Crafting Classics

Live jazz and cool cocktails at the Velvet Tango Room

It's Friday night in Cleveland, and behind what looks like a closed-down brick storefront, bartenders in evening gowns are meticulously creating classic cocktails while a pianist taps out Duke Ellington's "Satin Doll" on a baby grand in the lounge.

The small pink neon sign hanging in a corner of the shuttered window misleads uninformed passersby. Behind the funky façade, there's no tango dancing in the Velvet Tango Room (2095 Columbus Road, 216.241.8869, velvettangoroom.com). Instead, you'll find what could be Shangri-la for fans of the perfectly prepared cocktail, a place where libations can take up to 10 minutes to measure and mix. True aficionados don't mind the wait.

The Velvet Tango Room is a throwback to the days when an evening out for a cocktail and conversation was exhilarating, calming, or both. The vibe here is inviting, with rose-colored walls, dark wood floors, and dim lighting from vintage wall sconces. The mood is more comfortable than cool, but owner Paulius Nasvytis wasn't out to win interior design awards when he opened the bar 13 years ago. He wanted to reconnect discriminating drinkers with the past.

Nasvytis and partner/head bartender Carol Grabowski are out to spread the gospel of authenticity. "We believe that the classic cocktail, expertly resurrected with only the freshest, finest, historically accurate ingredients, can whisk you back to the sophistication of Paris in the 1930s, to the glamour of Hollywood and Havana in the '40s," he contends.

Glammed up in gowns on Friday and Saturday nights and dressed down during the week, the bartenders work behind a bar of restored solid Cuban mahogany lined with 10 stools, beneath a tin ceiling punctured with several bullet holes. Both have been preserved from the building's past, as a speakeasy in the 1920s and, more recently, a run-down saloon.

Only premium liquors are poured from the well. A Scotch sour starts with Johnnie Walker Black Label. A manhattan begins with Maker's Mark bourbon. All water is filtered or purified. Cocktails are a flat $15.

Ingredients are freshly prepared. "Do you want to eat an apple a half hour after it's been sliced?" asks Nasvytis. "Lemons and limes start to oxidize when presqueezed, so we cut and squeeze the juice right into the shaker when we make the cocktail."

Other rules include measuring ingredients on a digital scale, hand-shaking cocktails (when called for) for three minutes, and letting drinks settle for 30 seconds after pouring. Customers aren't shortchanged on garnishes either. Nasvytis makes his own ginger sugar syrup, grows the mint used in mojitos and juleps, and uses Vietnamese cinnamon in cocktails that call for the spice. "We don't even carry artificially flavored vodkas," he adds.

Beyond the bar there's a carpeted lounge with couches, tables, a baby grand piano, and live jazz. Locals in the know tend to vanish into the Back Room, a faux speakeasy that requires a reservation to gain access with the password of the day — there's no cover, just a two-drink minimum. With its leather sofas, a wood-burning fireplace, and another baby grand piano, the Back Room has a private-club feel without the snobbishness.

The real deal at the Velvet Tango Room is the weekday "happy hours" — 4:30 to 7 p.m. — when all specialty drinks on the menu are discounted to $10. Nasvytis is doing his part to pump up the economy.

The Wine Shop

This month, Continental Sommelier Martin Korson recommends three wineries that are shrinking their carbon footprint.

Parducci Sauvignon Blanc,Mendocino County, California, $11
This is a wonderful dry, crisp summertime refresher from the first carbon-neutral winery in the United States. Flavors of ripe pippin apples and Meyer lemon round out this white. It's perfect while you wait for the grill to heat up.

ZD Chardonnay, Napa Valley, California, $36
ZD, the initials of this winery's founders, is also an aerospace term meaning "zero defects." This is wonderful example of what a well-balanced chardonnay should taste like. The winery is 100 percent powered by solar panels.

Keenan Spring Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California, $45
Another winery that has gone 100 percent solar powered with panels in its vineyards. This fantastic full-bodied cabernet has flavors of ripe black cherries, spice, and a hint of vanillin from the oak. — M.K.

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Photographs: Greg Ruffing