Feature

Cocktail Stories: Vodka y Soda, Superbueno

08 November 2024 By Ted Simmons

Superbueno invigorates a classic mixed drink with vibrant tropical fruit, resulting in its Vodka y Soda serve.

Superbueno-Vodka-Y-Soda — Superbueno’s Vodka y Soda (photo credit: John Shyloski)

New York’s colourful downtown streets spill into Superbueno, where lively drinks are always on tap. A Mexican-American cocktail bar from Ignacio Jimenez, Superbueno opened in April 2023 to instant buzz, a winning combination of location, concept and service. The bar cemented its place among the city’s hottest drinking spots one year later, when it debuted at number two on the 2024 North America’s 50 Best Bars list, the highest US entrant.

“I still get overwhelmed and tearful about it. I never thought that we would get so high,” Jimenez says. “I am very thankful for every award and recognition, but this is not why I do it. For me, it is to get the recognition of our regulars, to build a community around people that feel welcome, that feel happy in a place that I created.”

Superbueno is the product of Jimenez’s 23 years in hospitality, and melds together his Mexican heritage and life experiences in New York. It is highly aesthetic, with big colourful art prints and authentic hand-painted Rótulos displaying the drinks, which are inspired by iconic Mexican ingredients like roasted corn and green mango.

Ignacio Jimenez superbueno — Superbueno’s Ignacio Jimenez (photo credit: Justin Sisson)

Jimenez created the Vodka y Soda after a late-night visit to a local Mexican deli where he purchased a guava-flavoured Boing! soda. “I grew up drinking that as a kid,” he says. “There are not enough guava cocktails, and guava is such a beautiful ingredient.”

The bar’s drink stands out thanks to pepper-infused vodka and a house-made soda. It subverts what is traditionally thought of as a low-calorie throwaway order. “I had to be very thoughtful about having every cocktail hit a high note,” Jimenez says. The Vodka y Soda is the bar’s top seller, moving 2,500 units a month, or 80 to 90 a day. “There are purists who like to mention that it’s technically not a vodka y soda,” Jimenez says, because the process is so labour intensive. “But rules are made to be broken. So here we are.”

Superbueno is open seven days a week including 4pm to 2am Monday to Friday, catering to both the work-from-home crowd and late-night partygoers. Thanks to authenticity, quality, and a love of spirits, Jimenez has managed to pack the room no matter the time of day.