Platform 18 debuts new menu inspired by 'queens of New York'

The celebrated train car cocktail experience inside Century Grand has a new story to tell – and new drinks to go with it.

Walking inside Century Grand, you'll see Hollis Cottley Pennington's Presidential Pullman train car. The immersive experience uses technology and cocktailing prowess to transport its guests to locales along the Transcontinental Railroad, from the snow-capped Rockies to the bayous of New Orleans, without ever leaving Phoenix.

Platform 18 has rolled out its latest menu with a new destination. On this ride, guests are headed to New York City. It’s 1924 – think the Jazz Age, the era of Art Deco and, of course, Prohibition. It’s evening and there’s a bit of rain, but no matter, the lights of the Big Apple shine in the distance.

Originally, Jason Asher set out to create a menu inspired by a “little black book” to help train passengers navigate the city.  But, as he got deeper into his research, the founding partner of Barter & Shake Cocktail Entertainment – the group that runs the award-winning trio of Platform 18, Undertow and Grey Hen Rx – found himself taken with the history and the people of the city.

The resulting menu and story is a departure from the bar's previous long, illustrated, storybook-like menus.

“Our menu, rather than having a fictional narrative along with illustrations, utilizes these individuals' names or nicknames or clubs to tell our story,” Asher says.

What is the new story?

The characters and places encountered along the way focus on the evolution of the city’s boroughs, mobsters and the women who ran clandestine hooch houses, whom Asher calls the “queens of New York.”

That includes women like Mary Louise Cecilia “Texas” Guinan – an actress turned speakeasy hostess to eventual speakeasy proprietor.

“One of the things we really started honing in on was these women that rose in power,” Asher says, noting that Prohibition fueled changes in social norms, with women going out and drinking at these hidden bars. “They rose through the ranks through these speakeasies.”

He was also inspired by the various groups immigrating to the U.S. from parts of Europe and Asia.

“What stood out to me from a beverage perspective, from a flavor-set perspective, was the influx of culture and the influx of ethnicity that really is the melting pot of what we know as New York today,” Asher says.

What’s on Platform 18's new menu?

Return customers will notice that the bar book is slimmed down, organizing over 30 drinks by format and alcohol level to help guests easily understand how much punch is in their glass.

“I think people are drinking more responsibly in that way these days,” Asher says. “This really enables our guests to navigate the menu.”

The mixologist says he's incorporated techniques learned on his travels, adding carbonated cocktails and drinks that are clarified without using animal products.

One of the bubbly boozy selections, Two Gun Girl,  is inspired by Guinan, Asher says. The tequila-based tipple is effervescent and refreshing, with grapefruit and sea buckthorn, a tart berry.

The drink A Fight a Night nods to Owney Madden, a gangster and owner of infamous speakeasies including the Cotton Club. The cocktail is inspired by the aromatics used in the Irish dish shepherd’s pie – bay leaf, thyme, carrot and celery. The whiskey and bourbon-based cocktail is clarified with a technique borrowed from winemakers that uses potatoes, Asher says. The drink is paired with a side of house potato chips dusted with a chive and white cheddar powder.

“They bring that fat to the dish, they bring that richness,” Asher says. “My goal was to really incorporate snacks that were complementary to the drinks as a part of the garnish. Those particular elements are really important components of the drink.”

Perhaps the most notable addition to the menu is the snacks, a welcome addition to the timed 90-minute imbibing session. Drinks come with an edible garnish, and there’s a snack trio available that includes parmesan cheese, togarashi-dusted popcorn and warm olives marinated with garlic and orange peel.

You’ll also continue to see riffs on milk punches, as well as shaken, stirred and zero-proof drinks as part of the bar’s repertoire. Platform 18 has also added champagne by the glass.

For a sweet finish, the bar car continues to offer boozy ice creams, including a vegan option, and has added its first hot beverage, a riff on an Irish coffee that's available in full-sized format or a smaller portion as part of the “shots” section of the menu.

New menus coming to Undertown, Grey Hen

While the new menu is rolling aboard Platform 18, Asher promises updates to the menus at Century Grand's other two bars as well.

Just as the written narrative has departed from the Pullman’s bar car menu, so too will the narrative at Undertow, which follows Captain John Mallory and his crew. Instead, there will be a map to “tell the story” and share drink and snack selections, Asher teases.

The new menu at Undertow is anticipated to debut in late March, with updates at the New Orleans-inspired Grey Hen to follow a few months later.

Platform 18 at Century Grand

3626 E. Indian School Road