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Demi Monde breathes new life into Financial District’s nightlife
David Kaplan and Alex Day, the guys behind uber-popular East Village cocktail bar Death and Co. have teamed up with David Blatt to open Demi Monde — an underground lounge on a quiet corner of the Financial District.
The three are bringing East Village hip to an otherwise nightlife-deprived neighborhood, something they all say the area desperately needed.
“There was an absence that we felt will could fill for both the people who work here and those who live here,” says Blatt, who moved to the nabe while working on the project.
“The cocktail culture that has infiltrated [the city] over the past few years has not made its way this far downtown, until now.”
David Kaplan’s industry idol is famed restaurateur Danny Meyer, whose empire — from Shake Shack to the Union Square Cafe — inpires him.
“I’ve seen how guys like [Meyer] help to shape neighborhoods,” he says. “And I think we are pioneers when it comes to Demi Monde. It’s really the first of its kind down here.”
The cocktail menu includes libations like a Mister Sparkle (gin, sherry, lemon, bitters, orange cream fizz, $14), the Jewel Box (Lillet, rum, Gentiane Aperitifs, pear cider, $16) and the Whisper Campaign (Calvados, chamomile, Chartreuse, lemon, sparkling wine, $16).
Alex Day will oversee the beverage program, as he does at Death and Co.
And chef Phillip Kirschen-Clark, previously of Vandaag, will be serving crab rolls and avocado Fritos.
The back corner of the lounge features a chef’s table, which will have one seating a night and can serve 10-12 guests.
Demi Monde will also be making sparkling house sodas, in flavors like celery (with gin or vodka, $14) and grapefruit (with gin, vodka, bourbon or tequila, $14).
The space, at 90 Broad St. (the entrance is on Stone St.), will have a Handsome Coffee Roasters on the top floor during the day, and the lounge will open at 5 p.m. on weekdays, 7 on Saturday and stay open til 4 a.m.
“I may never go north of Canal St. again,” says Blatt.
“Unless I’m going to Death and Co., of course.”