Las Vegas’s Newest Avant&Garde Cocktail Bar Opens With an Optional $3,000 Membership

Food / Drink

Peter Pepper cocktail at the Doberman. | Angelo Clinton Star bartender Juyoung Kang steps behind the bar to pour unique cocktails in a maximalist new lounge The Doberman Drawing Room made waves a year ago when it released its 20-question application for membership. Now, with more than 5,000 applications turned in and still under consideration, the splashy new bar and members club will make its debut Wednesday, April 30 in the Las Vegas Arts District. At the helm of the bar program is Juyoung Kang, who designed the first beverage menu for the Fremont Street speakeasy and cocktail destination, the Laundry Room. In the decade since, Kang has continued to leave her mark on Vegas’s cocktail scene, most recently as director of beverage development at Fontainebleu Las Vegas. Now she is reunited with Corner Bar Management to, once again, create unique cocktails for an exclusive bar. The Doberman takes over the former Artisan space, giving new life to a bar that was once dimly lit, packed with bodies, and thrumming with dance music. It’s an incredible makeover — the centerpiece bar remains, now enclosed by lush booth seating and an aesthetic that channels a maximalist take on a European estate. Reproductions of famous artwork hang on the walls — like those of “Pinkie” and “The Blue Boy” — along with pastel portraits marred by blurred lines, old brass instruments, bouquets of dried flowers, and mounted heads of sheep and deer. Angelo Clinton Doberman Drawing Room. The menu is also a work of art, with abstract illustrations accompanying each drink and the final product to be bound in leather. Kang says these are among her favorite cocktails she’s ever created, describing them as deeply personal. “I put a little bit of myself in it more than before, and I think that’s because I was given the freedom to do that,” she says. One example is a non-alcoholic cocktail she made to emulate the creamy melon Milkis soda her cousins from South Korea would bring her. Another takes inspiration from the horchata that a neighbor in Los Angeles would make. “It was so flavorful and in-depth and had this texture involved. Whenever I go somewhere and it’s on the menu, they never make it the way she does,” she says. “I’m always searching for that.” Kang’s answer is the Sahara, a boozy take on that horchata she’s always seeking — made with tequila, cantaloupe, hibiscus, horchata, and roasted peanuts. Other drinks take on the chef-inspired style she learned while bartending at Comme Ça during Cosmopolitan’s opening years, under the tutelage of famed mixologist Sam Ross. She credits Ross with a mentorship that delved into the “why” of cocktail making and the science of developing flavor, and nods to the Cosmopolitan for pressing the resort’s beverage programs to match the standards of its restaurants. Kang’s other cocktails at the Doberman veer delightfully into the avant-garde, like the Tom Kha Fizz, a creamy take on the Ramos Gin Fizz with spices that make it almost savory and a pleasant kick of bird’s eye chili. A Peter Pepper martini is bold with lemongrass shochu and balsamic vinegar, served with a flourish as the drink is poured from a flask, then returned to a glowing and icy apothecary jar for refills. When the Doberman announced its plans to open in Las Vegas, it caught a good deal of attention for its membership applications, which ask questions like: What do you do for work and, if applicable, what would you rather be doing? Have you ever been in love? Are you afraid of death? You wake up in hell — what song is playing? Angelo Clinton Juyoung Kang. Becoming a member is not required to visit — a good thing since membership starts at $3,000. It’s a benefit that comes with a guaranteed table even when walking in, an exclusive lounge upstairs that looks out over an antique chandelier in the lounge’s main room, and monthly drink options. Most of Corner Bar Management’s portfolio is in its late-night, DJ-backed, twinkly light-filled bars in the Fremont East district. But as the hospitality group’s clientele has grown up and moved away from the bar-hopping district, so too has founder Ryan Doherty. “I see a lot of people going to Esther’s Kitchen and the Smith Center that don’t necessarily have a place to extend their night,” he says. “I’m not going to my own places. It’s just a younger crowd.” Doherty finds that his customers from 10 years ago are still going out — they’ve just migrated to Main Street rather than Fremont, preferring bars that skew a little more grown-up, like Liquid Diet and Velveteen Rabbit. He positions Doberman as the place to go after a nice dinner at Barry’s Downtown Prime or Oscar’s Steakhouse, when dressed up and looking for a second location. “There are other cocktail bars in town, but there’s just not that many,” he says. Doberman isn’t just the latest cocktail bar to open in the Arts District, it’s the latest to debut on the nort