Sneakers Bistro has been a Winooski breakfast and lunch staple since 1980. Now, it’s keeping the lights on late with the launch of Sneakeasy, an upstairs cocktail lounge set to host its grand opening on Thursday, August 27.
Sneakers’ daytime service isn’t changing, bar manager Yassen Zech told Seven Days. The bar will be open in the evenings, making the most of the second-floor former apartment that the restaurant expanded into in 2019. Sneakeasy will serve classic and specialty cocktails, beer, wine, nonalcoholic drinks and a creative menu of bar bites.
Zech started working at Sneakers five years ago, when she came to the area to study filmmaking and design at Champlain College. She’ll run Sneakeasy with lead bartender Rachel Mutino, who moved to Vermont from Pennsylvania to help with the project and has an extensive food and beverage background. The two friends designed the menu and lounge together.
For the latter, they used thrifted art and furniture to match Sneakers’ “eclectic, fun and whimsical” vibe, Zech said. The lounge offers a mix of tables, benches and bar seats, plus a large couch and a tiny upstairs patio
In a nod to the bar’s daytime alter ego, Mutino spiced up Sneakers’ house Bloody Mary mix with pepper, horseradish and Worcestershire sauce, then clarified it into the base for a crystal-clear vodka martini. The resulting drink is appropriately called Breakfast for Dinner. The Garden Party, a seasonal sipper designed by Zech, combines cucumber juice, limoncello, gin and lime juice, muddled and garnished with basil from a coworker’s garden.
Instead of eggs Benedict and chicken and waffles, Sneakeasy will serve shareable dishes such as sticky ribs with corncob bites, beignets, tofu with coconut rice and peach skewers. Also on the menu is an ode to fry jacks, a traditional fried-dough dish from Belize, where Zech was born.
The public is invited to attend a series of soft openings leading up to the official launch on August 27. Follow @sneakeasy.vt on Instagram for hours and updates.
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