What goes into a cocktail menu?

Enjoy a drink in the clouds from Nubeluz’s new menu

Amigos, I hope you’re thirsty today—I know, it’s only Monday, but I think anything from now until January 2nd doesn’t count! It’s time to embrace the holidays, so if that means you need a little coquito in your morning coffee, I won’t tell…..

Today I want to introduce you to a bartender who has worked at three of our restaurants (Zaytinya, Oyamel, and barmini) before becoming the head bartender at Nubeluz…his name is Michael Fratt. The team at Nubeluz recently spent some time revamping their cocktail list, adding some new cocktails that reflect the incredible creativity of the team. Michael, along with our JAG team beverage director Daniel Grajewski, has led the charge in creating this new menu, so I wanted you all to hear directly from him about the process, from the initial inspirations to testing, to upholding only the best standards of quality.

Michael in his element

For those of you who may not know, Nubeluz is an amazing cocktail bar on the 50th floor of the Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad. We opened it in late 2022, and the name comes from the Spanish word for cloud (“nube”) and light (“luz”). And people, when you’re up there you really do feel like you’re in the clouds, surrounded by the glittering lights of Manhattan, with a view of the Empire State Building. When we opened Nubeluz, we wanted it to be a unique, beautiful space of course, but we also wanted to serve some of the best cocktails you’ve ever had, along with creative bites, for an experience you’ll never forget—and hopefully want to repeat.

So, here is my team’s conversation with Michael…hopefully will make you want to come experience Nubeluz for yourself!

First of all, how was the process of developing the new menu? How involved was the whole team?

As we were developing this new menu, we came up with these five pillars…basically, non-negotiables of what the menu needed to embody.

First, it had to be New York-centric, because we’re in New York, and there are a lot of amazing cocktail bars here, so…how do we pay homage to that and still do our own thing? How do we reflect the community as much as possible?

Second, we need to meet the guests with the cocktails. It's based on the idea that even though you want to deliver world-class cocktails and world-class service, you want to make sure the guest feels welcome and a part of it—encourage them to try something new, but don’t ever talk down to them. That’s something I think a lot of cocktail bars can learn from.

Third, we have to pay respect to proper cocktail making techniques. Don’t do anything for the sake of doing it—integrity is important in everything, but especially in creativity. People can detect if something isn’t real or if you’re trying too hard. There are lots of ways to do things behind the bar, but some of those ways are more correct than others.

Fourth, the menu needed to be the creative brain child of the bar team—of course you’re going to have your versions of the classics, like an old fashioned or a daiquiri, but we have a lot of talent here, so we want to make sure that people have the opportunity to really express themselves creatively. If you have a good idea, you should be able to make it.

Lastly, what is the point if you’re not having fun? This menu has to be fun, has to be fun to talk about, has to be fun to make, and obviously has to be fun to drink. If we’re not having fun, it’s pretty easily detectable by everyone else around you…everyone else who works with you, but also the guests. They can sense that.

Three of the new cocktails, taken of course from Michael's point of view!

So let’s get into the second point first. Tastes and trends change all the time, so how do you meet the guests where they are, instead of dictating to them what they should drink?

The most important thing to remember is that the drinks cannot act like they are better than the guests. There are a lot of cocktail bars where you read the ingredients list and you're like, I have no idea what any of this is, and I’m too intimidated to ask. We want people to feel the opposite of that—we want them to see that things are accessible and delicious, and maybe they want to order more than one, and at the same time we can still feel proud of the work that we put into it and know it can stand up to some of the best bars in the world. For example, if it’s a Oaxacan Old Fashioned…guest are already ordering that, they’re already asking for that, but we're doing it in a way that we're super proud of, and we worked really hard to make sure it is exceeding their standards—and ours.

Let’s talk about the fourth pillar, because it’s really interesting and really personal…like there’s a staff thumbprint on this whole menu.

The first thought we had was: we are not going to be making other people's drinks. We're going to make OUR drinks. And if the team has an idea, I want them to talk to me. Let's work on it together. Let's refine it. Let's make it excellent. And I promise you, it will get on the menu. And they've never had that opportunity here before. Both of my bartenders, Frank and Luis, jumped immediately when I said we were creating a new menu. One of the drinks is called Frankie Sees the World because Frank travels all the time…he’s a gourmand, bon vivant kind of guy, and this drink reflects his lens on the world.

The Bodega Swizzle, a tribute to New York

So, what about the “New Yorkness” of the bar? Can you tell us a little more about that?

We really wanted to create something that deserved to be in the conversation of other great New York cocktail bars—reflecting on things about the New York cocktail scene that we enjoy, but making it our own. We definitely did that with the Bodega Swizzle, but almost everything on the menu pays homage to New York, was inspired by New York, fits in New York. When we started diving into the new menu, I constantly said to my staff…"you guys are New Yorkers. You have great taste. You go to employees-only bars after work. There's no way we don't have great taste and know what is good and right in the cocktail world. Trust your instincts and think about what you think is missing from this menu,”

The Bodega Swizzle is inspired by so many things about New York, but if you live in New York even for a few days, you know that bodegas are a thing. You wind up finding your favorites, and they save you in so many ways…if you need something at 4am, if you need a bacon egg and cheese and a smoothie to get yourself to work—even John Mulaney did an ode to bodegas. So this drink was inspired by anything you could find in a bodega. But obviously that involves a crazy balance of flavors that can really oppose each other, and you have to bring them together. If you think about the smells of any corner bodega, you’ve got coffee, always, you’ve got fresh smoothies, maybe—the two most prominent flavors in the Bodega Swizzle cocktail are coffee and banana, but you also have a litany of other flavors. What we wound up with is a balance of different voices and different people, and I think it’s a really special ode to New York.

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José here again…people, how exciting is this? I’m so proud of Michael and the entire Nubeluz team for creating something really special. Go to New York and try these drinks, guys!

And of course, Nubeluz is having a special New Year’s Eve party, so if you don’t have plans yet, think about joining us for a countdown in the clouds. It will be a special evening full of amazing cocktails and creative small plates…a night to remember!