Spooky Vibes and Super Tasty Cocktails Abound at This New Downtown Bar | Eater Vegas

"Tucked into a 70-year-old auto garage at 1415 South Commerce Street near Imperial Avenue in the burgeoning Gateway District, I discovered a new downtown Las Vegas bar with slightly spooky decor, an intriguingly large open kitchen, and an obsessive, hands-on vibe from owners Bret Pfister and Patrick Mannion; it was packed even during its soft opening. What stands out is the rotating lineup of food-inspired cocktails, especially the pico de gallo michelada: Mannion revived old-school tomato water—suspending tomatoes in cheesecloth chains over the expansive kitchen island—to create a crystal-clear tomato essence that he blends with red onion and cilantro, carbonates, and pours with beer, finishing the drink with a bright, textured rim made by freezing cilantro with liquid nitrogen and smashing it with salt. He also uses other modern techniques—sweet dates spun in a centrifuge for a date-washed old-fashioned and an ice machine that makes large bricks of glassy ice he hand-carves into cubes and spheres—and the menu sometimes features an elegant, not milkshake-y malted mudslide, a Gibson-inspired martini using bay leaf–infused vodka with pickled shallot and black pepper, and a horseradish shot for sushi eaters. The owners intentionally preserved much of the industrial, brick-wrapped interior, hung roadside tree branches from the ceiling, sourced much of the furniture cheaply, and kept the bar tricky to find with minimal signage at the side entrance off Imperial and the patio entrance behind Main Street; the bar opens at sunset Wednesday through Sunday and closes at 1 a.m." - Janna Karel