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‘Hotel’ check in

By Sarah McCormick
for The Brooklyn Paper
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The Brooklyn Paper / Rachel Batya Alintoff
Romance on tap: Williamsburg’s Hotel Delmano offers quiet corners and an impressive cocktail list by mixologist Jeff Hansen.

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With its unconventional entrance — an unmarked door on a side street — and frosted front windows, you could easily pass by Hotel Delmano, the latest impossibly hip new bar to grace Williamsburg. Open since January, Delmano (a collaboration of Zeb Stewart and Alyssa Abeyta — owners of Billyburg’s ever-popular Union Pool — and Michael Smart) adds a touch of class to the neighborhood’s nightlife. Barflies, as well as folks snatching up the million-dollar waterfront condos, have embraced it.

After opening Union Pool nearly eight years ago, Stewart, now 36, decided it was time to bring some finesse to Williamsburg. So he developed Hotel Delmano (“by hand” in Spanish), a classy, European-inspired joint with a tasty cocktail list and quiet, portrait-lined rooms where privacy comes easy for a close conversation, or a casual gathering of friends.

“It’s got a kind Old World social club feel,” Stewart told GO Brooklyn. “It transports you to a different place. We want people to come out and talk about everything: life, sex, politics, war, whatever.”

One topic that has been on everyone’s lips is Hotel Delmano’s cocktail list. Created by Jeff Hansen, a former mixologist at the Pencil Factory in Greenpoint and Diner in Williamsburg, the bar’s drinks run from $9 to $14 and include “The Corpse Reviver No. 2,” a mix of gin, Cointreau, Lillet, lemon juice and pastis; a “Hemingway Daiquiri,” a blend of rum, maraschino liqueur, lime and grapefruit; and “The Commandant’s Cocktail,” a combination of pear cognac, Cointreau, lemon juice and green chartreuse.

The bar also stocks each table with dried fruit and nuts, a welcome change from the junk food — or no food at all — that most local watering holes offer.

Williamsburg resident Jennifer Krako told GO Brooklyn, “The bar has a pretty impressive selection of wines and an obvious perk is the … free snacks.”

So while the tiny spot is packed most nights, chilly weather has kept it from becoming overrun like so many bars before it.

Not for long, though.

According to Stewart, once the weather warms, outside seating — as well as a menu of small plates — will be available. And to make good on the bar’s name, one day, the rooms upstairs will be for rent to weary — or perhaps just drunken — travelers.

Hotel Delmano (82 Berry St. at North Ninth Street in Williamsburg) accepts American Express, MasterCard and Visa. The bar is open Sunday through Thursday, from 5 pm to 2 am, and Fridays and Saturdays, from 5 pm to 3 am. For information, call (718) 387-1945.

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper

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