If SAZ American Brasserie was a party goer, we’d say she knows her sense of fashion. The New York-style brasserie creates a good first impression, taking its name literally with a brass accessoried bar. We like the neon sign that reads,  Absinth Makes Your Heart Grow Fonder. The high ceiling gives visitors a sense of space and the head inevitably turns upwards to spot the cobalt blue and white printed wallpaper of drunken bunnies. One statement wall has goddess Maya (heul), her head turning around to check us out. “She’s the goddess of tequila,” a steward explains. The shelves are done up with Campbell food cans and books and modern sculptures of bent bodies in blue and red meant to fuse the charm of the New Orleans jazz era.

Delhi restaurateur Rakshay Dhariwal, who has also brought down PCO and Ping’s Cafe Orient to Lower Parel, is the man behind SAZ. The energy is upbeat and we roll into the circular corner maroon sofa seating. The staff is friendly. The drinks are listed on paper table mats. A line reads: Every good story starts with a cocktail. When the drinks—Lillibet (Rs 750), a gin infused with black tea and berries, along with a golden snitch (Rs 750), a take on a whisky sour with bourbon and pumpkin seed milk—arrive, they are placed on coasters that read: The apple doesn’t fall far from the Martini. The wordplay around us is quirky.