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Published November 24, 2008
Return of the Mac
Your New Trading Post and Opium Den
While it currently holds rank as the Asian Las Vegas, you might be interested in its history as a Portuguese colony, drunken port town and culinary melting pot. That's where Macao Trading Co.—opening today in Tribeca from the Employees Only crew—comes into play.
Walking into Macao, you'll feel as if you might end up in a barroom brawl with Indiana Jones and a nefarious antiquities dealer. You'll want to bring your own Marion Ravenwood—or a group of fun-loving explorers—and settle in for a night of spiced cocktails, exotic delicacies and colonial merriment.
Start at the massive front bar, built out of old prison gates (moving up the "bar" food chain from prison to cocktail), where drinks like the Yellow Fever and Drunken Dragon's Milk are flavored with five-spice bitters and other Macanese delights.
Once whet, lead your party into the main room (basically a large portside warehouse full of old opium pillows, roulette wheels and other distant curios) and signal to keep chef David Waltuck's (Chanterelle) adventurous Portuguese-Chinese sharing plates coming (see the menu here).
And since nothing completes an epic feast like a little underground drinking, a bordello/opium den, complete with low tin ceilings, ornate banquettes and all sorts of cherry-red paint, will open up in the basement in two weeks.
Think of it as your new expat den of iniquity.
Macao Trading Co.
311 Church St
(between Lispenard and Walker)
Tribeca
New York, NY 10013
212-431-8750
VITALS
Macao Trading Co.
311 Church St
(between Lispenard and Walker)
Tribeca
New York, NY 10013
212-431-8750
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