Living Room

Updated 12:06 PM EDT, Mon, Jan 11, 2010

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It's man's nature to become progressively more jaded: at one point, there was no thrill headier than the curvy slide, and now you have to play semi-truck chicken with a curvy slide full of children just to quicken your pulse. Now bringing fresh thrills to booze, Living Room.

Nestled in the lobby of the brand-spanking-new W Hotel on South Beach, Living Room balances 20-foot windows and marble walls with playful low-slung lounge furniture (some shag, some furry, some sleek), a bar stacked with ingredients like fruits, herbs, & edible flowers, and an apothecary's workshelf-looking back bar, all producing flavor combos so fresh, their grandmothers don't give them Hanukkah gifts anymore. The drink menu divides into categories like Infundo (infused) and Laboratorium (molecular mixology), with top innovations including the Avicenna (basil-infused Pisco w/ fresh passion fruit & pressed limes), the Lividus (organic raspberries & fresh Japanese yuzu citrus soaked in lavender-infused gin, sprinkled with lavender), and the Electric Watermelon: fresh watermelon, rosemary honey, peach bitters, and bourbon topped with honeydew caviar, which is essentially honeydew juice that's been gelled into little balls -- and you thought honeydew reproduced asexually! There's also fragranced drinks like the W Essentia (Japanese cucumbers, mint, Lebanese pomegranate juice, tequila), and fruit-market-inspired drinks like the Garden Margarita (flower blossom syrup, fresh basil, pressed lime, mixed w/ tequila), and the Melon Market: fresh honeydew juice in a liqueur d'orange reduction and vodka, topped with cardamom seeds -- a spice used in tea, and also to combat snake venom, so put "lack of cobras" on your list of obstacles to your date peeing on you. LR also proffers rather luxurious bar food, including tacos (ahi tuna & guac, or short ribs w/ horseradish aioli), sliders like Kobe & foie gras w/ onion marmalade, and lobster gussied up with avocado and pork belly -- the very nickname that made hanging upside down on the monkey bars a harrowing experience for life.