A Manhattan bar is encouraging the Financial District to lean into the work-by-day, play-by-night experience that it brings to the neighborhood.
Located on the third floor of the Moxy NYC Downtown hotel, Recreation has made itself at home in the heart of the Financial District. The goal was to bring the fun to the traditional bar scene but also have an elevated cocktail and food experience for its patrons.
“It was really bringing that sort of lighthearted, fun lifestyle, to the Moxy vibe. The property closed down during the pandemic, and the Concrete Hospitality Group took it over in 2021 to sort of revitalize it,” said Jonathan Knudsen, President of Concrete Hospitality Group. “We took some time to deep dive into the concept and, from our perspective, reimagine what we thought Recreation was. We felt like it had a good presence — people knew the space, so there wasn’t ever really a consideration to shift away from Recreation. It was more of how to enhance and revitalize it when we took the space over.”
When you first walk into Recreation, you are greeted by Bubba, an 8-foot-tall bear who is often clad in pop culture regalia. As you explore the space, you not only find tons of seating, but also a half-court basketball hoop at regulation height, skeeball machines, a foosball machine, arcade-style games and board games.
“We have a half-court hoop experience, which we also use as an untraditional kind of flex meeting space which gets booked quite often. We activate and program that space as part of the bar experience and we do fun things in there. Like shots got shots, where at 5 p.m., guests that are in the space can participate in taking a three-point shot, and if they hit it, they get a complimentary shot at the bar,” said Knudsen. “In the daytime, we do often book it out for just an unconventional meeting space as well, and clients really love it.”
Recreation’s cocktail program has been incredibly popular with the FiDi community. In addition to a well-stocked bar and a menu of specialty cocktails, Recreation keeps a variety of cocktails on draft. The cocktails on draft include classics such as an Old Fashioned, a Manhattan and a Negroni, as well as popular in-house cocktails such as the Juicy Lucy (Hendrick’s Gin, Grapefruit liqueur, Orange, beet, lime & agave), the 8-Bit (Smoked Chili infused Casamigos Blanco, Del Maguey Vida Mezcal, passion fruit, agave & lime), and the Pisco Colada (Pineapple-infused Bar sol Pisco, Bacardi Coconut Rum, sugar & lime).
The bar also has Prosecco on draft to top off any Spritz-style drinks. Knudsen told amNewYork that the choices behind the cocktails on draft were driven almost entirely by the customer base.
“We’ve certainly rotated through different styles of cocktails, at first it was the voice of the customers and what were people gravitating toward. But we’ve landed on a pretty healthy mix of more booze-forward cocktails that are on draft,” said Knudsen. “It also helps from a speed and efficiency standpoint, also just to have a great happy hour vibe.”
As for the food, Recreation has a selection of starters and meals that are served up all day long, including a variety of flatbreads, tacos and other shareable options. But the latest addition to Recreation’s food lineup is the Under the Influence Brunch, offered every Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“Each Sunday we have an influencer that hosts a table at brunch, so it’s kind of a play on ‘under the influence’ both through New York’s taste-maker influencers but also it being very booze-forward with martini cocktail trees, mimosa towers, and a disco punch bowl that serves 4-6 people,” said Knudsen. “We brought in a real kind of playfulness with the food. In place of a bacon egg and cheese, we do a pork belly egg and cheese. We do a waffle and wings, which is a riff on chicken and waffles. The short rib hash is a favorite.”
Though it has only been happening for a few weeks, the brunch has quickly become popular with Recreation guests.
“It’s been great. We’ve increased our volume and our visibility each week. We have a DJ that spins during the brunch hour. It’s really been fun,” said Knudsen.
In the future, Recreation hopes to get a skeeball league off the ground and offer more programming for the public to get involved with. But for now, Recreation strives to be the best bar in FiDi.
“We really want to be labeled and recognized as the best bar in FiDi. We just keep striving to give the neighborhood more and give them more reasons and excuses for coming to help really work towards that ultimate goal,” said Knudsen.
For more information, visit recreationbar.com or follow on Instagram @recreationnyc.
