Shane Eaton
Google
The lively Bistrot Music Club, helmed by head bartender Antonio Virili. The Bistrot Music Club features a spectacular circular bar counter and backbar as a centerpiece. There are five bar stools along with three cozy banquettes which wrap around the counter, allowing guests to get a great view not only of Antonio Virili and his talented team of bartenders.
At the Bistrot, the dominant color is red, which is complimented by the soft lighting and the artisanal wooden walls and ceiling. The red color of the Bistrot makes one immediately think of the Negroni, which happens to be one of the most requested classics at the bar. There is also the Negroni Aged, a barrel-aged negroni with London dry gin, Barolo Chinato, Campari bitter and four artisanal sweet vermouths that has been aged for 2 months in a Chestnut wood barrel. Because of its popularity with guests of the Bistrot, it has been a signature “fuori menù” since 2019.
The focus for Virili and his team is delivering perfectly executed classics as well as artful reinterpretations of timeless recipes. Other popular classics at the Bistrot, perhaps of no surprise given the wintery surroundings, include whiskey-based Boulevardier, Manhattan, Old Fashioned and Sazerac cocktails. The team prides itself on reproducibly executing their cocktails, as exemplified by their house Martini cocktail, which includes Tanqueray 10 gin pre-mixed 3:1:1 with Noilly Prat dry vermouth and water in the same bottle. In this way, the Tanqueray bottle can be removed from the freezer at -10˚C with the liquid poured directly into a chilled coupette from the same compartment, to ensure the same ice cold and crisp Martini each and every time.
