One Of America's Top 24 Bars Is In CT: Esquire Magazine

MYSTIC, CT — The parade of cultural coups for everyone's favorite seaport village continues, as another up-market style-shaping magazine has placed Mystic on a must-visit list.

Esquire magazine named The Port of Call among the 24 Best Bars in America for 2022. The editors properly wring their hands over how impossible it is to name the top tavern in a town where "there’s a thriving food-and-drink scene to fill your days," then go ahead and do it anyway.

The magazine describes the nautical-themed bar's "next-level" drinks as "pure alchemy, incorporating things like rice koji, pét-nats, and spirits and infusions custom-made with the help of the experimental lab at the nearby Real McCoy Spirits distillery."

Come for the squid-ink empanadas, they suggest, then make the tavern rounds around the rest of that thriving scene, and return to 15 Water Street for a "cold beer and a maximalist hot dog topped with bonito aioli and kimchi."

A night out at The Port of Call, done properly, is really a tale of two taverns.

Upstairs is The Port of Call proper, with a cocktail driven menu inspired by port cities from Marseille to Manzanillo. Downstairs, The Dive is more pubbish, offering shuffleboard, arcade games and a menu of "grub" that includes South American street food papa rellena and Hawaiian pork musubi. The kitchen for both taverns is presided over by 2023 James Beard Award Semifinalist Chef Renee Touponce, who was named the state's top chef by the Connecticut Restaurant Association.

If the food, drink and pub games weren't enough to draw the sailors in from the docks, The Port of Call also offers live jazz on Tuesday nights, and special events on Sundays. Reservations may be made online or by emailing hello@theportofcallct.com.