“It’s either the best thing I’ve ever done or the dumbest thing I’ve ever done,” he says.
Phoenix’s cocktail landscape was drastically different during the mid-aughts when the Valley was better known for its chain restaurants than locally-owned establishments. But that didn’t deter the Scotland native from establishing a home base in Arizona, even if it meant taking a huge career gamble.
“If you weren't in New York City, you weren't relevant. If you weren't in San Francisco, you weren't with the cool kids,” he recalls.
Fast forward to 2024, and the gamble paid off. Since opening Bitter & Twisted in 2014, the bar has skyrocketed to acclaim, racking up numerous national and international awards. It also helped set the foundation for Phoenix’s now-bustling cocktail scene.
To celebrate the bar's tenth anniversary, the team has created a special menu featuring fan favorites of years past. There are also new beverages and non-alcoholic offerings, plus a sizeable selection of food from the original Bitter & Twisted menu after a period of kitchen takeovers.
“We got to shine a light on a lot of great talent over the last couple of years, but it was nice to have our kitchen back and do elevated bar food again,” Simon says.
The new menu is available now and will stay “for probably another eight months,” Simon says.
What’s on the menu?
Fans of Bitter & Twisted know the bar as much for its drinks as its colorful, comic book-esque menus. For the tenth anniversary, Simon was inspired by a prior menu that imagined Arizona as a theme park.“We took that idea to the next level with the artistic style of Arizona itself via old postcards, old maps and the kind of art that went along with that,” Simon explains.
The menu itself is “a love letter” to past menus, primarily featuring “Hall of Famer” fan favorites and classic bar drinks. There are also approximately a dozen new drinks, primarily ideated by Simon's staff.
“This year, I think, is the most majority of drinks the bar team's ever had, which makes me really happy and proud,” Simon says.
One of the new drinks, Colonel Mustard’s Revenge, stemmed from Simon’s love for Coleman’s English mustard. Starting with potato vodka, tomato water and celery bitters, the savory base is balanced with a Coleman’s English mustard honey syrup and lime. The finishing touch is a hint of carbonation, resulting in a well-balanced drink that certainly doesn’t taste like its namesake condiment.
“It's just the subtle undertones of the mustard that's working with this other refreshing part of the drink,” Simon explains.
If you’re not in the mood for anything savory, Simon points to the Double the Pleasure, another drink new to the menu. Described as one of the more creative options, this tequila-based cocktail also contains house-made tepache, a fermented pineapple drink originating in Mexico. Once mixed, it’s topped with a raspberry goat cheese sorbet, making for a tipple equal parts aesthetically pleasing and refreshing. The tangy sorbet is the perfect accompaniment for the slightly sweet tepache.
For first-time guests, Simon suggests starting with the Pornstar Martini, a drink holding personal significance to him.
“I was there when it was created at Lab in London and Townhouse by Douglas Ankrah,” Simon says. “If you want something made traditionally correct, you have to have that drink.”
He notes that while many bars around town have put their own spin on it, the drink must contain certain elements to be a proper Pornstar. At Bitter & Twisted, it’s made exactly as it was in London, with fresh passionfruit puree, house-infused vanilla Grey Goose vodka and Passoã, a passionfruit liquor. It’s served with a side of tart bubbles, which nicely contrasts the martini’s bright, sweet flavors.
While Bitter & Twisted is foremost known for its boozy libations, the new menu sees non-alcoholic beverages getting some major kudos. Rather than specifically create a handful of mocktails, Simon decided to make zero-proof versions of the standard drinks — 40% of the menu, to be exact.
“We didn't want to dedicate a section and say, ‘Hey, non-drinkers, here's your little section. Have at it.’ We wanted to really incorporate our whole ethos throughout the course of the menu,” he says.
Doing things differently ultimately helped Bitter & Twisted earn its sterling reputation in the cocktail world, but its methods weren't always well received. Simon recalls the bar's early days when he was met with more skepticism than optimism.
"When we first opened, it was like, 'What do you mean I have to be seated? What do you mean I can't order at the bar?'" he says. "It was all very alien."
Before Bitter & Twisted opened, robust bar programs had yet to be formally established in Phoenix. Simon saw this as an opportunity to elevate the bartender experience, helping to establish the Arizona chapter of the United States Bartenders' Guild and providing continuing education to aspiring bar professionals.
Had Simon set up shop in a larger metropolitan city, he most likely wouldn't have needed to focus his efforts on preemptive education. But, he says, seeing Phoenix blossom into the cocktail-centric town it is now has made the journey worthwhile, even with the trials and tribulations that come with keeping a bar open for a full decade.
"Now that I'm older, I'm just like, 'I did what I did,' and I'm very happy with the decision," he says.
