Spy Bar
Boston, MA

Spy Bar Sneaks into the South End on October 2

Easter Boston, Nathan Tavares, 09/27/24

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Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Infiltrate the lower level of the Revolution Hotel in the South End for drinks and small plates at Spy Bar. The new listening lounge — as in music, not wiretaps — is the latest venture from Wildlife Hospitality, the folks behind the Beehive restaurant and live music hotspot, and Mexican restaurant Cósmica, also within the Revolution.

Co-owner Jack Bardy describes the Spy Bar, which officially opens October 2, as “a hi-fi music listening lounge that brings together elevated cocktails, curated music, and elevated small bites.” Within the dim space, which can hold 150 patrons and includes 80 seats plus 12 at the bar, diners can savor blue fin tuna tartare and crispy masa tempura artichokes. The slim menu pulls from across the globe — perhaps curated by a secret agent who retired from a long, continent-hopping career — with a duck confit pastilla and chickpeas tossed in smoked Turkish pepper also on offer. Diners can pop in for a few drinks and bites before a full dinner at Cósmica, or order up enough plates for a full meal. “It’s an eclectic mix of just good tasty food,” Bardy adds, calling out the barbecue pork ribs with crunchy corn kernels as a highlight. On the sweet side, find dip made of chocolate Fluff (itself a revolutionary idea invented in Cambridge) with fresh fruit and other goodies for dipping.

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General manager Marco Anaya devised the drink menu at Spy Bar, Cósmica, and is behind an upcoming refresh of Beehive’s elixirs. “The whole cocktail program centers around innovative signature cocktails,” he says. “We’re using identifiable ingredients and providing a fun, unique twist.” Five cocktails in the Vintage Records section are classics that don’t stray from their original melodies, like a Manhattan with Rittenhouse rye, Carpano Antica and Punt E Mes vermouths, and a dash of bitters, plus a swanky martini. These cocktails are called “freezer door classics” since they’re kept extra cold, resulting in a more viscous mouthfeel.

The “Pop” Hits section showcases three highballs that quite literally pop. Anaya and the team uses a fancy Highball Wonder carbonating machine by the Japanese brand Suntory to carbonate the cocktails to about three times the level of regular soda water. The resulting whisky highball, vodka soda, and gin and tonic are especially effervescent elixirs.

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The nine drinks in the Remixes section sees Anaya riffing classic cocktails. His take on a paloma, the Sticky Fingers, combines Olmeca Altos tequila and Xicaru mezcal, with hints of mandarin, tarragon, and coconut. His espresso martini (called I’m Working Late) features coffee-washed Reyka vodka, a syrup made using mace (basically the leftover bark from nutmeg), manzanilla sherry, and tonka beans. The bean, as Anaya tells it, “is like if vanilla beans and almonds had a bastard child.” It imparts an earthy, slightly leathery note to the drink that, because it’s clear, leans more martini than espresso.

Anaya really lets loose with his four Fresh Cuts, or original cocktails that pull from culinary inspirations. Take the aptly named Baklava, inspired by the honey-forward, pistachio-rich pastry. The drink features Torres 10 brandy, Pedro Ximénez sherry, lemon juice, house jasmine honey, and a house pistachio milk made with just a touch of feta brine. The cocktail’s buttery notes come from turning cooked phyllo dough into a paste, adding enzymes to break down the starches, straining it, and infusing it into the cocktail. A similar labor-intensive process uses a centrifuge to extract the liquids from ripe bananas to create a banana “water” for the PB&B, which calls to mind the flavors of a peanut butter and banana sandwich. The Peach Cobbler, with Suntory Toki whiskey, peach cordial, Licor 43, and spices celebrates peaches before the fruit disappears for the season. The cocktail menu as a whole draws from seasonal ingredients, and Anaya will shake up the Remixes and Fresh Cuts three or four times a year, with specials rotating in and out every week.

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And what’s a listening bar — which are definitely having a moment in Boston right now, with spots like Temple Records and Headroom Hi-Fi Lounge recently opening their doors — without music? “Music doesn’t have to be loud to be enjoyable, quite the opposite,” Bardy says. “We’re diligent about creating an experience that is enjoyable and not loud.” Everything from the ceiling to the walls feature acoustically treated materials, crafting the space into a stage for guest DJs and musicians to spin curated tunes without rattling eardrums. All the better for hush-hush conversations to slip secrets.

Spy Bar is located within the Revolution Hotel at 40 Berkeley St. in Boston. Starting October 2, it will be open Wednesday and Thursday from 5 p.m. to 12 a.m., and Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.

 

Nathan Tavares is a writer and editor from Boston. His second novel Welcome to Forever came out on March 12, 2024 from Titan Books.