Go to Ai Fiori for the food, and you’re in Michael White’s more than capable hands. Grab a seat at the bar with your heart set on cocktails, and you’re trusting yourself to Jen Gordon, Ai Fiori’s head bartender.

Gordon has been with Ai Fiori for just over two years. High-end cocktail bartenders face plenty of challenges: respecting tradition, being creative, making fresh ingredients, learning about flavors. Gordon and her team have to learn the food menus, as well. Her drinks have to respect the tastes, textures and temperatures of the dishes that come out of the kitchen. Not just respect: complement and highlight. Considering that the kitchen flows with every change in a season, that can be a tough standard to maintain. But at two years and counting, you know that Gordon can do the job.

Although some scattered hours insist upon bringing winter or summer into a day’s mix, we are solidly in autumn. Behind Jen Gordon’s bar, that’s an excellent thing. “Autumn is my favorite season,” Gordon says, “I feel like people pay more attention to seasonality when autumn comes around. Suddenly pumpkin and sage are everywhere. You have just as many varieties of things available in any other season, but they’re not as highlighted.”

Maybe that’s partly because people are thinking about upcoming holiday feasts and parties. Maybe it’s partly because people are coming in out of the cold. During the summer, people linger outside, soaking up every free outdoor film and concert in every borough, and are generally not hanging around indoors. As the weather chills, people find their ways into restaurants and cocktail lounges, and seek out drinks. These days, those drinks have complex flavors.

“You start to see nutmeg grated over the tops of many drinks,” Gordon says. “That’s one of the many flavors that are synonymous with the holidays.”

Gordon is as much hospitality-driven as flavor-driven. What excites her about the season is that “my guests are more excited about things.” Their excitement drives Gordon’s energy and creativity. Her drinks are liquid homages to the seasons. 


Concocting a great cocktail doesn’t always happen swiftly. Some drinks take a long time to come together. Ai Fiori’s boozy, liquid Beet Salad is topped with a goats’ cheese fonduta. “This is something I’ve been trying to make happen for a couple of years now.” For Gordon’s brand of culinary bartending, Ai Fiori is a dream home. “This is the first time I’ve found myself in a setting that was conducive to getting weird with cocktails. They encourage us to push the envelope a little bit.” If “getting weird” and “pushing the envelope” doesn’t fit with your perception of Ai Fiori, then an hour at the bar will work wonders on your view.

In the Beet Salad, Bacardi is blended with beet juice and simple syrup, and poured into a scarlet ceramic cup. Goats’ cheese fonduta is floated on top, and a bright basil leaf is draped on top of the snowy whiteness. For visuals alone, it’s a treat. Don’t be put off; there’s nothing of the barnyard in the Beet Salad.

You can order food at the bar, or sit at a table and order cocktails to go with your meal. Nothing is taking second stage here. Pairing cocktails with Ai Fiori’s dishes is an opportunity Gordon welcomes. “For me, the fun of cocktails is that you can tailor them to be whatever you want them to be.” Her wine background plays into her cocktail pairings. “Take flavors that are traditional in wine pairings, and you create a cocktail to suit those flavors. You’re going to get a similar effect in the pairing, but you can highlight whatever flavors you want.”

Gordon’s other autumnal offerings include the Sweater Weather, which features Boulevard VSOP, Nux Alpina wulnut liqueur and Balconville late harvest apple, garnished with a Reims 39 spiced apple chip. The Blessed Thistle has Cardamaro, Michter’s rye, lemon and simple syrup. It gets its texture from a well-shaken egg white. Cocktails cost $16, which is not bad for New York City and a prize bargain for Fifth Avenue.  

If you want to learn more about Gordon’s techniques of pairing food and drink, then keep an eye on the upcoming classes at Murray’s Cheese. Gordon will be teaching there, giving you a chance not only to appreciate booze-and-food pairings, but also to learn how to do them yourself. Until then, pick a seat at the bar, place an order, and have a drink of autumn so well-structured you’ll be glad that summer is gone.

Photos by Seanan Forbes