The Sweet Spot

New speakeasy lures you in with doughnuts before the real treat

It’s later in the night, it’s after a big meal and you want something sweet for dessert. So, you come upon the unassuming Easy’s Donuts stall at the newly opened Proper Eats Food Hall at Aria, but you’ve stumbled across something more than baked goods. Take a closer look and you’ll notice something sneaky going on: People are disappearing behind the walls of the doughnut shop. You’ve discovered the new, hidden speakeasy, Easy’s Cocktail Lounge

“If you don’t know it’s there, you just don’t know,” says John Pettei, Clique Hospitality partner. “Easy’s is an intimate and sultry room with phenomenal live music and incredible drinks. We’ve had multiple people say that it is what Vegas needs more of. It’s luxurious and has a great sensibility to it.”

With a capacity of under 100 people and seating for less than 50,

Perk For a table or to be added to the list, check in at Easy’s Donuts. Then mention the “sweet secret.” the word “intimate” is both accurate and what makes the experience so special. With posh furnishings and fixtures and cool accents throughout, the space is a balanced and beautiful combination of modern and vintage.

“Easy’s is all about the sultry vibe, and live music is a big part of that,” Pettei says. “Fridays and Saturdays have a post-modern jukebox vibe, where the performers take songs from other genres like R&B, hip-hop and rock and give them a lounge twist. Thursdays and Sundays are more diverse, with one-man bands or loopers on a guitar, piano; or duos

Tips/Insider Knowledge

with two guitars.” Matching the swell sounds are the delicious specialty cocktails and the experiential cocktails called Show Stoppers.

“Our Show Stoppers are what set us apart from any other lounge,” Pettei says. “These cocktails are over-the-top drinks that usually are paired for couples, but they have a wow factor to them. That element that draws people in and really gets them to enjoy the moment.”

These cocktails include the Smoke Show, served in a vintage cigar box with candy cigarettes and smoke. The cocktail portion is a blend of Angel’s Envy bourbon, banana liqueur, sweet vermouth, chocolate bitters, dehydrated orange and mint, served up in two glass pipes. Don’t miss the Shroomin’ cocktail, too, served in mushroom glasses that are set among moss with fog rolling around it ,or the Heart of the Ocean cocktail, served in a glass seashell resting on white sands.

Specialty cocktails make the delish list, too, starting with Angel

Eyes, a blend of The Botanist gin, cantaloupe juice, orgeat, lemon and prosecco and a rose-pink sugar rim. For a unique-tasting cocktail, try the Green Monk with Bulldog gin, yellow Chartreuse, honey, lemon and cucumber, with a to-die-for mint-sugar rim. Pettei’s must-pick specialty cocktail is the 3 Lil Bears, a vodka-based cocktail “that’s beautifully crafted with a lot of dimensions in flavor,” he says. “Plus, it’s so unique in how it is poured over three ice cubes shaped like little bears and each bear has a different color and flavor—watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew.”

With some of the coolest cocktails that catch the eye and satisfy the tastebuds, live music that moves the body and satisfies the soul and opulent surroundings that transport you to another world, Easy’s Cocktail Lounge turns out to be much sweeter than that dessert you were after.

–Kiko Miyasato

Aria, easysvegas.com