How Bar Owners Reacted to the 50 Best Bars Awards

Earlier this week, our newsletter for industry pros, Pre Shift, went behind the scenes of North America’s 50 Best Bars. Subscribe for more stories like this.

Awards season for the bar world launched last Tuesday, with North America’s 50 Best Bars Awards taking place for the second time in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. While the No. 1 bar, Mexico City’s Handshake Speakeasy, was predicted by nearly everyone spoken to, it was New York’s Superbueno that had people talking, entering the list at No. 2 just 363 days after opening. The Cayman Islands entered the chat for the first time with Library by the Sea at No. 35. And while Canadian representation continues to grow (with seven of 50 bars on the list), no one from the friendly north was able to crack the Top 20 this year. Meanwhile, the evening’s extracurricular chatter seemed to center on the ongoing challenges of simply being open, the tension between building a legacy and staying fresh, and the looming influence of PR on who makes it into the Top 50. Here’s what we overheard on the night of the awards.

“Every time we see London and New York in the cocktail scene. I feel Mexico City now is the third place in the world, or fourth place in the world [for cocktails]. This is very important for our industry.” —Marquitos Di Battista, Handshake Speakeasy, Mexico City (No. 1)

“I think sometimes the awards tend to be a little bit of a circle jerk… [They] gravitate towards an elite group of people and friends that circulate and work with each other. I hope that can change. But I also think that the intentions are there. It’s just kind of how human nature works.”

—Anonymous

“People who go to a bar because it’s the ‘best in Canada’ don’t understand the transient nature of lists. And how lists are not so much about your legacy. We’re four years old now. I think a lot about how I want us to be a legacy bar. And when you look at legacy bars on the list, they’re usually lower on the list. I’d rather be that than fight for No. 1 in North America. I don’t think we’re No. 1 in North America and I just don’t want that pressure. I feel like sometimes when people get those awards, they then have to meet the expectation of the guests [who travel there] too much rather than really cater to the guests that love them already.” —Christina Veira, Bar Mordecai, Toronto (No. 40)

“LA specifically is going through this thing where nightlife feels very dead. People who do come out are great. The clientele’s great. It’s just not as many people right now. It’s going to bounce back. We had the pandemic and a massive entertainment industry strike right after. They first hit the writers. And then it hit everyone acting, which then trickled down to people behind the camera, caterers, everything. It just fucked our city up. It’s still not back. So people aren’t spending money. Labor keeps going up, sales keep going down. But we’re so lucky that we get some press and people come; we’re a destination. It’s not all California people that come to our bar. It’s people from all over the world. We’re doing well. The team is stellar. We have no turnover. It’s crazy. We are blessed in a very serious way.” —Anonymous

“I think that Latinos in New York City don’t necessarily have a very big safe space to be and enjoy who they are. [Superbueno] finally puts parts of my culture that have been pushed to the side, to the forefront. I remember when I first met Nacho [Jimenez, Superbueno’s owner], his No. 1 rule was, ‘We’re never playing English music here.’ You know, there are a million good songs. They don’t always have to be reggaeton, but there are classics. You know, when you play a really good one and the entire bar starts singing and everyone’s like, My mom plays this on a Saturday morning. You know, and it’s that feeling… that’s Superbueno. And that, to me, is home. I feel like I’m home every day that I’m there.” —Sthefany Gomez, Superbueno, New York (No. 2)

“I’ve been on [the list] as high as No. 23 [in 2022] and then I haven’t been on the list at all since then… My bar just turned 13 in March, so maybe we’re getting to that place of oldness, where we can become that legacy bar. You know, it takes a decade to be an overnight success. But I do see that many of the new bars that open and that have money behind them and PR behind them, they do come screaming outta the gate with a lot of sizzle and not as much steak. It’s the slow burn that I’ve been after, and that’s how I’ve run my career. But I see both sides of the coin. Everything deserves its seat in the pantheon.” —Sother Teague, Amor y Amargo, New York 

“In the whole of my career… Well, I’m 41. So it’s been a while. But the whole of my career [what I feel proudest of] was ditching PR and going back to the bar. I mean, I loved working in bars and restaurants, and then I made a switch based on what other people thought I should be doing, and when I truly listened to myself and went back to something that I knew I loved, everything just clicked.” —Kate Boushel, North America’s Best Bartender 2024

“As a bar who has never had PR, doesn’t have the budget for it, and prefers to take that PR budget and put it back into my community and my staff, it’s frustrating how much PR factors into these things. But I truly believe [that] with determination and a little bit of awareness from the awards, things can change.” —Kate Gerwin, Happy Accidents, Albuquerque

“There’s more character to places that are owner-operator. You’re more nimble, you’re more agile, you’re able to relate to your staff, to keep staff, to create a really healthy working culture because you’re in it with them. It’s also cool that it’s not just the big guys who can spend money on PR that get recognized. Shoutout to every bar who doesn’t pay for it. Like we don’t pay for it. Where we’re all out here hustling, promoting ourselves. It’s really cool. I think the list is skewing more and more in the direction of bars that are out grinding to earn their place on the list and innovating, rather than just paying for it.” —Mike Capoferri, Thunderbolt, Los Angeles (No. 8)