Grand Rapids new bar, Viceroy – no secret password, but you'll have to ring the bell if you want in

Deborah Johnson Wood

Viceroy won't have an outdoor sign – just a light above the door like a Prohibition-era speakeasy. But, unlike those covert establishments, you won't need a secret password to get in – if the light's lit, just ring the bell.

Owners Mark and Michele Sellers have designed the new bar at 53 Commerce to emulate bars from the 1930s, with an emphasis on classic handmade cocktails. And ringing the bell for entry is a strategic measure.

"The reason is because the classic cocktails are time and labor intensive," says Mark Sellers. "It will take three minutes to make some drinks because we'll have to chop a block of ice, and layer the ingredients in the right order. Egg whites will have to be shaken up to a foam for the tops of some drinks. If we had so many customers it was standing room only, we'd never be able to keep up. That manner of entry will limit the number of people we let in at one time."

"We'll make all of our own infusions," says General Manager Garry Boyd. "If a drink requires blackberry brandy, we'll infuse the brandy with blackberries. And we'll have homemade tonic, which has flavor. I think that once people have a gin and tonic or vodka tonic made with it, they won't go anywhere else."

Boyd says Viceroy will offer a simple but enjoyable beer and wine list, but "flips, rickys, fizzes and smashes" will be king.

Hungry patrons will have an assortment of appetizers to choose from, with specialties like Scotch eggs, homemade port wine cheese, spicy nuts, a trio of bruschettas, and zucchini and eggplant chips with Greek scordelia sauce.

Sellers expects the bar to open a few weeks after Stella's Lounge May 1 opening.

Source: Mark Sellers and Garry Boyd, Viceroy

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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected]. Development News tips can be sent to [email protected].