A Night in Birdland
Aviary, by the Numbers

This weekend, Grant Achatz popped the cork on Aviary, the lounge adjacent to his tickets-only restaurant, Next. (Maybe you’ve heard.) So we figured you should know exactly what happened this weekend as objectively as possible—strictly by the numbers.

People waiting at 10am on Saturday: 2
People waiting at 6pm (opening time) on Saturday: 80
People waiting at 6pm on Sunday: 20
Percentage who looked like “blogger” was an integral part of their résumé: 25%
Grant Achatz sightings outside restaurant: 1
Awards he seemed to be carrying at the time: 1
Gin and rhubarb shots waiting for you on grass-topped tables in the foyer: 1
If the menu at Next is Paris 1906, the lounge music at Aviary is: Paris 2005-ish
Average wait time on Sunday: 30 minutes
Average wait time for a cocktail: 3 minutes (approx.)
Cocktails on the menu: 21
Number served with an umbrella: 1, Tiki
Number best served at an Avatar screening: 1, Popcorn
Number served over a fancy version of a Bunsen burner: 1, Rooibos
Number served with a rubber band: 1, In the Rocks (to break open your bourbon-filled ice ball for this version of an Old Fashioned)
Highest-priced cocktail: Truffle, a Negroni with a truffle shaving at the bottom ($28)
Least-expensive bottle of champagne: $80
One-bite appetizers on the menu, including a Lobster cracker: 10
“Bites” that must be ordered at one time: 3
Servers who dared us to eat the truffle at the bottom of the glass: 1
Number of truffles we ate: 1