Beverage Director Matt Simmons with the Fruta y Fuego.

Needle & Thread
45 Peck Street
Providence, RI

Located below street level in a lavishly furnished space, Needle & Thread is a unique new bar with a speakeasy vibe in downtown Providence. The venue takes its inspiration from its previous occupant, Conte’s Tailors, which served the neighborhood for 50 years, creating a reflection of former owner Antonio Conte’s meticulous attention to detail through its food and beverage offerings. To eat, guests will find a variety of small plates, salads and entrees, conceptualized by Chefs Brandon Tylek and Antonio France, to satisfy a variety of tastes. To drink, Beverage Director Matt Simmons has created a bar program that complements the atmosphere: classic to bespoke cocktails with unexpected accents and creative garnishes. One of the cocktail menu’s mainstays, the Fruta y Fuego, is a reimagined margarita.

Beverage Director: Matt Simmons

Cocktail: Fruta y Fuego

Ingredients:
» 1.25 oz. house guava syrup
» 2 oz. Thai chili-infused reposado tequila
» 1 oz. fresh lime
» House salt and agave nectar to line the outside or the glass
» Garnish: dehydrated Thai chili and dehydrated lime wheel

Fruta y Fuego at Needle & Thread.

Method: Combine all ingredients in a Boston shaker, back fill with cocktail ice. Shake vigorously for 10 seconds and double fine strain mixture into a seasoned (house salt) rocks glass. Back fill the balance of the glass with fresh cocktail ice. Garnish with a dehydrated Thai chili and a dehydrated lime wheel.

“This drink is an experience running the gamut of savory outside to sweet and acidic, with guava and lime, to warm on the finish with the reposado tequila infused with Thai chili peppers,” said Needle & Thread’s Beverage Director Matt Simmons. “The goal was to bring up the margarita experience while not losing touch with the base spirit, reposado tequila,” he explained, noting the cocktail’s “accessible and familiar flavors with refined execution.”