Michael Leigh, the owner and general manager at Bitter End, has laid down the gauntlet in the name of his bartenders and their creative drinks, including 40 cocktail and 30 martini variants. “If people want to challenge us to create something, we welcome that,” he says. “We allow our bartenders room to experiment.” He says the Bitter End wants to bring the good food, the quality drinks (“Being the Maritimes, people don’t sip,” he says) but service is goal number one. That means the bar staff have to be special. “ The bartending is an art, not a science. It has to be the right fit. We truly are a bartender’s bar.” 1572 Argyle, 425-3039
First runner up: Tom's Little Havana
Second runner up: The Brooklyn Warehouse
