Kate Berlant, the Angeleno actress and comedian, attended New York University. But she discovered a different East Village after returning in the fall for her current one-woman show, “Kate.” “There’s this matcha hellscape — and I love matcha!” she said. “It really depresses me, all that athleisure and wellness. There’s that eerie feeling of an aesthetic taking over the culture entirely.”
The L.A.-ward tilt is also evident in New York’s culinary scene, where nonalcoholic, or NA, cocktails are now de rigueur. “Juices and tonics are California clichés, but now it’s nearly impossible to see a beverage menu in New York City without a NA section,” Ms. Chan said.
Corner Bar, the scene-y Dimes Square spot, features three spirit-free spirits on its cocktail menu, including an $18 “amaretti sour” that mixes nonalcoholic bourbon, almond, lemon and honey; the newly reopened Monkey Bar in Midtown offers a $19 “phony Negroni.” Compare that to old-school haunts like Sparks Steak House, whose “beverage and cigar” list includes a single virgin drink: nonalcoholic St. Pauli Girl beer.
Even the latest booze served in Manhattan is supposedly better for you: Body, a low-proof vodka that touts “non-GMO Indiana corn” as an ingredient — and was founded by Jilly Hendrix, a close friend of the “Hills” star Lauren Conrad — is stocked at the Rockefeller Center cocktail emporium Pebble Bar and the new Aman New York on Fifth Avenue.
Maer Roshan, the editor of Los Angeles magazine, said he was not surprised that New York, his former home, was taking cues from its West Coast rival. “Everyone I know here had a shaman five years ago,” he said. “And now I’m hearing from my friends in New York, ‘We found this great shaman in Long Island!’”
Ms. Kargman pledged to do her part to beat back that trend.
“I dress up, hate vegan, loathe pot and don’t work out,” she said. “I was just asked if I wanted to do a mommy mushroom journey. Kill me now!”
