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"Located at 431 Times Square, this new Black-owned craft cocktail speakeasy quietly opened last month and pays homage to Southern hospitality; tucked in an alley around the corner from SavannahBlue, a maître d uses a Ring doorbell to monitor and welcome guests through a golden door painted with a willow tree silhouette that leads to a luxurious interior. The ownership group (Ron Scott, J.D. Simpson, and Roger Yopp) brought on bartender Andre Sykes to design a menu that tells the story of the Black experience through drinks with flavors inspired by his Afro–West Indian heritage — for example, the Fannie Ward No. 2 is a rum-based cocktail that uses Jamaican sorrel as a nod to the original Fannie Ward created by Black bartender Tom Bullock." - Serena Maria Daniels