ASTORIA — A pair of Brooklyn bar owners opened a new watering hole in Astoria with a focus on cocktails, including a drink named for the neighborhood's famous piano-makers Steinway & Sons.
Jay Zimmerman and Derrek Vernon, who own Ba'sik in Williamsburg, opened Sekend Sun in November at 32-11 Broadway, offering seasonal drinks and "refined bar food," according to a press release.
The cocktail menu includes the "Black Baby Grand," a whiskey-based drink with orange flower water and bitters, named for the Steinway & Sons piano factory in Astoria.
"It's a simple old fashioned variation with complex flavors," Zimmerman said in a statement. "I named it Black Baby Grand because once I finished the drink I kept thinking how perfect this drink would be to just sit atop a piano as a musician slowly pulled music from its keys."
The bar seats 64 customers and will have a back garden during warmer weather. Its food menu includes bites like hand-cut tater tots, buffalo fried oysters and pumpkin gnocchi.
Brunch service just launched this past weekend and includes eats like a smoked fish salad and biscuits with sausage gravy, according to the bar's website.
Zimmerman and Vernon named the venue Sekend Sun because it's the second bar the pair has started together after Ba'sik, which opened in Brooklyn nearly three years ago, according to a press release.
In other local bar and restaurant news:
► The team behind popular Astoria bar Sweet Afton opened their second spot in the neighborhood in recent months, with the debut of The Bonnie at 29-12 23rd Ave. at the end of October.
"It's kind of a welcoming, neighborhood bar," said co-owner Mike Krawiec, who added that the new space has a similar feel to its sister-bar but also has a vibe of its own.
"It's inherently a bigger space, it's an older space," he said of The Bonnie, which he described as having more of an industrial design. But, he added, "It's still got the warmth of Sweet Afton."
The gastropub serves comfort foods like mac and cheese and steak frites, as well as healthier options like a vegan carrot sandwich with a smoky hummus. During weekend brunch, there are classic egg dishes and a fried pork chop and waffles.
The bar will have seating in an outdoor garden this spring, Krawiec said. The garden was also the inspiration behind its "botanically driven" cocktail menu, which uses ingredients like rosemary and blackberry jam.
► The owner of Sparrow Tavern and Mar's has a new bar in the neighborhood called The Letlove Inn, located at 27-20 23rd Ave., according to a story in Boro Magazine. Named after a Nick Cave song, The Letlove Inn will offer a drink menu based off '80s cocktails and live music, the magazine reported.
