When Gabe Stulman unveils several months' worth of renovations at Fedora in November, Joseph Leonard bartender Brian Bartels will be there too. In this week's Class Photo, he reveals partnership in the new project and tells The Feast he's already getting the fall programs for both restaurants into shape with "weighty, booze-driven cocktails. Stuff that’s gonna make people get spiced up about life again."
One example at Fedora will be an Apple Old Fashioned. "It’s going to have a graham cracker-encrusted rim and be hearty and wholesome kind of like breakfast for dinner," he enthuses. When he's not writing plays—'Versus (couples)' hits Rattlestick Theater tomorrow night—Bartels brushes up on cocktail history (but he's clearly not afraid to massage an old recipe).
"We’re going to use either apple-infused syrup or apple-infused liqueur or vodka, but I want it to be as natural or as organic as possible so the mentality behind it is not dissimilar to our food menu: As seasonally-fresh ingredients as we possibly can." Don't be surprised if you find McIntosh apples muddled in the mix. "I’m a big texture fan," he adds. As Stulman emphasized in our tour, this is not your grandmother's Fedora.
