The World’s 50 Best Bars has announced GN Chan, co-founder of Double Chicken Please in New York, as the winner of Altos Bartenders’ Bartender Award 2023.
Voted for by the bartenders on this year’s list of The World’s 50 Best Bars, the award goes to a personality who made a significant impact in the global bar sector over the voting period and recognises their commitment to the international community in that time.
“I am extremely humbled and grateful to be named Altos Bartenders’ Bartender,” said Chan. “I would like to dedicate this recognition to Team DCP, who I work and hustle with day-to-day. It is only together that we have achieved many things we never thought we would be able to, daring to dream big and bigger every day.
“This recognition serves as motivation, driving our determination to continue progressing and fuelling our enthusiasm to share and expand within our beloved community,” Chan continued. “I have nothing but gratitude for receiving this honour from my peers. Thank you for being the giants, and for letting us stand on your shoulders.”
An industrial designer by training and a former street magician, GN Chan embarked on his bartending journey by complete accident with no prior experience or knowledge. Soon after falling in love with mixology, he left his native Taiwan for New York on a mission to master his craft, honing his skills and winning numerous accolades.
In 2017, GN and his business partner Faye Chen set off in a modified bright yellow 1977 Volkswagen minibus, hosting unique cocktail and dining experiences nationwide. The pair quickly garnered an outstanding reputation for their innovative overlap of cuisine and mixology, complete with tongue-in-cheek cocktail names, before setting up a permanent bar, Double Chicken Please, on New York’s Lower East Side in 2020.
“It gives us great pleasure to announce GN Chan as the recipient of this year’s Altos Bartenders’ Bartender Award,” said William Drew, Director of Content for The World’s 50 Best Bars. “With his refreshing approach to crafting cocktails, unwavering dedication to his vision and infectious personal warmth, he has established Double Chicken Please as one of the most exciting bar concepts in the world.
“It is no surprise that his peers have selected him as the award winner, as his spirit and dedication exemplify the fundamentals of what defines the Altos Bartenders’ Bartender.”
Despite numerous pandemic-related closures, the dual-concepts bar quickly grew national and international recognition for its unique “hacking design” concept and its daily pre-opening queues, largely due to GN Chan’s unwavering hospitality and intriguing design. The bustling, no-reservations front room is casual and fast-paced, offering enticing Taiwanese-influenced fried chicken sandwiches and an engaging list of seasonal creative ‘Taptails’ set against concrete and exposed brick walls.
By contrast, the wood-panelled and moody interior of ‘The Coop’ serves a lively, complex menu that playfully reimagines cocktails and dishes, an unconventional interpretation of a typical cocktail experience. Dramatic spotlights draw the eye to the central bar accentuated by whimsical artworks underpinning the unerring sense of fun that permeates the Double Chicken Please concept.
Double Chicken Please has achieved international acclaim in just a few short years thanks to Chan, Chen and the team’s achievements. In 2022, it stormed into the list of The World’s 50 Best Bars at No.6, winning the Disaronno Highest New Entry Award, before being named The Best Bar in North America at this year’s edition of North America’s 50 Best Bars.
“Supporting the community of bartenders has been a pillar for Altos Tequila since its creation in 2010,” explained Carlos Andres Ramirez, Head of Global Advocacy and PR for Altos Tequila. “Twelve years on, we continue to invest in this support via the Tahona Society Competition initiative, the first sustainable project competition. From the Altos Tequila and Tahona Society family, we want to congratulate GN Chan from Double Chicken Please in New York, the new Bartenders’ Bartender Award recipient as part of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2023.”
The countdown of the list of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2023, sponsored by Perrier, will also be broadcast live to a global audience who cannot attend in person. Bars and cocktail lovers are invited to join through The World’s 50 Best Bars Facebook page and 50 Best Bars TV channel on YouTube.
