Holywater is in Tribeca on Reade Street, and once you get to the bottom of the staircase the room opens up into something that reads less like a Manhattan bar and more like the hold of a ship. Bronze mermaids, maritime texts on the shelves, a lacquered hammerhead shark mounted near the bar. The people who put this together clearly spent time thinking about what a New Orleans-inflected cocktail bar in the belly of a Tribeca building should feel like.

The cocktail program goes deep on rum and classic New Orleans templates. The Sazerac and sidecar are both there, alongside the titular Holywater: rum, cognac, Chartreuse, lemon, grapefruit, and bitters, finished with a scorched lime. The bartender sets the dried lime rind on top of the crushed ice, lights it, and you wait for the flame to catch before dunking it down into the glass and releasing the burnt sugar into the drink. It's one of those presentation moments that actually justifies itself.

The dining room takes reservations; the bar operates walk-in only. They also do a weekend brunch, which stretches the concept in a direction that works well enough in a neighborhood that has absorbed stranger pivots.