You know Léon 1909 (29 West Neck Road, Shelter Island, 631-749-9123) for its culinary fire show, for which it has become renowned in short order since it opened in late summer 2022. But now, with pro bar manager Gillian Georges at the helm of the drinks program, it’s upping the ante on its bespoke beverages, too, with it’s new weekly private sipping concept, 12 Bar.
Starting Friday, Nov. 15, Léon is transforming its private dining room into a once-a-week experimental cocktail lounge, in which Georges will create a special, bespoke menu of three to four cocktails only available in the 12 Bar setting.
“Basically what we’re doing is a speakeasy concept in our private dining room. It’s just going to be on Friday nights and it’s a rotating cocktail menu that won’t be available in the main dining room, but with all of the main dining room [cocktails] available in the speakeasy,” says Georges. “It’s going to be more in my specific wheelhouse, which veers toward modern: spherifications, foams and more science-based cocktails, which will be very cool.”
The kick-off cocktails tonight will be the Salt Air Margarita, a riff on the classic tequila-based drink where the salty garnish presents itself not on the rim of your glass, but instead via a salt-infused foam atop the lovely libation, and the Liquid Cherry Manhattan, in which the drink’s classic cherry garnish is actually a little fruit-centric spherification (“When you put it in your mouth, it pops like an egg yolk!” says Georges).
There’s also a twist on an Old-Fashioned Georges is calling the Smoking Jacket — a nod to her beloved grandfather and the way in which aromas can transport you to another time and place.
“I based the drink off of what my grandfather used to smell like,” she says with a smile. “He smelled of cloves and cinnamon, Irish whiskey and smoke.”
To replicate both the classic orange peel garnish on the drink and look of cigar ash, she used maltodextrin and orange oil to whip up a substance that looks like cigarette or cigar ash, which is sprinkled on the drink, and smells like citrus. Then she adds cherry-wood smoke inside a double-rocks glass and flips it over onto a coaster.
“Once I’m table side, I flip the glass over and pour the drink from a little carafe while the smoke emits from the glass.”
It’s a long way from the old Dory days of a beer and a shot, but a pretty exciting and curious journey into technique-backed drinks more often seen 100 miles to the west.
In the coming months, the cocktails will continue to rotate and George is also looking forward to having Léon fans chime in with suggestions and then taking those beloved drink requests and “flipping them on their heads a little bit!” Chef Armond Joseph is also planning to make a bites menu with a North African-Mediterranean skewed vibe, which will also only be available at 12 Bar.
“It’s a very dreamy set-up,” George says. “And completely different and more intimate.”
Service at 12 Bar, which seats up to 12 guests, runs between 5 and 9 p.m; grab your seat for sipping here.
