January 18th, 2011
New York Times,
Lani Kai; There is no mai-tai mix in sight at Lani Kai in SoHo.
You can go crazy with a loco moco, pig out on kalua pig, stuff yourself with a guava malasada. But one thing that is astonishingly hard to do in Hawaii is to get a decent drink in a coconut shell. This just isn’t right. The state ought to be to tropical cocktails what New Jersey is to the Jägerbomb.
Julie Reiner has set out to correct this cosmic injustice, even if she has to start in Manhattan.
December 9th, 2010
New York Times,
The Eggnog Resisters' League
Creamy, sweet and as Christmasy as Rudolph — who could resist eggnog? I’m raising my hand. And, shocker of shockers, I’m poised to tell you why.
It’s a dessert in drink drag, a single-cup, multi-egg sleigh ride to feeling overstuffed and overwhelmed right at the start of a party, when an unimaginative host foists it upon you — “we have eggnog!” — in place of a proper cocktail or respectable glass of wine or something, anything, that won’t spoil your appetite and erase three miles on the treadmill in three insanely rich sips...
December 5th, 2010
NY Daily News
Just the Right Mix; Make your punch bowl the life of the party
The punch bowl is the oasis of your party—it's where guests help themselves and meet each other, giving you more time to mingle. Just as Julie Reiner, beverage director and co-owner of Flatiron Lounge, Brooklyn's Clover Club and tropical influenced Lani Hai in SoHo....
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December 4th, 2010
Wall Street Journal
Party-Ready Punch; You've got enough to worry about without having to fix every guest his own drink.
As craft cocktail bars have spread accross the country—you know, the ones where the shelves are lined with more bitters than vodkas—it's natural for the discerning holiday-party host to want to replicate that high-caliber experience. It can be done....
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November 10th, 2010
New York Press
Passing the Bar: Lani Kai
Where Soho bleeds into the jumble of Holland Tunnel on-ramps and traffic jams, where the well-heeled unwillingly cross paths with the people who actually make their food and sell them their clothes, you’ll find Lani Kai, the latest space from Flatiron Lounge and Clover Club creator Julie Reiner (and partners Susan Fedroff and Michael Brais). Thankfully, the crowd reflects something about the location. The bar isn't nearly as stuffed with the old and the distressingly plastic as the rest of the neighborhood’s spots can be, and the crowd is young and interesting—for good reason...
November 5th, 2010
TimeOut NY
Where to drink this week: Lani Kai
When Julie Reiner opens a bar, you pay attention. Over the past decade, the cocktail maven behind Flatiron Lounge and Clover Club has established herself as both a protector of classic recipes and a skilled tinkerer. Her latest venture—a bi-level stunner in the old Tailor space—is her most personal yet: a heartfelt love letter to her native Hawaii, with a few concessions for those who respond to mahalo with, “Actually, they’re Louboutin.”