PDT alum Jeff Bell is setting out to make Kees, his new cocktail bar, another staple of the New York dining scene. But rather than recreate an existing hit, he focused the concept on the appeal of tried-and-true classic cocktails. “I’m a patient guy,” says Bell, who began at East Village speakeasy Please Don’t Tell as a bartender in 2010 and took over as owner a decade later. “I’ve been at PDT 16 years, and if I’m gonna do something new, I really gotta do it right,” he adds. “And that’s what Kees is all about. I’ve taken everything I’ve learned and refined and homed it, and got it to a point where it’s really nice classic cocktails, a lot of restraint, a lot of elegance.” Kees is located in the subterranean space at One Cornelia, a corner of the West Village that’s also home to his recently opened agave bar Mixteca and casual taqueria Tacos 1986. Kees is part speakeasy in vibe, but built to skirt any pretense. While the cocktails at PDT are rooted in “esoteric ingredients,” the idea was to populate the menu at Kees with instantly recognizable drinks. “ I want to be an enabler for a nice time. And sometimes

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