy
Sam Ross's Penicillin was built in this room, Islay scotch against ginger, honey and lemon. There is still no list to order it off. You describe a spirit and a mood, and a bartender builds to it.
Why go
This is Milk & Honey's room, and the format came with the lease. Sam Ross and Michael McIlroy trained behind it under Sasha Petraske, and the cocktails that made the bar's reputation date from 2000 on. When Milk & Honey moved uptown the two took the space over and renamed it in 2013 (PUNCH). PUNCH's account of what survived is the useful part: the drinks are still pure Petraske, precisely balanced, served in chilled glassware over large-format ice, and there is a Milk & Honey-inspired bar in every major city in the world because of what happened at this address. In December 2025 the floor doubled and a second bar top went in, mirroring the first, which is why a room that took nobody's booking now takes a few (North America's 50 Best Bars).
Attaboy took Best American Cocktail Bar at the 2019 Spirited Awards, which is the trade voting on its own.8 The World's 50 Best Bars had the room at No. 22 in the world in 20227, and Emma Sleight's North America list has it back on at No. 37 in 2026 after the refit.6
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Penicillin, if you want the drink this bar is known for by name.
- Order: nothing, and describe a spirit and a mood instead. That is what the room is built to do and the reason to come.
- Avoid: turning up seven-handed. Six is the house ceiling, and the metal door wants a physical government ID.
What locals & experts say
- North America's 50 Best Bars 2026, ranking it 37th:
it's the birthplace of famous classics such as the Paper Plane, Penicillin and Greenpoint.
3 - PUNCH calls Ross and McIlroy the modern-day Abbott and Costello of the cocktail world, playing off each other's moves in front of whoever wants to watch, and rates the pouring among the best in New York and possibly anywhere.1
- Bryan Kim, The Infatuation's editorial lead in New York, on what the no-list format actually delivers:
After they're done fiddling with bitters and chipping away at ice, they'll surprise you with an immaculately stirred or shaken beverage.
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Good to know
- Timing: it opens in the evening and runs to the small hours, seven nights. Katherine Lewin's account of the door for The Infatuation is a bell to ring and a good chance of standing.4
- Booking: a few reservations go up on OpenTable since the refit. Everything else is first come, first served.5
- The queue has an exit: the same team opened Good Guy's next door at 134 Eldridge in June 2024, a spritz bar with Jesse Parnell of Russ & Daughters cooking boquerones, dips and toasts.10
Verdict
must-visit — Ross and McIlroy have been working this bar since Petraske's day, which is the only thing that makes a no-list format safe: you say gin and something bitter, and the person in front of you either has the range or does not. That promise cannot be faked for a night. So order nothing by name. Give them a spirit, a mood and an honest answer about how strong you want it, and say so if the second one should come drier. The Penicillin is there if the improvising disappoints.