Southside Sips: Salt’s Whale Killer

Keith and Ali Bavaro couldn’t have imagined that a DIY boat ride and tipsy honeymoon seaside discovery would lead to the most popular drink on the breezy, boozy, always fun menu of concoctions at their Shelter Island dockside spot. But like every drink on the planet, every cocktail tells a story.

“We went to the British Virgin Islands for our honeymoon and we got a bare boat, just Ali and me — no captain, no crew. Just us two, and we just ran around the islands,” says Keith from a perch at the Shipwreck Bar, their outdoor spot for music and imbibing, steps from the main restaurant. “We island hopped and wound up at this bar called the Soggy Dollar.”

As it turns out, this bar — so named as any cash in your pockets get saturated because you need to anchor your boat and swim to reach it — is home to the invention of a rum-tastic liquid treat called the Painkiller. The scene, the drinks and the heady honeymoon vibes started something for the couple that would be years in the making but eventually manifest as the Shipwreck and its signature libation.

Salt’s bar manager Steven Holmes mixes up Ali and Keith Bavaro’s liquid nod to their honeymoon, the rum-tastic Whale Killer. (Photos by Doug Young)

 “So we drank these Painkillers — and we consumed quite a few!” laughs Keith. “That energy and that vibe is kind of what we designed the Shipwreck to be.”

Shelter Island may not exactly be the BVI, but it, and the Shipwreck, have a certain sandy, sunny allure, as does the bar’s take on the Painkiller, a Piña Colada-adjacent drink without the frozen element (and with the added perk of a rum floater — Keith’s touch). 

This is the final weekend of the season for Salt and Shipwreck, who both turn 14 this year. The Bavaros now have two kids, two successful restaurants and one beloved outdoor bar (and plans for more in the future), but that Soggy Dollar memory still powers their rum-soaked daydream of so many years ago.  “The whole scene was so good that we were only supposed to be there for one day,” Keith says. “And we ended up staying three.”