Have Speakeasies Jumped the Shark?
Paul Clarke from seriouseats.com wrote an article in November asking whether the speakeasy-style bars that have been sprouting up everywhere during the “cocktail renaissance” are now getting old.
Link: http://tinyurl.com/ydq5jna
Clarke points to Audrey Saunders, patron of the famous Pegu Club in New York, who is now opening a new bar in Los Angeles called the Tar Pit. Clarke writes that Saunders rejected the idea of making the Tar Pit another speakeasy-style bar, “describing that concept as being played out.” Clarke writes, “Instead, the approach will be that of a 1940s-era supper club, with an emphasis on vintage Hollywood style. “‘We need to get back to a point where things are fun again,’ she said of the cocktail culture. ‘We kind of got really heavy.’”
NYC's Pegu Club
Clarke also points to a review of the Clover Club in Brooklyn by Esquire‘s David Wondrich. Clarke writes that Wondrich’s review shows “the emphasis is swinging back to a very simple concept: fun places that serve good drinks—secret passwords and exclusive policies be damned.”
Clarke points out that the classic-mixology trend is spreading gradually into neighborhood bars and restaurants. Perhaps this means that people don’t have to put up with the pretentiousness of a speakeasy if they want a high-quality, craft cocktail.
Plenty to think about.
