Shingo Gokan (SG Club Tokyo + Shanghai), Steve Schneider (Employees Only alum), and Mike Bagale (Alinea's former Executive Chef) opened Sip & Guzzle on Cornelia Street in the West Village in January 2024 — a two-room cocktail bar where upstairs Guzzle runs American saloon highballs and classics while downstairs Sip executes a Japanese-precision tasting program. Credentials run dense: North America's 50 Best Bars #1 in 2026 (the highest-ranked bar in North America), World's 50 Best Bars #39 in 2025, Spirited Awards 2025 Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar. Bagale's modernist small plates — twelve Miyazaki wagyu burgers per service, foie gras Mont Blanc, mochi fry — anchor the kitchen at three-Michelin-star pedigree, though his Alinea stars belong to Chicago, not here. Peer in elite NYC cocktail-bar credential register to PDT (JBA 2012 first winner) + Maison Premiere (JBA 2016 winner, N.A. 50 Best #40 in 2026) + Double Chicken Please (N.A. 50 Best #1 in 2023). For one of NYC's most-credentialed cocktail venues — the two-room split makes Cornelia Street upstairs-and-downstairs as one program.