May 11, 2022
BAR opens temporarily in Refuge hotel
The Plaza Midwood bar serves international cocktails by Larry Suggs
BAR at Refuge serves cocktails with international inspiration. Photo courtesy
Before The Royal Tot opened its doors, the concept did a test run of sorts at Refuge, a five-room hotel on Central Avenue. Rumaway Cove brought guests an array of Island-inspired and rum cocktails by Larry Suggs, the mixologist behind the cocktail programs at Stroke and The Royal Tot. When The Royal Tot opened, its parent group — ETA Group — ended Rumaway Cove, but continued to provide support for the small hotel’s bar.
Now, the owners of Refuge and ETA are partnering on a new pop-up, BAR, short for Bar at Refuge. The concept opens officially today, May 11, and will remain in place until the hotel is demolished, making room for a larger hotel that will replace the former La Unica building where the five-room temporary hotel is now.
“We really wanted to help solidify them — we didn’t want to view it as more of our concept,” ETA owner Scott Gadd says. “We said what we would ideally like to do is partner with them, and we would find a concept that felt good for them and really helped solidify Refuge, to really establish what they are going to be doing on the permanent scale as opposed to letting us take it and doing another fun, crazy concept that doesn’t necessarily fit in exactly with their long term goal.”
The resulting BAR will unite global cocktails on a single menu, reflecting Refuge owners Jay and Nimisha Patel’s goal to create an immersive, community feeling for their guests. Gadd says he believes the drink The Devil is in the Details, made with London dry gin, matcha ramune (a Japanese soda), and absinthe, exemplifies the nature of the menu.
“It’s just got a really unique combination of all these different worldly ingredients,” Gadd says.
The house old-fashioned, named Open Sesame, is made with black sesame whiskey, creme de cacao, coffee and cocoa bitters, and smoked with applewood. Guests can also order wine, beer, or non-alcoholic options.
Refuge’s BAR will remain open through the end of the year; whether ETA Group will be involved in the hotel’s final iteration is currently under discussion. The bar’s hours are Wednesday and Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m.
