Bemelmans Bar, the classic hotel bar located inside the Carlyle Hotel on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, has long had a relationship to the craft cocktail world. In the early aughts, its cocktail program was revamped by Dale DeGroff, the Rainbow Room bartender who kicked off the cocktail revival in New York. DeGroff subsequently handed off the reins to Audrey Saunders, who would run the bar until she opened her own place, Pegu Club. Saunders’ modern classic cocktail, the Old Cuban, had its debut at Bemelmans.
But DeGroff and Saunders never actually bartended at the Bemelmans Bar, because the Carlyle is a union hotel and only union bartenders are allowed behind the stick. That seemingly impenetrable barrier between the union bartending world and the independent craft cocktail world was finally broken yesterday when Dante, the Greenwich Village cocktail institution, took possession of Bemelmans Bar for three hours during Monday afternoon, April 22.
During that time, Dante bartenders served Dante drinks on Dante coasters, while Dante’s pianist, Louis B. Middleton, wearing a Stetson, tickled the ivories of the grand piano that stands at the center of the room. Even the iconic silver snack tray that is placed before each Bemelmans customer was subtly altered. The usual mixed nuts and wasabi peas were replaced by Dante-appropriate blue-cheese stuffed olives and pistachios. (Bemelmans’ cheese crackers remained a constant.)
The Dante pop-up will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday from 2 to 5 p.m.
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