The Lobby Bar

Thomas Waugh — Death & Co alum, ex-ZZ's Clam Bar — runs the cocktail program at The Lobby Bar, Major Food Group's brown-spirit-leaning lounge inside The Ludlow Hotel on the Lower East Side. The room sits adjacent to Dirty French New York (the MFG sister on the hotel's ground floor) and reads as Mid-Century Modern: Percival Lafer furnishings, dim lighting, a refined-lounge register tuned for sippers rather than poolside drinks. The menu pivots on bitter liqueurs and aged spirits, designed around Waugh's catalog-wide MFG beverage-director portfolio. For Major Food Group's quietest cocktail program in NYC — sippers, Percival Lafer furniture, and Waugh's bitter-leaning hand.