Bourbon, Bacon and Beer, Oh My!

With a name like Bar Bacon, no description is really necessary to guess what this new spot is all about. Owner and chef Peter Sherman has worked with some of the best chefs in the world (Joël Robuchon included), but decided to strike out on his own and dish out some approachable and affordable American cuisine. Like the name implies, Bar Bacon has plenty of our favorite red meat on the menu, as well as bourbon, beers and creative cocktails. But unlike you might expect, there won’t be bacon on bacon on bacon a la Epic Mealtime. Instead, Bar Bacon focuses on quality, artisanal bacon that enhances the flavors of their dishes. So no, you won’t find dancing bacon strips hanging from the walls (although we wouldn’t mind if there were). This is a spot you can head to every day for a drink and a bite to eat. We spoke with the owner about what we can expect when dining at Bar Bacon.

Tell us a bit about how you came up with the concept for Bar Bacon. 

I thought, how do I bring my food to a more appreciative audience? I saw trends in the market pushing more towards comfort food. Where are these successful trends going? For me, they were places like The Meatball Shop, Luke’s Lobster, Hummus Place, things like that. Places where you take that one thing on the menu and you focus on that and hopefully that supports your business. To my knowledge, no one has approached bacon artisanally, which sort of hit all those elements for me. I wanted to put out good product, I wanted to do something artisanal, but I also wanted it to be unique.

There’s this stigma where people just think let’s throw bacon on anything and it’ll be good. But there’s a big difference between the best bacon in the world and the worst bacon. Just because you would eat the worst bacon doesn’t mean you should. We approach bacon like an indulgence, like you would approach ice cream. We find those really good bacons that you can’t really get in stores, we put it on a tasting menu for people to try, we put it on a menu that’s really approachable, the prices are really approachable and it’s artisanal up and down the board. We use really good bread from a local store, Amy’s Bread, we have really good general produce and then we have these really good bacons.

You always have a bacon tasting on the menu. How many different bacons are on it?

We always have four different bacons. They rotate  seasonally. I’m always looking for different things. I like to stay fresh.

What are some of your other menu items?

I tried to be as diverse as I could. My challenge is that I limited myself as a chef. The idea isn’t to be complicated. Bacon really does enhance flavors of things really well. Not everything, like people would assume. Things like lobster rolls, a basic chicken club — wherever you need that fatty, umami flavor that would enhance it, bacon does that better than any other ingredient. Our menu is diverse enough, not that you would come in here and find chicken cacciatore on the menu, but you’ll find lobster, you’ll find a BLT, an interesting grilled cheese. Interesting food in general.

You also do a lot of bourbon.

It’s a bar forward place. Beer and bourbon obviously go hand in hand with bacon. We knew we wanted a strong list and to continue the artisanal element through our beer selection. We have a collection of eight tap beers and we try to be local, but not all of them are. We have about 50 bourbon/whiskeys on the menu.

How did you choose the location? Were you set on opening in Hell’s Kitchen?

It took me five years to open because I was adament that Hell’s Kitchen was where I wanted to open. I severely limited my search and opportunities that came my way, but I stuck to it. At the end of the day, I’m really happy because it all worked out.

How did you come up with the design?

The actual project, in its infancy, started when I was throwing barbecues on my terrace for my friends. It became the most memorable part of my living experience in New York City. I enjoyed having friends over, cooking my food for them and not somebody else’s, and that sort of turned into ‘you should do this.’ How do you translate this into a business that makes sense? I knew I wanted to open a place where I was serving value based affordable food, because everybody’s on a budget. And I knew I wanted it to be bar forward. I didn’t want it to be a stuffy restaurant. So it was always the idea that I wanted a big bar, I wanted people to connect with the bartender. I always wanted an open kitchen for that same dynamic. Rustic wood, industrial. I liked the idea of blackboards and the space sort of dictated how to decorate it. You want to walk into a place and transform yourself outside of New York. It’s relaxing and comfortable.

What are the most popular items on the menu so far?

It’s been a very balanced menu. I’ve asked five different servers what their most popular item is and they give me five different answers. Our grilled cheese sells incredibly well, as does the lobster. We sell a bacon tasting on pretty much every table. It’s the first thing you order and it’s the first thing you should order. That’s why we’re here.

Bar Bacon is located at 836 9th Avenue.