Cantina pours the most criminal of mezcals

Because Dick Wolf shouldn't be the only guy making a killing off crime, check out Bar Ilegal: the latest from the team behind Clive Bar, Lustre Pearl, and 96, it's a mezcal-only rambler-gambler-influenced cantina set in a 1920s stone shack behind Clive, bustling with reclamation (a rusted iron candelabra; a pecan bartop sourced from a neighboring lot) and a turntable spinning vintage Latin heat (Mambo #s 1-4?).

Right now, they're serving only Ilegal, a Oaxaca-produced proto-tequila born when its Guatemalan founder started sneakily importing it into his home country, and now available as a Joven (younger, clear, hints of apple & white pepper), Reposado (you'll taste butterscotch & caramelized pear), or Anejo (1yr oak-barrel aged, w/ vanilla & tobacco notes); all are meant to be sipped straight from jicama bowls and not shot, lessening the chance they'll have to take you around back and put a Bulleit in you.

Not afraid to lace things up, they're also pouring Joven infusions like mint, hibiscus, dry chile pepper, and cinnamon; cocktails like a flaming fresh lime/ chartreuse/ simple syrup/ caramelized grapefruit concoction; and a wild michelada offshoot called "The Smuggler" -- a shot of mezcal floating in a pint of Victoria, which was actually illegal in the US until recently, when beer lovers told US Customs "We are not amused".

The plan's to expand to other types of mezcal in the future, while also adding authentic touches like actual crickets to snack on -- drop one in a friend's jicama bowl, and he will be a Special Victim indeed.