The Bamboo Room at Three Dots and a Dash Introduces a New Innovative Menu
From the team behind Three Dots and a Dash, The Bamboo Room Shows Why They are the “Ones to Watch”
The Bamboo Room at Three Dots and a Dash, the award-winning rum bar named the ‘One to Watch’ in the first-ever North American 50 Best Bars Awards in 2022, is continuing to evolve, unveiling a new menu of more than a dozen cocktails focused on premium, highly technical takes on tropical cocktails.
When The Bamboo Room opened in 2019, Beverage Director Kevin Beary and Lead Bartender Scott Kitsmiller developed the space to showcase modern cocktail techniques and celebrate versions of lesser-known historical tropical drinks. Designed as “an ode to rum,” the spirit-focused drinks feature premium, hard-to-find expressions from their expansive rum library, which is one of the largest in the country.
Keeping to the mission, this new menu is the result of the journey the team has been on since opening the space, as they’ve developed deeper relationships with rum producers globally to secure the best expressions of the spirit. The drinks themselves reflect the work that Beary and the team have honed to create complex flavors that bring these classic-inspired iterations to new levels.
“The original mission behind The Bamboo Room was to celebrate rum, rhum agricole and Ron in refined and focused drinks across multiple cocktail styles. With this newest menu, we are still doing that while pouring some of the rarest and most unique rums available we haven’t yet featured from our library,” says Kevin Beary, Beverage Director, The Bamboo Room. “This menu features thoughtfully composed cocktails that combine modernist techniques that bring out tropical flavors presented in a fun, interactive way.”
Menu highlights include the Banana Daiquiri 2.0 which layers flavors and textures of banana by creating a clarified banana cordial that gets combined with a Caribbean white rum blend, lime acid and freshly shaved banana snow. The drink is served in a hand-blown glass banana and complemented with a side of freeze-dried banana, macadamia nuts, and toasted coconut sourced from the Rare Tea Cellar. The Prince of Rodney Bay is another example that uses force carbonation on clarified honeycrisp apple juice and Admiral Rodney St.Lucia Rum, and Bache Gabrielsen Cognac for their take on a champagne cocktail. But that’s not all. The drink is finished with a dehydrated green Chartreuse sugar cube – an element that is very time intensive – to add a vegetal sweet note.
Premium pairings from the extensive library range are featured throughout for refined reimagined classics. The Penthouse Tropical Itch – the drink from the legendary Harry Yee – is a prime example which pairs Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon with Habitation Velier Worthy Park 2007 Jamaican Rum, Falernum, and fresh passionfruit, lemon, and tangerine juice.
The menu also features limited drinks that will only be available based on quantities of rare rum available, such as the Sandy Nail, Beary’s take on the classic Rusty Nail – a drink that originated nearly a century ago in 1942 – that features some of the only remaining Cadenhead Caroni 20 Year Trinidad Rum of the now closed producer to exist. This rare rum is paired with Frapin XO Cognac, Ben Nevis Single Malt Scotch, Drambui, local honey and coconut water for their original adaptation.
For enthusiasts looking for a truly special experience, only less than a dozen cocktails with the original vintage Wray Nephew 15 Year Old Rum and Curaçao used by Trader Vic in the 1940s will be available to celebrate one of the cornerstones of tropical drinks: the Mai Tai.
To tap into the deep collection of spirits, The Bamboo Room offers curated rum flights. These rotating tastings offer hand-selected rums from a variety of regions presented in a way to allow guests to guide themselves through. The limited-time-only tastings will explore various topics, including an introduction to rum, spotlights of different regions from around the world, and tastings from Three Dots and a Dash single barrels. There are three levels of tastings offered on the menu ($30, $50 and $100) and each includes four rums.
The Bamboo Room is located within Three Dots and a Dash at 435 N. Clark St. The bar is open Wednesday from 5:00 – 12:00 PM, Thursday and Friday from 5:00 PM – 1:00 AM, and Saturday from 4:00 PM – 1:00 AM. Reservations are encouraged and can be booked through Tock. For more information, visit https://www.threedotschicago.com/thebambooroom/ or call 312-610-4220. Follow us on Instagram at @TheBambooRoomChi.
