Next Wave Awards Bar Program of the Year: schmuck.
When the highly anticipated cocktail bar schmuck finally landed in New York City’s East Village in early 2025, it was immediately evident from the eclectic design and menu that it was a special space. (Make that two spaces, as the ambitious team split the room into two entirely separate concepts, each with its own menu.)
Drawing inspiration from the mid-century modern, space age, and brutalist design movements, the bar’s aesthetic is difficult to put a label on. In truth, it’s nearly impossible to describe schmuck by the bar world’s standard conventions — it’s an unapologetic, pure reflection of founders Moe Aljaff and Juliette Larrouy’s styles, backgrounds, and personalities.
Aljaff and Larrouy made their names at Barcelona’s acclaimed Two Schmucks before going out on their own, playfully repurposing the name as the singular schmuck. After building a dedicated following hosting pop-ups across the globe, the pair knew they wanted their next venture to be in New York. (Their February-March 2024 pop-up in Midtown’s Hotel Eventi Back Bar drew crowds nearly every night.) They focused specifically on the East Village neighborhood for its storied cocktail credentials and late-night bar-hopping energy, which reminded them of their favorite European cities.
Credit: Jeff Brown
Aljaff and Larrouy found their ideal location on the buzzy corner of 1st Avenue and 6th Street and signed the lease in November 2023. The two were eager to get started on building their dream bar, but a series of permits and building challenges continuously delayed the project. Though frustrating at the moment, the duo credit this time to helping them meticulously plan every detail of the space to fit their exact specifications.
“We started with the base of, ‘How do we make this a reflection of who we are,’ betting on the fact that people will like it,” says Aljaff. “As we were building the space, we tweaked it slowly based on our preferences.”
Bopping around the world from pop-up to pop-up, Aljaff and Larrouy didn’t have a conventional place to live for two years, and, over time, they realized that they were inadvertently designing the space like a home. Of the two areas schmuck encapsulates, they refer to the larger space as “The Living Room” and the smaller as “The Kitchen Counter.”
Credit: Jeff Brown
The living room side welcomes in guests with Togo sofa chairs and an assortment of designer coffee tables (including one that’s inexplicably filled with fortune cookies). A black-tiled nook is furnished with black and white photographs, Lala Touffe rug art, and an old-school touch-tone phone mounted on the wall with the words “call your mom” displayed under it. This space, which is seated only, offers more conceptual, gastronomic cocktails, like the Thai-food-inspired Larb Gai featuring Rémy Martin Cognac, peanut and herb distillate, rice, and chili oil; and the Versace Slippers with fresh bananas, coffee, and bourbon served with a small bite of blue cheese as a chaser.
The smaller space, which brings the energy of a crowded, busy kitchen counter, offers a central bar with standing room for patrons to move around freely. Here, drinkers can find a separate menu of easygoing (but no less nuanced) cocktails like the Buttered Paloma with butter fat-washed Cazadores tequila; and the Melon Cheese & Pepper made with Fords gin, dry vermouth, cantaloupe melon, and mozzarella cheese foam.
Credit: Jeff Brown
Similar to the design of the space itself, the cocktails are diligently thought out, adding an unexpected level of complexity to every drink, from the most unusual combinations (just trust) to even the simplest classics. Larrouy — who was born and raised in France, and previously worked as a chef — often taps into her culinary experience when developing the cocktails with Aljaff, with many featuring familiar foods as a central theme.
The best example of Aljaff and Larrouy’s boundless creativity is the bar’s namesake Martini (which took home the crown in VinePair’s 2025 Martini Madness tournament). The drink is made using five equal parts of Fords gin, shōchū, blanche de Normandie, and both blanc and dry vermouths, giving it a layered flavor profile and texture more reminiscent of a complex, vibrant wine than a typical Martini. For the garnish, they add an olive, lemon oils, and three drops of olive oil — plus they let you keep the dropper to add olive oil to your taste. And let’s not forget the mid-drink glass swap that keeps it icy cold.
Credit: Jeff Brown
This more-is-more approach is reflected in many of schmuck’s cocktails, though the bartenders’ effortlessly cool attitudes would never let on how much tedious work goes on behind the scenes. The menu offers both a Ramos Gin Fizz riff and a blended, smoothie-like drink, both notoriously loud and labor-intensive, but service remains impressively calm, with the only sound noticeable in the background being the steady thump of French hip-hop.
The highly-personalized touch found throughout schmuck extends to every part of the bar’s image, including its very captivating and stylized social media presence. “Early on, we understood when we tried to have people help us with photos and videos that it’s never going to be the same when you explain it to someone else,” says Aljaff. “So we started to do it ourselves. It became another point for us to reflect who we are through what we do — same as we did with the interiors, exteriors, glassware, and so on. We’ve tried to take control of every aspect of the bar and create it ourselves, so that it’s easier to make it genuinely our own.”
Credit: Jeff Brown
After the first few months of operating, it’s clear that Aljaff and Larrouy’s unwavering dedication to creating the bar of their dreams has paid off. The meticulously curated space undoubtedly resonates with New York City’s drinking scene, consistently drawing lines (for both spaces) each night.
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