Attaboy
Alessandro Scire CalabrisottoShare
Tucked behind an unmarked door on Eldridge Street in New York's Lower East Side, Attaboy is the kind of place you have to know about to find. There is no menu, no sign and no fuss — just a buzzer, a narrow room and bartenders who build drinks to taste, on the spot. In a city overflowing with cocktail bars, Attaboy has earned a near-mythic reputation by doing the opposite of shouting for attention.
History
Attaboy occupies the former home of Milk & Honey, the legendary speakeasy opened by Sasha Petraske in 1999 that helped ignite the modern craft cocktail movement. When Milk & Honey relocated, two of its alumni, Sam Ross and Michael McIlroy, took over the original space and opened Attaboy in 2013.
Ross and McIlroy were already respected figures in the New York bar world, and they carried forward the exacting standards of their mentor while loosening the formality. Where Milk & Honey operated on strict house rules and reservations, Attaboy adopted a more relaxed, walk-in spirit — though the obsessive attention to balance, ice and technique remained firmly intact. The bar has since become a destination in its own right and a fixture on international best-bar lists.
What Makes It Special
The defining feature of Attaboy is that it has no printed cocktail list. Instead, guests tell the bartender what spirits or flavours they enjoy — something bright and citrusy, perhaps, or spirit-forward and stirred — and a bespoke drink is made for them. It is a format that demands genuine skill and turns every visit into a small collaboration.
The room itself is intimate and dimly lit, seating only a modest number of guests at a time, which keeps the atmosphere personal and unhurried. There is a quiet discipline to the place: precise measures, hand-cut ice and a deep respect for the classics. The result feels less like a night out and more like being let in on a secret.
Signature Serves
Because drinks are made bespoke, Attaboy does not trade on a fixed list of house cocktails. That said, the bar is inseparable from one modern classic: the Penicillin, created by co-owner Sam Ross during his Milk & Honey years. Blending blended Scotch, honey-ginger syrup, lemon and a smoky Islay float, it has become one of the most influential cocktails of the twenty-first century.
Ross is also credited with the Paper Plane, a beautifully balanced equal-parts drink of bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino and lemon juice. Order something stirred and spirit-forward, or simply ask for a bartender's choice, and you will be rewarded with a faultlessly constructed serve.
Visiting Attaboy
Attaboy is found at 134 Eldridge Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. There is no obvious signage — look for the unmarked door and ring the buzzer. The bar operates on a walk-in basis rather than taking advance bookings, so be prepared for a short wait at busy times; arriving earlier in the evening improves your chances of a seat in the compact room. Come with an idea of what you like to drink, trust the bartender, and let the experience unfold.
Curiosity: A Fun Fact About Attaboy
The space Attaboy inhabits is something of a hallowed address in cocktail history. As the original site of Milk & Honey, it is widely regarded as one of the birthplaces of the contemporary craft cocktail revival — meaning that when you step through that nondescript door, you are drinking in a room where modern bartending itself was reshaped.