When I was a child, bar snacks were a thing. I know this because my dad had a bar. It was in a separate lounge area in his restaurant, running down one side of the wall it shared with the dining room.
There was a line of booths down the opposite side, and a jukebox at the end. I played it a lot. I also played with the soda gun behind the bar, where I mixed my own concoctions, consumed maraschino cherries to my fill and yes, ate bar snacks.
Spanish peanuts were my favorite. And when I finally was old enough to drink (or old enough to look like I was old enough to drink) bar snacks were, in the right kind of bars, still a thing. A little dish of something free and salty and hopefully good.
Maybe bar snacks went away after COVID, I’m not sure. Probably. Communal bowl and all that.
But the concept of the bar snack is alive and well and elevated at Bar Kada , a sleek new sake lounge that like my dad’s bar, shares a wall with a dining room. But, instead of a neighborhood joint serving steaks, seafood and what was then billed as “continental cuisine,” this one has a Michelin star . Michelin-starred Soseki is a city splurge spectacular | Review That’s probably why Bar Kada’s bar snack, billed as the “welcome” (i.
e. free) is a small, personal-sized dish of flaky-addictive fried garbanzo beans, dusted with za’atar and sea salt. Schmancy.
And yet, it scratches that same crunchy, salty itch. And feels as unpretentious as the stuff in the plastic barrel behind my dad’s bar. Because it is.
“Because we’re associated with Soseki,” says Chef de Cuisine Mike Vang, people probably think it’s going to be a little tighter here, more upscale. The food and the service is, but the atmosphere is not. It’s very relaxed.
” That’s been the intent since its owner, Chef Mike Collantes, conceived of the idea with Beverage Director Benjamin Coutts roughly three years ago. “We were seeing a desire and an excitement from the guests during the pairings and the tastings of diving more into that information and history and learning about sake, but the services, the way we run them at Soseki, are tighter, and we don’t have as much time as we’d like to spend,” says Coutts, who in 2023 was the Michelin Guide Florida Sommelier awardee. At Bar Kada, there is plenty.
And on this particular Wednesday, there was nothing but. In fact, for most of the time we were there, we were nearly the only ones there. And lucky us, Coutts and bartender Daniel Lugo were testing out sake cocktails for a new, expanding menu.
“Want to try a daiquiri?” Lugo asked, as we made ourselves comfortable at the bar. “Is that a real question?” Light and bright and simple like its rum-based cousin, the drink’s name — Looking Like a Snaiq ($15) — pairs well both poetically and actually, with those crunchy little chickpeas. It sets the stage for not only a flurry of shareable plates ranging in price from $10 to $23 (the A5 Wagyu goes for $30/ounce with a 2 oz.
minimum), but an education. Both Coutts and Lugo are nerd-level wells of knowledge, eager to tell stories as they pour — like the one of Brit expat Philip Harper, who became the first immigrant to earn the title of tōji (master sake brewer). Or explain, as you sip on a junmai muroka nama genshu variety (pure rice, unfiltered, unpasteurized sake — oh, the glorious glossary of this supremely ancient sip!) how its flavor is evocative of kuchikamizake, a back-in-the-day method that saw sake begin with the rice being chewed by beautiful young women — before it was spit into a communal pot to ferment.
It’s tastier than that sounds, I assure you. All that said, if a quiet date night is what you came for, they will intuit this, I promise. But for those of you who, like me, love questions enough to make asking them your job, a bar seat is the move.
So, too, are the chips. Popular on the high-level menus these days, I’m seeing, but Vang’s delicate malt vinegar version would fly off the Total Wine shelves if bagged. They’re stellar alongside cream-cheesy crab dip ($17).
And for those of you who want to sample them with Petrossian Royal Baika caviar for a $60 enhancement, there’s more than one way to use this upmarket roe throughout your meal, a solid (and saline!) investment you can enjoy with different dishes. The ample Wagyu tartare, however ($23) needs nothing but the crisp points of sourdough — ask for more, they’ll happily bring it — on which you spread this yolky, umami-laden beef salad, and the wings ($15 for four) are a delight of bark that’s not too heavy and, where the Korean version is concerned, not too hot. One don’t-miss: the mushrooms ($17) a generous heap of gorgeous maitake, so juicy and flavorful, it doubles as a soup dish on every luscious, grinding bite.
Beverages here, of course, are of equal focus, and it’s delightful to be a part of the crisp, autumnal Absolution ($18), which my partner unwittingly named when I remarked that its meringue-disc garnish reminded me of the Communion host. Yeah, it’s fun to sit at the bar. But, no matter your seat, or even your penchant for sake, save room for the sake lees ice cream ($8) the creamy culmination of this byproduct of the brewing process that chefs here blend into a beautiful meal-ender.
If you sprung for that caviar, here’s where it belongs, where the crispy texture of these bold and briny bubbles transform your dessert, simple and straightforward, into a complex and sumptuous finale of a snack. Find me on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie .
Email: [email protected] , For more foodie fun, join the Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group . Bar Kada: 957 Fairbanks Ave.
in Winter Park; barkadafl.com ; instagram.com/barkadafl.
