The 196 Club, a new Connecticut speakeasy, offers classic and signature assortments of cocktails, farm to table handheld foods, and a vintage chic décor meant to inspire nostalgia.
For visitors looking to get inside the Hartford location, it takes a little bit of asking around to find it.
The speakeasy, named for its location at 196 Trumbull St., sits inside Emrey’s Specialty Sweets and Soda Shop. But once inside, visitors will find no signs, advertisements, or even any obvious door leading to a Prohibition-era throwback lounge. The shop, with its pink walks, checkered floor, and displays of old-fashioned sugary treats, is an unassuming place for a speakeasy.
But that’s exactly the way owner Melissa Melonson wants it.
“We’re being quiet about it and that’s intentional, we don’t even give out the address on our website,” Melonson said. “We prefer people find out through word of mouth. We want to keep that excitement.”
The 196 Club held a soft opening in December before holding its grand opening ceremony in January. Just two weeks after opening, Melonson said that business has been booming and reservations for parties are already starting to fill up. The space, located behind and separated from Emrey’s, is approximately 3,400 square feet and has seating for 65 guests.
“As soon as I built my other business, I knew Hartford deserved to have those cool and unique experiences other cities have. A speakeasy is one way to do that. As humans, we crave unique and new experiences. I wanted to bring that excitement to Hartford,” Melonson said.
Melonson, a UConn graduate, is co-founder of Hartford-based Lumi Agency, a creative digital agency that creates digital products, platforms and experiences. She said she chose Hartford to start her marketing business in 2016 because it was still a “blank slate,” and she wanted to be part of the city’s revitalization. Eight years later, Melonson now says Hartford is undergoing a “mini renaissance” with new businesses and storefronts popping up across the city.
Early last year, Melonson opened Emrey’s after a conversation with her then 11-year-old daughter Aubrey. The name Emrey’s is a blend of her daughter’s names, Emmi, 4, and Aubrey, 11. Emrey’s and The 196 Club were partly financed with a $150,000 Hart Lift storefront revitalization grant. Melonson said that without the grant from the city, none of her businesses would have came to fruition.
“It’s just me, I don’t have any developers. So the grant was really instrumental in helping me get all this off the ground,” Melonson said.
But while soda pop and sugary concoctions are served by day at Emrey’s, Melonson knew she wanted to also serve adult beverages in the evenings.
Speakeasys, which have recently grown in popularity, were once popular throughout the 1920s as illegal establishments where alcohol was served under Prohibition. Despite alcohol being made legal in 1933, speakeasys have again become popular for their touch of mystery and excitement.
“I hear so many people come in and say I feel like I’m in Brooklyn, I feel like I’m in New York, this doesn’t feel like Hartford,” Melonson said. “But we’re more than just a trend, our food and drinks are really spectacular. We have a lot of classics on the menu but we also have some really unique offerings as well. We have gotten a lot of great feedback on our menu.”
Classic and Signature Cocktails
The 196 Club offers a cocktail menu that inspires both classic and modern tastes along with a carefully crafted food menu by an experienced, award-winning chef.
Jack Forbes, head bar manager, used both his passion for mixology and knowledge of craft cocktails to develop the menu. The infusions and syrups are all made in-house, and a unique list of specialty spirits was selected by Forbes.
The speakeasy offers more than 10 specialty mixed cocktails, including the thick, rich Strawberries and Cream with cognac, benedictine, strawberry, heavy cream, whole egg, peychauds and herbsaint liqueur. Other craft cocktails include Connect the Dots, which features a more savory taste with Jamaican rum, pisco, passionfruit, coffee liqueur, and cinnamon bitters.
But for those with more traditional taste buds, the 196 Club’s classic cocktail menu offers vintage favorites including a Manhattan, Margarita, Negroni, and Martini. Beer, wine, and alcohol-free drinks can also be ordered.
Harvest to Hearth
Chef Kacee Potter O’Brien was hired to develop a “Harvest to Hearth” menu that focuses on working with local farms and suppliers to showcase seasonal and selective ingredients.
O’Brien comes from several well-known restaurants such as Engine Room in Mystic, Millwrights in Simsbury, and most recently Trigo in Willmantic where her menu was awarded as one of the Best New Restaurants in CT and nominated for Best Restaurant Newcomer in 2023 by the CT Restaurant Association. O’Brien, who grew up in the town of Lebanon, said that promoting local agriculture and sustainability has always been an important part of her career.
“I want people to have a conversation with food,” O”Brien said. “Even if people don’t care and it’s not their focus, you are still having something pulled out of the ground this morning on your plate. You still have something that came from your neighbor’s backyard. You’re still able to connect with your community through food. I want to facilitate those conversations between the artisans, producers, and farmers. I also want to have people who may not have had access to certain foods before be able to join in that conversation.”
The menu features small plates such as duck fat smashed potato, tuna crudo, duck confit, and beef tartare along with lighter shareable bites such as beausoleil oysters, local cheese and charcuterie options, a pickle plate, and sofia cheese toast. Ingredients are sourced from local farms and producers, including Hartford Baking Company, Tobacco Road Farm, Cato Corner Farm, and the Willimantic Food Co-op.
“You’re not sitting down to a giant plate of pasta. You’re not sitting down to throw a huge plate of food down,” O’Brien said. “You’re there to talk and converse. So the food reflects that. It’s light, much like the atmosphere.”
A table dish of sustainably sourced caviar accompanied by sofia cheese, chives, pickled egg, and potato crisps is also on the menu as a group spread.
“What we’re doing is quietly democratizing access to fine dining,” O”Brien said. “It’s really becoming more popular across the industry. You see a lot of caviar options on menus now that just didn’t exist in that price point before. On my menu, I have duck confit, which you can buy for $21. At a fancy restaurant, that would cost much more. These are opportunities to provide people food items they might not have tried before. It’s a super casual environment, its super relaxed and very comfortable. You don’t need a three-piece suit. I want to just open doors in that way.”
The 196 Club is open Wednesday and Thursday from 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. More information can be found on the website at the196club.com
Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com
