![\"Kristine](\"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Cocktail1-720x405.jpg\")
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Kristine Gutierrez salutes her Nordic homeland at Kabin in New York City, where the cocktails are all on-theme <\/p>\n
Born and raised in Norway, Kristine Gutierrez had \u201ca very nontraditional journey to the bar,\u201d to hear her tell it. She started out, appropriately enough, at the Nordic restaurant Aquavit in New York City as a host in 2013, which is when she says her love for the industry began. A year later she joined The NoMad, where she remained for six years as \u201cdirector of magic\u201d and ma\u00eetre d\u2019. \u201cDuring the pandemic I went back to Oslo and worked as maitre d\u2019 for Maaemo, Norway\u2019s only three Michelin-starred restaurant at the time,\u201d she says. She returned to New York in 2021 and continued in guest relations for a couple of years before pivoting. \u201cI became general manager at Mister Paradise, a cocktail bar helmed by ex-NoMaders\u2014 the owners specifically wanted a non-bartender as GM,\u201d she says. \u201cI shut down any imposter syndrome and took the job. I loved the bar world and fell in love again.\u201d Though she wasn\u2019t a bartender, her new job included travel and doing guest bar shifts at spots all around the world. \u201cIt made me realize I wanted to own a bar,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
That opportunity arose in 2025 when Gutierrez met Alex Tangen, owner of the Nordic cocktail bar Kabin. \u201cAlex is Norwegian, like me, and we fit each other\u2019s needs and hopes for the business, which had been open six or seven months at that point,\u201d Gutierrez says. She joined Kabin as general manager and partner in February 2025. She also serves as beverage director and creates most of the cocktails ($18-$32), which have a unifying theme. \u201cWe created a fake airline for our cocktail menu called Nordic Air & Travel\u2014 the idea is that you can travel to the Nordics with these drinks,\u201d Gutierrez says. The menu features such cocktails as the Kaffepause ($21) and Free Healthcare ($20). \u201cI\u2019m proud of our cocktail menu: the design, the concept, the storytelling,\u201d Gutierrez adds. \u201cIt\u2019s my love letter to Norway.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kristine Gutierrez salutes her Nordic homeland at Kabin in New York City, where the cocktails are all on-theme Born and raised in Norway, Kristine Gutierrez had \u201ca very nontraditional journey to the bar,\u201d to hear her tell it. She started out, appropriately enough, at the Nordic restaurant Aquavit in New York City as a host<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[290,291],"class_list":["post-52835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117444182290497830","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}