The last sip of a margarita usually signals one of two things: another round or the check. What's better than another cocktail? T he Saltair, and it’s found at Bar Contra .

If the name sounds familiar, it should—Bar Contra is an evolution of Contra, the once-accessible, no-frills tasting restaurant from chefs Fabián von Hauske-Valtierra and Jeremiah Stone. While it consistently wowed the Lower East Side for nearly a decade, the duo closed shop in October 2023. Thankfully, they kept the keys and promised to adapt the space into something entirely new. That "something new" became Bar Contra, a casual but experimental cocktail bar paired with the high-end snacks Hauske-Valtierra and Stone are known for. To execute the drinks, the twosome became a threesome with the addition of Dave Arnol

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