When Alex Francis and Barney O’Kane left Paris’ Little Crimson Door in 2024, there was by no means any query what their subsequent step could be. They might, in fact, proceed serving cocktails, and it was a provided that their new bar program could be a sustainable one.
Earlier this 12 months, the duo launched the primary a part of their De Vie idea, Comptoir De Vie, a Paris restaurant with a fantastic eating menu and cocktail pairings to match. Bar De Vie, centered round drinks, will open later within the 12 months with a brief and candy menu of recognizable traditional cocktails with seasonal De Vie twists. There are not any agave spirits or American whiskeys; nearly all of substances are native. Each drink in this system is served up—and that’s not a stylistic alternative. Francis and O’Kane have designed the menu to function with out ice totally.
For the co-owners, De Vie is solely an extension of how they already reside their lives. “The best affect any of us have is thru the work we do, and we need to assist the world we need to see,” says Francis. “We couldn’t think about working another means.”
Right here, Francis shares how he and O’Kane haven’t simply prioritized sustainability at De Vie, but additionally, how they’ve constructed it into the bar’s complete basis.
(Although we work with out) ice, solely use French spirits and work seasonally, none of that must be related to the visitor; they shouldn’t should know that to grasp what’s happening (in our bar) or have a superb time. I see the best way we work as an excessive; it’s a means of easy methods to do issues otherwise, however I don’t suppose that (everybody must) fully take away clear ice or ice on the whole from bars.
We did it for lots of various causes. The principle one is simply that ice is such a waste. It’s actually simply stuff that goes within the sink, and then you definately’re turning on sizzling water to soften it. If we put an excessive amount of meals within the bin, we’d freak out that we’d be losing an excessive amount of.
No bar in Paris is making their very own ice due to the scale of venues, so right here, an organization makes them and delivers them, and ice is heavier than concrete, so that you’re mainly transporting cinder blocks from one a part of Paris to a different. Even when you’ve got common ice, like from a superb ice machine, it takes over 10 liters of water to make one kilo of ice. So it’s a waste of water, a waste of power, a waste of cash. Visitors don’t worth it as a lot as you suppose they do. It’s extra of the business inflating (its significance). I’ve even had individuals say to me that we’ll by no means be on the 50 Finest checklist as a result of we don’t have block ice.
Though the concept was introduced up due to sustainability, economically not having block ice additionally has quite a lot of benefits. If we have been nonetheless implementing clear ice in our bar program, then we must compromise on the wonderful unbiased French spirits (we use).
Past simply designing the drinks or the menu, we needed to design the area to not have ice from the beginning. As an alternative of getting a typical bar station, the place many of the area is taken up by the ice effectively, ours are primarily based round a versatile refrigerated drawer unit, which might be each a fridge or a freezer, relying on how we resolve to make use of it that day. It holds all our batches on the particular temperature that we wish.
Pre-batching complete drinks upfront permits us to maintain the time from the drink’s execution to the visitor’s first sip as quick as potential. (After all pre-batching isn’t distinctive to us, and it’s one of many the explanation why going iceless didn’t really feel like a giant problem or shift; it’s pretty commonplace within the prime tier of the business because it ensures consistency and effectivity in service.)
After pre-batching, we had to consider the temperature as soon as the drink will get to friends. At Comptoir De Vie, 99 p.c of friends are taking a (curated cocktail tasting) expertise with drinks which are a most of three sips in measurement, so there may be little or no have to maintain drinks colder for prolonged intervals of time. However for à la carte drinkers who take what most individuals would think about a “full cocktail,” we designed the service supplies and glassware to assist maintain the drink as chilly as potential for so long as potential. This contains pouring drinks tableside from insulated metallic cups, utilizing thicker recycled glassware in order that lengthy drinks retain the chilly freezer temperature for longer, and designing ceramics with built-in “whiskey rock” items that create a bigger thermal mass, which can, once more, retain the temperature of the freezer.
We even have to consider other ways to do the dilution. We use teas (and) infusions, and for the sour-style drinks, we combine fruit or vegetable juices with different modifiers corresponding to acids or sugars, and create a frozen dice designed to fully dissolve, both via mixing or shaking, to deliver the drink to its supposed temperature and dilution.
By way of signature drinks and stuff like that, (we don’t have one, as a result of every thing adjustments so typically). We’re very fortunate that in France, the common individual is way more conscious of the season they’re in since you see the reflection of it within the grocery store, within the markets. You don’t see that within the U.Okay. and undoubtedly not within the U.S.
One of many issues we attempt to embrace as a lot as potential in Comptoir De Vie is that inconsistency of availability is nice, and it permits you to worth issues after they’re obtainable, and also you sit up for them after they’re not. We’ve discovered that our friends actually take pleasure in that. What we wish, as an alternative of individuals coming again repeatedly for a similar factor many times, is for individuals to be excited and suppose, “We will’t anticipate citrus season as a result of they’re going to do that drink once more.” Our model of a bar is an try to offer (a few of) that consistency: There’ll at all times be a Martini, and there’ll at all times be a highball or no matter, however we’re not going to ask you, “Would you like a twist?” It would come because it comes, and it’ll change inside the seasons.
This interview has been edited and condensed for readability.
