Cinder House debuts more casual concept, Cinder Bar

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Cinder House at the Four Seasons is celebrating the impending return of spring with the launch of the new Cinder Bar on the patio adjacent to the restaurant.

“We’re essentially adding another tier to the Cinder House experience,” said chef de cuisine Josh Adams. “We wanted to offer multiple levels to try from the same concept, so Cinder Bar is the quicker, more casual experience, while Dia’s Room offers a full-on experience, and Cinder House is in between.”

Adams and executive chef Gerard Craft, who recently returned from a trip to Brazil, collaborated to conceptualize the new South American-inspired menu items, which include piri piri chicken wings, stuffed dates, empanadas and pastels.

“It’s all great, but I really like the pastels and empanadas – we spent tons of time on research and development on those,” Adams said. “The pastels, which are similar to empanadas, are from Dia’s [Gerard’s childhood nanny] family, so they are near and dear to Gerard’s heart. It’s a fried filled pastry, but we do them with Chihuahua cheese, earthy mushrooms and hearts of palm.”

New additions to the drinks menu include a Lemon Batida, made with Novo Fogo Cachaca, Velvet Falernum, lemon juice and coconut milk, and the La Branca, one of Craft’s favorites, made with Fernet-Branca, anejo tequila, lime and ginger beer. There are also several rotating agua fresca flavors, including strawberry, blackberry, lemon, lime, blueberry, grapefruit and raspberry. 

“I’ve tried all the cocktails, and they’re all very good, but I’m not much of a drinker,” Adams said. “I’ve really been loving all the agua frescas, which you can get with or without alcohol. They’re super refreshing and so addictive.”

In addition to the new menu items, Cinder Bar will offer happy hour specials from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Sunday through Friday.

“The main thing is we wanted to appeal to a wider range of people, giving them more ways to experience Brazilian and South American cuisine,” Adams said. “Some people might want a longer dinner but not the full Dia’s Room experience, while others may want something even quicker than a Cinder House meal. Cinder Bar provides that more affordable, approachable tier that’s more similar to a traditional boteco, which typically serve a lot of shareables and finger foods.”

Experience the new concept at the grand opening event from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 5.

Lauren Healey is associate editor at Sauce Magazine.