Kees is a subterranean cocktail lounge accessed through Mixteca at 1 Cornelia Street, completing a trio with Tacos 1986 and Mixteca. Guests enter through a flush-mount door, descend a dark staircase and arrive in a dimly lit room wrapped in green velvet banquettes, marble, brass and drapery, evoking post-Prohibition New York glamour. The Post Company design feels plush without theatricality, creating a polished atmosphere. The bar emphasizes clarity and timeless cocktails structured around eight foundational families — Martinis, spritzes, Negronis, highballs, Collins, sours, Manhattans and old-fashioneds — each offering a classic anchor and thoughtful variations, served by an all-bartender team.
"Guests enter through Mixteca, descend a staircase and arrive in a dimly lit room wrapped in green velvet banquettes, marble, brass and drapery, an atmosphere inspired by post-Prohibition New York glamour. The design by Post Company feels plush without being theatrical, setting the tone for a bar built around classic cocktails and a polished, all-bartender team. Despite the discreet entrance, Bell is quick to stress that Kees isn't meant to be a speakeasy revival."
"At its core, Kees is Bell's take on what a modern cocktail bar can be when it stops trying to out-invent itself. After more than a decade behind the bar at PDT, he said the goal here is clarity. The drinks list is structured around eight foundational families: Martinis, spritzes, Negronis, highballs, Collins, sours, Manhattans and old-fashioneds. Each category includes a classic anchor and a handful of thoughtful variations, making it easy for guests to navigate without needing a lecture."
"If Please Don't Tell perfected the art of the hidden entrance, Jeff Bell's newest project takes that idea and polishes it into something a little more grown-up. This week, the longtime PDT bartender opened Kees, a subterranean cocktail lounge at 1 Cornelia Street, completing a trio of concepts at the West Village corner that already includes Tacos 1986 and Mixteca, his agave bar with fellow PDT alum Victor Lopez."
Read at Time Out New York
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