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If Please Don’t Tell perfected the art of the hidden entrance, Jeff Bell’s newest project takes that idea and polishes it into something a little more grown-up.
This week, the longtime PDT bartender opened Kees, a subterranean cocktail lounge at 1 Cornelia Street, completing a trio of concepts at the West Village corner that already includes Tacos 1986 and Mixteca, his agave bar with fellow PDT alum Victor Lopez.
Guests enter through Mixteca, descend a staircase and arrive in a dimly lit room wrapped in green velvet banquettes, marble, brass and drapery, an atmosphere inspired by post-Prohibition New York glamour. The design by Post Company feels plush without being theatrical, setting the tone for a bar built around classic cocktails and a polished, all-bartender team.
Despite the discreet entrance, Bell is quick to stress that Kees isn’t meant to be a speakeasy revival. If PDT, his East Village mainstay, is the secret handshake, Kees is “the gilded secret handshake… much less conspicuous,” Bell told Time Out.
The flush-mount door from Mixteca blends into the wall, he said: “If you look for it, you see it. But if you’re painting the room, you might not notice it.” A dark staircase and brass door mark the transition into a completely different experience.
At its core, Kees is Bell’s take on what a modern cocktail bar can be when it stops trying to out-invent itself. After more than a decade behind the bar at PDT, he said the goal here is clarity. The drinks list is structured around eight foundational families: Martinis, spritzes, Negronis, highballs, Collins, sours, Manhattans and old-fashioneds. Each category includes a classic anchor and a handful of thoughtful variations, making it easy for guests to navigate without needing a lecture.
“Nobody wants to go to a bar and be talked to for seven minutes by the server before they get your order,” Bell said, adding that overcomplicated menus can start to feel like “a Portlandia sketch.” Instead, Kees organizes cocktails like culinary building blocks. He once described classic drinks as “mother sauces,” a framework that allows for subtle tweaks without losing the original DNA.
That philosophy shows up across the menu. Martinis, Negronis and Manhattans appear in their traditional forms alongside riffs that lean seasonal rather than experimental for experimentation’s sake. A dirty Martini, for example, swaps the usual heavy brine for Castelvetrano olives and olive oil, creating a softer, more savory profile. Bell admitted he approached that drink with caution—Martini loyalists can be particular—but he’s willing to adjust for guests who prefer the classic salty punch.
While Kees embraces restraint, it doesn’t shy away from personality. Bell predicts the Juan Collins will become an early favorite, calling the jalapeño-infused tequila drink “devastatingly crushable.” Built with pineapple, lemon, bell pepper and soda, it balances familiarity with just enough intrigue to feel new. For a more representative snapshot of the program, he points to the Chita old-fashioned, a Japanese whisky variation that reflects his interest in refining classics rather than reinventing them.
Bell’s approach to garnish and preparation follows the same pragmatic line. Rather than elaborate tweezers-and-smoke presentations, the bar relies on high-quality ingredients and natural accents, including edible ginger flowers sourced from Farm.One. “Mother Nature makes you really beautiful things on its own,” he said, emphasizing a preference for efficiency that keeps staff focused on guests instead of hours of prep work.
That hospitality-first mindset shapes the overall tone of the space. Bell has long described bartenders as part of a community—a kind of “third place” where consistency and familiarity matter more than spectacle. “I just love to see people enjoy themselves,” he said, explaining that he prefers facilitating the party rather than being its center. Years of experience, plus life outside the bar, have shifted his perspective toward longevity and balance rather than chasing trends.
The food menu follows the same classic-forward philosophy as the drinks, leaning into bar staples that pair easily with a round or two: prawns with cocktail sauce, chips and dip with trout roe, gildas and oysters Rockefeller among them. It’s a concise list designed to complement the cocktails rather than compete with them.
In a New York City landscape that often prizes novelty and theatrics, Kees feels almost countercultural in its simplicity. The room is luxurious but understated, the drinks are both recognizable and precise and the atmosphere is focused on comfort over spectacle. Bell described the project as the culmination of nearly two decades behind the bar, ultimately making for a space that's shaped more by observation and patience than by trends.
The result is a lounge that trades gimmicks for confidence. Down a quiet staircase on Cornelia Street, Kees offers something rare in a city of ever-changing cocktail concepts: a place that knows exactly what it wants to be—and doesn’t feel the need to shout about it.