The mark of a great bar is its power to make someone else’s place feel like it’s yours.
That’s how the barroom at Da Legna, back when it was located at 858 State Street, felt for me. Whether hosting a friend, meeting a date or just treating myself to some charred and chewy pizza, I knew exactly where I wanted to go: that glowing coppertop bar with just a handful of seats and a welcoming face. That bar was my hearth fire, cozy and crackling, packing in customers while servers hustled and squeezed between the busy kitchen on one side and the busy dining room on the other, offering intimate walled-in scale and fun, delicious hospitality from plate to cup.
Emboldened by years of success, the owners shifted their gaze to 687 State, the site of a laundry business, which they converted into a new culinary concept called Nolo, meant to offer a wider lens on Italian cuisine than was possible at Da Legna. I expect the financial investment was as enormous as the new digs themselves, which were large enough, with space left over, for a long main dining area, a dedicated brewery space, a floated second-story seating area and a bar top that’s got to be four or five times the length of the one I loved.
Unfortunately, Nolo never seemed to achieve the same density and devotion as Da Legna, and in late 2019, the latter was ported over to 687, presumably to help shore things up. Thus was born Da Legna x Nolo, and thus was ended Da Legna as I and many regular customers had known it. But while I pine for that old scene, I’m thankful Da Legna and its pizza are still cooking, even if the latest price of $32 for a large is harder to swallow.
I’m also thankful its cocktails, which had always struck me as underrated and overlooked, are still shaking. They were my reason this week for a visit to that newer, much longer bar top, where I started with the London Fog ($14), an addictive gin drink featuring Earl Grey syrup, vanilla-infused syrup, frothy vanilla almond milk and a drizzle of brewed matcha thickened and balanced with vanilla paste. That’s a lot of vanilla, you’re probably thinking, but a team effort is needed to tame the bitter matcha notes, tempered here to a stiff but kissable upper lip. The gin blended well into the herbal and floral notes of the Earl Grey, and the latte creaminess from the almond milk gave the cocktail its grey-green haze like a sky about to storm.
Next I ordered the Pears of Paradise ($14), expecting a tidal wave of the fruit. Instead, a house-made pear nectar was more like the rug that subtly ties the living room together, giving context to lemon juice, rosemary syrup and botanical gin furniture. The lemon was an accent piece, its boldness balanced by the mellow sugary pear, and the rosemary syrup was a quiet artwork guests only notice when you leave them alone and really give them time to snoop.
Feeling the forward pull of summer, I finished with the Colada Morada ($13), a purply pink blend of Malibu, cream of coconut and a house blackberry-lime mix featuring fresh whole blackberries tossed right into the shaker. Jammy from the berries, smooth from the coconut and perky from the lime, with the rum well-hidden, it was a memorable final stop on a trip down memory lane.
Written and photographed by Dan Mims. Image features, from left, the Pears of Paradise and the London Fog.
