Above Harry’s Pizzeria sits The Genuine Hospitality Group’s expansive office in an old apartment space. Not many people know this, but this is where most of the restaurant’s signature cocktails are created.
Ryan Goodspeed, The Genuine Hospitality Group’s Beverage Director, has turned his desk into a makeshift bar of sorts. Behind him lining the walls are vintage cocktail books that date back all the way to the 1800’s and its where Godspeed says he gets a lot of inspiration from. Reading them helps him to, “focus my ideas and figure out how best to work with new ingredients” he adds.
Not only are there cocktail books, but there are an assortment of cocktail tools, vintage glassware, an array of spirits aging in barrels, and various liqueurs lining the walls. All sitting on top of furniture that Godspeed proudly bought on Craigslist “one Saturday morning.”
“It’s basically my kitchen,” Goodspeed says of the quirky office space.
And out of this kitchen comes his latest creations, the six new Summer cocktails at The Cypress Room ranging from Aperitifs to Classics to Specialty Housemade. Also, for the first time the restaurant will offer a nightly-changing cocktail and spirits pairings for its Five-Course Tasting Menu in the form of the “Bartender’s Choice,” available for $40 additional, plus tax and gratuity.
The new drinks start off with the Aperitifs that include the light and refreshing Four Rosés featuring rosé wine, Lillet rosé, Dillon’s gin-based rosé liqueur, rosebud and hibiscus flower water and a lemon twist and the Lonely Negroni that combines Miller’s Westborne gin, Campari, Aperol, JuJube syrup, lemon and orange peel. After one of them, Goodspeed notes, “you’ll no longer feel lonely.”
New “Classics” include a Whiskey Sour made with WhistlePig rye, Cardamaro, lemon, simple syrup, egg whites and orange bitters, the Singapore Sling shakes Fords gin, Cherry Herring, Cointreau, Benedictine, pineapple, lime, angostura and a maraschino cherry. As for the “Specialty Housemade” new to the menu includes the Brewster highlighting the final harvest of the lychee season with vodka or gin, simple syrup, lime and cilantro and the Summer’s Soda, created with Highwest Silver Rye, Dolin Blanc, lemon, and lemongrass-lavender-chamomile syrup.
We’re told that the cocktail and spirits pairings at The Cypress Room will change nightly based on the tasting menu of the evening. Each day before dinner service the chefs review the dishes with bartender Christian Carnevale and general manager Amanda Su who will help decide the best pairings for the evening.
The cocktail pairings are available beginning today at Cypress Room nightly. The restaurant has new Summer hours offering dinner Monday through Thursday from 6-10pm and Friday and Saturday 6pm-12am. The restaurant is closed Sundays.
Get a look inside Goodspeed’s “kitchen” inside The Genuine Hospitality Group office and a preview of the new drinks available starting today.
