Amer, the new cocktail bar from partners Brian Lewis and the late David Durnell of Atlanta's Bocado restaurant , opened late last week in the Inman Quarter mixed-use development in Inman Park.
“Inman Park is one of Atlanta’s true neighborhoods, in that you can come home, park your car and walk to shop or go to your favorite bar or restaurant,” Lewis said just before the opening.
“We really want to be that beginning and ending spot. If you’re going to be dining out, you can stop in and enjoy a cocktail and a light bite, or you can stop in later on and enjoy the final moments of your evening.”
While Lewis calls Amer a neighborhood bar, he allows that it’s styled as a sexy, sophisticated destination, with intimate seating for 35, and design and decor that reference Italian cinema and the Italian digestives known collectively as amari.
“We wanted to bring a lot of our own style into the space,” he said. “It has that 1960s-1970s sort of Giallo movie look, with dark, brooding colors accented with warm woods and modern fixtures and textures.”
Shanna Mayo (Victory Sandwich Bar, SOS Tiki Bar, Leon’s Full Service) is the new partner/GM and bar manager, overseeing a menu that includes some 20 house cocktails, divided into four sections: Shaken, Stirred, Built, and Sodas.
“We’re taking the approach of a kitchen in crafting these cocktails, where we’re prepping all day to get ready for service,” Lewis said. “I think there’s a level of thoughtfulness that goes along with this bar, and I think that shows up in the drinks.”
In addition to cocktails, there are small, curated selections of beer, wine, aperitifs and digestifs.
“We wanted to give people some choices for different times,” Lewis said. “With 20 cocktails, it’s a really intense bar program.”
To go with the drinks, Bocado chef Adam Waller created the bar snacks and small plates menu, which features the likes of house-made chips with caramelized onion dip, and crispy garlic, and beef carpaccio with arugula, pickled red onion, Parmesan and olive oil.
“The menu goes from oysters to lighter style bites to fun, playful riffs on bar food,” Lewis said. “And it’s all just a little above and beyond with some technique and thought. The egg sandwich has an English muffin from Proof Bakeshop and a poached farm egg from Many Fold Farm. The food is very complementary to what we’re doing at the bar, presented and portioned in the way the cocktails are.”
Here are more images of Amer.
Credit: Bob Townsend
Credit: Bob Townsend
Credit: Bob Townsend
Credit: Bob Townsend
Credit: Bob Townsend
Credit: Bob Townsend
Credit: Bob Townsend
Credit: Bob Townsend
Credit: Bob Townsend
Credit: Bob Townsend
Here are the links to the drink and food menus.
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