Kitty's Cosmopolitan Club 51 W. Hubbard St. Chicago, IL. Suite 200 Website Photography: Lindsay Eberly / Lettuce Entertain You

Classic cocktail service, built for a modern bar

Located beneath Crying Tiger in Chicago’s River North, Kitty’s Cosmopolitan Club is a 60-seat cocktail lounge from Lettuce Entertain You, developed with Beverage Director and Partner Kevin Beary.

David Collins Studio designed both Kitty’s and Crying Tiger, giving the two venues distinct identities within the same address. Downstairs, Kitty’s takes a richer approach, with emerald velvet, layered textures, metallic finishes and low lighting creating an intimate setting around the main stone-and-metal bar.

The bar sits at the centre of the room, with the surrounding seating keeping the bartenders and service in view. It is not simply a backdrop to the space. Much of the experience is organised around what happens behind it and, at times, away from it.

A beverage programme built around service

Kitty’s approaches classic cocktails through several different modes of preparation and service.

Some drinks are made to order at the main bar, while others come from a dedicated -16°F walk-in freezer station, allowing the team to work with very low serving temperatures and carefully controlled dilution. The programme takes familiar cocktails as its starting point while using contemporary techniques including clarification, washing and carbonation.

Another part of the menu moves service out into the room. Martinis and other spirit-forward drinks are prepared tableside, turning the final stages of making the drink into part of the interaction between bartender and guest.

Food follows the same format of an evening built around drinks, with raw seafood, shellfish, caviar and dim sum designed for sharing alongside the cocktail programme.

With the main bar playing such a visible role in the room, its working side needed to support a demanding cocktail operation while remaining secondary to the architecture around it.

Behind Bars delivered a custom Paloma Double, integrated beneath the stone countertop and forming the working frontline behind the bar.

The double configuration creates two connected bartender workstations, with a dedicated central position for an iPad POS and an undercounter hand sink between them. This keeps those functions accessible without taking over either of the main preparation areas.

A Tambour for tableside service

Alongside the Paloma Double, we delivered a bespoke Tambour trolley for Kitty’s tableside cocktail programme. Finished with wood and metal accents, the trolley brings a dedicated mobile working surface into the lounge while fitting naturally within the material palette of the room.

Tableside service is a defined part of the drinks programme at Kitty’s. The trolley moves through the lounge for traditional stirred Martini service, allowing the bartender to prepare and finish the drink directly with the guest. Kitty’s signature Gin Martini combines Old Raj 55° Dry Gin with a house blend of Spanish, French and Italian white vermouth, finished with a choice of lemon twist or marinated olives. Drinks from the trolley are served in fine crystal, placing the spirit and the preparation at the centre of the serve.

The programme goes beyond Martinis. Kitty’s also prepares its Japanese Whisky Old Fashioned tableside, built around Suntory Yamazaki 12 Year Old Whisky. This makes the trolley a genuine working station within the room, giving the team the tools and surface they need to carry out a complete cocktail service away from the main bar.