BlackTail Is Back

The Cuban-inspired cocktail bar has been resurrected for a three-month run.

There’s a new bar occupying the Hidden Bar space at Back Bar at the Kimpton Hotel Eventi.

The last to occupy that space during the ongoing series of bar residencies was, of course, the Schmuck team. For the two months it was there, open just six hours a week, it became arguably the most popular bar in Manhattan—its guests comprising a blend of industry insiders and local office-workers, enjoying the high-concept cocktails and party vibes.

You’ll recall that I approached it with a measure of skepticism. As it turned out, my fears were unfounded: It was great.

When I learned that BlackTail would be next up to occupy that space, however, my excitement was again tempered by trepidation. For a different reason this time.

You see, BlackTail had been one of my very favorite bars in the city from the moment it opened in the summer of 2016 until it closed during the first few days of 2020. And even though the bar has now been closed for a longer time than it was open, it still lives vividly in my mind. Any experience of its revival would be burdened with the baggage of my treasured memories.

A visit to BlackTail was about more than the cocktails, many of which were exactingly perfected versions of familiar classics (let me remind you of the Rum & Cola that contained no Coke or Pepsi, replacing it with a blend of cola syrup, amaro, bitters, and champagne). It was about the sumptuous, theatrically rich decor transporting drinkers to 1920s Cuba: dark wood and twirling copper fans and black-and-white photos and lush tropical greenery throughout and that huge, glorious stained-glass ceiling crowning the space. Drinking there was, as the kids say, an entire vibe.

It was also about the small, thoughtful touches: The frozen snaiquiri delivered along with the menu so you’d have something to sip as you perused its 88 pages, the padding beneath the bar so you didn’t bruise your knees while atop your bar stool.

Was there any way that a temporary residency could satisfactorily evoke the BlackTail experience?

I figured it was worth finding out.

At first glance, the temporary space appears—please forgive me—like a Zara knockoff of the original design. Effort clearly has been made: Foliage overhangs the bar and lines the room; vintage photos adorn the wood-paneled walls; leather sofas and low tables have replaced the previous seating. A mural peeks out from behind the bottles and glassware on the back bar—a different one than at the original bar (thankfully; the less glorification of colonialism, the better); it’s the image that graced the cover of BlackTail’s opening menu. Most remarkably, the green drawers with gold lettering beneath the back bar have been replicated, this time bearing the names of the sponsoring spirit brands.

There’s no duplicating, however, BlackTail’s high-ceilinged space, vast but with plenty of cozy crannies; no room for the live band playing the sort of jazz wealthy bons vivants would have enjoyed after they flew the black-tailed planes that took them to Cuba during the Prohibition years to indulge in the alcohol denied to them stateside.

But then I take a sip of the Rum & Cola that Will Pasternak, BlackTail’s former head bartender, has placed in front of me. And I’m ready to believe I’m in my beloved bar once again.

The current menu spans 24 cocktails, which, for a temporary residency, might as well be 88 pages. Scan it, and you’ll spot more than a few old favorites, plus about an equal measure of new concoctions.

That Rum & Cola is here, along with other favorites both expected (an array of daiquiris; the bar’s spins on a Hotel Nacional and a Mary Pickford) and less so (the Celery Sour, a deeper cut from the bar’s opening menu; a banana-accented Brandy Alexander, an unexpected favorite of the original bar manager).

It includes new creations, too, such as the Tough Cookie, essentially a New York Sour with the addition of guava; and the Right Hand Man, a stirred and spirit-forward combination of Jamaican rum, PX sherry, Angostura amaro, and vanilla—a Caribbean spin on Michael McIlroy’s Right Hand, a Milk & Honey original.

Just about every drink is more complex than the menu indicates. You probably think you know how the Curacao Collins (ingredients listed as dry curacao, lemon juice, and seltzer water) will taste, but trust me, you do not. (Not least because it also contains rum.) The Mr. Mango (aged rum, sweet vermouth, mango, ancho chile) has vibes of a rum Martinez with, somehow, an essence of liquified tajin spice within.

There are more than enough cocktails to make it worth multiple visits to the bar. Which, thankfully, is easier this time around than it was during the Schmuck run, since the BlackTail residency is open for four times as many hours per week (Wednesdays through Saturdays, 6pm to midnight, through July).  

My visits to the revival aren’t likely to override my memories of the original. It’s not the same experience, and I acknowledge it was a foolish hope to dream it could be. The drinks, however, match and exceed anything I recall from the bar’s Battery Park City home.

A final delight comes at the end of the night: The bar has brought back its popular vintage postcards and a letter box for mailing them. I scrawl a message: “Dear Future Me: Please think back on tonight and the drinks you’ve had and the friends you’ve made, and be so happy!”