Saloon Stakeouts: Painkiller

Are you ready to kill the pain?

Just in time for a tropical heatwave and many of the country’s best Japanese training-seeking bartenders sweeping into NYC, one of the most exciting bar openings of the year is scheduled for this week, and it just so happens to be tiki-themed. Painkiller, from Dutch Kills’ Richie Boccato and Giuseppe Gonzales, has flipped the former Sasha Petraske-owned East Side Company Bar into a bamboo-walled underground lair that feels miles from the city and yet all at once very New York. The bar celebrates Manhattan as “the best island,” said Giuseppe, surrounded by images of topless, tan island ladies.

I don’t want to give too much away about Painkiller just yet–the Chinatown bar officially opens Thursday night–but I can tell you to expect: fresh-cut fruit, house-made syrups and orgeat,  industrial blenders, a cooler full of shaved ice, grafitti artwork by “Style Wars” legends, and badass light effects. The menu will be of the choose-your-own-adventure variety (simply tell the bartenders how you like your drink) but based on the recipes of Trader Vic’s and Don the Beachcomber. Expect incredibly strong drinks and wild garnishes–you’ve been warned!

Giuseppe said he and Richie got the idea for bar over free hot dogs at Rudy’s, the Hell’s Kitchen dive, so naturally, Painkiller will have free hot dogs too. Which will surely come in handy after all that frothy tiki-ness with shots of flaming 151.

Painkiller, 49 Essex St.

Scandalous spray-painted velvet by NOC 167, a "Style Wars" '70s legend.

The Painkiller logo underneath the tempered glass bar. The logo might look familiar if you know the NYC punk scene.

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