UnderTow is getting a makeover, new menu
Say goodbye to the flowers and foliage at UnderTow, Phoenix’s internationally recognized underground tiki bar.
The ship is taking a turn to colder climates.
UnderTow is designed to look like the inside of a clipper ship, a sailing vessel from the 19th century constructed for quickly transporting cargo. The bar, complete with fake porthole-shaped “windows” and a soundtrack of creaking wood and water, is an immersive experience with a narrative and menu that evolve together over time.
Since UnderTow opened in 2016, the menu and bar’s interior have been full of tropical influences. Now, the bar will undergo a transformation as the storyline takes the boat south to the icy waters off the coast of Patagonia in the next iteration of the menu.
UnderTow’s new menu, called Chapter Seven, along with new decor debut to the public on Thursday, Jan. 30.
What is UnderTow?
Owners Rich Furnari and Jason Asher of Barter & Shake Creative Hospitality opened UnderTow in 2016. Guests enter the bar, which is situated underneath Sip Coffee and Beer Garage, through a staircase descending from the middle of the coffee shop.
When the bar opened the menu introduced customers to the backstory of the ship and the characters who continue to be featured throughout its journey. Chapter One introduced The UnderTow, a transport ship for the East India Company. The ship arrived in New York laden with spices and silks before starting its journey around the Americas to San Francisco.
After Chapter Two, which fleshes out
the backstory of one of the characters, the story skipped to Chapter Six, the menu customers have enjoyed for the past year. The story takes the crew to a South American rainforest and inspired a mostly tropical menu of drinks and a tiki theme.
Mat Snapp, director of beverage for Fox Restaurant Concepts writes the narrative for UnderTow. Snapp says the UnderTow’s journey would have been one of the last runs of its kind as the cargo boats were largely replaced by train transport when cross country railways became popular. The timing ties nicely as Barter & Shake’s newest concept, a Prohibition Era train-themed bar, opened next door to UnderTow in October.
What to expect from the new decor
As the ship’s adventure continues from New York to San Francisco, the UnderTow has now reached its southernmost point.
When the boat rounds Cape Horn at the frozen edges of Patagonia, the crew faces new battles, Snapp says.
“In this chapter, I wanted to push everybody to just about their brink,” Snapp says. “The characters are at the point where they would gladly donate their lives to the sea.”
To incorporate the next phase of the story into the decor, the bar closed on Monday, Jan. 27, Tuesday, Jan. 28 and Wednesday, Jan. 29 to allow the team to redecorate.
All of the flowers and foliage are a thing of the past. The portholes traded views of the tropics to look out onto a near-frozen sea filled with icebergs while icicles trim the boat. Guests should look out for furs wrapping shipping boxes and icy fog filling the space.
If icicles don’t scream “tiki” to you, Furnari and Asher point to UnderTow’s subtitle, which is “Exotic Drinks” rather than tiki bar. It’s about immersion rather than Hawaiian flowers, the owners say.
“Tiki is fabricated,” Asher says. “Tropical doesn’t define tiki. Tiki is escapism and it is really about what you want it to be.”
“At this point, it’s a nautical adventure with the East India Spice Company,” Furnari adds.
Here are some drinks from the new menu
As the frozen depths don’t offer much in the way of flavor inspiration, according to Asher, the new menu relies on the storyline instead. In Chapter One, the boat carried silks along with spices from India and Asia, which Asher incorporated into Chapter Seven’s offerings.
Flavors like curry and pandan, a sweet plant often used in south Asian cooking, make their way into the drinks along with buchu, a South African plant; soursop fruit from South America; and pennyroyal, an herb similar to mint.
The menu focuses largely on history, citing dates as early as 1668 along with names of the cocktails’ creators. Many of the drinks predate the invention of tiki and are cocktails Asher believes inspired drinks that later became classics.
“For this menu, we are reaching deep into the cocktail world,” Asher says, hinting at a new direction for UnderTow. “We are planning on a far more complex menu over the next couple of years.”
Some of Asher’s favorites on the Chapter Seven menu include:
❚ Black Magic: This drink serves two people. The cocktail includes a mixture of aged rums, spices, cold brew coffee, honey, citrus and bitters. $27.
❚ Clear the Decks: Includes pandaninfused gin, allspice dram, peach liqueur, sweetened coconut milk and pineapple juice. $17.
❚ Mysteries of the Cape: Includes bourbon, aged rum, vermouth and sherry and is flavored with banana cordial, vanilla and figgy pudding bitters. $18.
Along with new cocktails, the team at UnderTow are working on curating some of their own ingredients as well.
Five private barrels of rum and a signature blend of Maker’s Mark bourbon that Furnari and Asher designed are sprinkled throughout the menu. UnderTow’s new menu also offers three options of nonalcoholic drinks.
Details: UnderTow, 3620 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. 602-753-6504, undertowphx.com. New menu available on Thursday, Jan. 29 after 7 p.m. Reservations are encouraged.