What does it take to run a bar within a space that was never intended to be a bar?
This month, Izzy Tulloch and Danielle “D” De Block, formerly of the New York bar Milady’s, are running their makeshift bar, A Pop-Up Called Pancakes, within S&P, a luncheonette from the team behind Court Street Grocers. The venue is a nearly century-old diner in Manhattan’s Flatiron District, a long, narrow space that the new owners, Eric Finkelstein and Matt Ross, left more or less intact. That is great for NYC history buffs—but how does that translate into a cocktail bar?
On Fridays through Sundays in May, after S&P closes at 5 p.m., the Pancakes team springs into action, turning around the room to reopen at 7 p.m. They serve a menu of nine cocktails, including an herbaceous Gibson poured from a diner-style syrup dispenser; a Taylor ham–infused Manhattan riff; and Ants on a Log, a whiskey drink inspired by the childhood snack of peanut butter, celery and raisin (one of Tulloch’s signatures at Milady’s) alongside snacks like potato latke sliders, and, of course, pancakes.
The only physical change to the room is a purple glow from the globe lights overhead. “We put in purple light bulbs,” De Block explains. Here, she and Tulloch discuss running a bar in an unconventional space, and the trials of building drinks with “luncheonette ice.”
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Kara Newman: Tell us about the name of the pop-up.
Izzy Tulloch: Pancakes are this humble, joyous, comforting food, and they represent everything that we want our bar to feel like. When I was younger, my dad used to make me pancakes on my birthday. This little easy food made such a huge impact on me. And we want to do that with our space: We want it to be humble, feel-good, joyous, comforting.
What’s the inspiration behind the pop-up? Why host it in a luncheonette?
IT: D and I are both from New Jersey, and we love delis, luncheonettes, diners, casual food culture. We both knew we wanted to open something together. We’ve been talking about it since we met each other.
Matt and Eric, who own S&P, were my first thought. [Note: Tulloch was beverage director at Brooklyn’s HiHi Room, which was owned by Finkelstein and Ross until it closed in 2023.] I tapped them to chat, to talk about the future, and run some ideas by them. They offered the space. I excitedly mentioned it to D, and she said that sounded fucking perfect. And then we did this ridiculous thing.
Danielle De Block: We got behind the counter and said, “That’s not a bar.” [But] we knew we could make it our own. Who doesn’t want to serve a drink over that iconic counter?
What is it like running a makeshift bar from a luncheonette?
IT: S&P is a monster on its own. They have people prepping and behind the counter all day. It’s like a ship. People have their own way of doing things, for years. We come in and you have to be conscious and respectful of this space—who are we to even be in there?
We prep in a back room in the basement during the day: [For the Ants on a Log cocktail, which is inspired by the snack,] Skrewball peanut butter whiskey is sous vide with celery seed and raisin, and the raisins are then blended with xanthan gum to create the crisp garnish. Jack Daniels bonded rye is fat-washed with Taylor ham [for a pork roll-infused cocktail]. Lime oleo saccharum is always in the works for lime cordial. And then, we’re batching everything.
They start to shut down for the day starting at 5. There’s one green trolley cart that goes into the basement. And we’re carrying our bar tools up. We’ve built makeshift wells in milk crates. We’re moving their presses down to a second shelf. It’s crazy. We have to run out because they sweep the dirt and oil off the floor and we put our bar mats down. It’s all happening at the same time. I imagine it’s like a Beethoven symphony.
How are things working with the drinks?
IT: We had thought it out. We were lucky enough to have done a lot of pop-ups. When I was thinking about the menu, [I knew that] nothing could be more than a three-bottle pickup. We have said every day in pre-shift: This is a pop-up. It’s not a bar; there will be times things are slower than we want them to be or messier than we want them to be.
[For example,] we’re using ice that we wouldn’t normally use; there are no glass-chillers. It takes longer to get drinks to the right temperature. It’s a lot of figuring out as we go but making sure things are up to the standard we want.
Wait, what kind of ice are you using?
IT: At a craft cocktail bar, you’d have a Kold-Draft machine, at a minimum. We have what I call “luncheonette ice,” almost chip ice, that comes out of the machines. It’s absolutely not meant for a perfectly diluted cocktail; it’s meant for a fountain soda.
Behind the counter, we have this giant cooler. In every corner we have two bags of spear ice and two bags of 2-by-2 cubes. And we dump all the luncheonette ice on top of it. We prep the drinks on the luncheonette ice but serve the drinks on the purchased ice. Our shakes have to be quicker because the ice melts faster. We’re learning the tricks of the luncheonette ice every day.
Why start with a pop-up, and not a traditional brick-and-mortar space?
IT: As weird as it might seem, I have a ton of anxiety. D is a fairly cautious person. We know that about ourselves. Taking a huge leap, especially in this state of our country right now, at this particular moment in the world and the U.S., compounded with who we are as people—taking that gigantic step for us into a brick-and-mortar and signing a lease felt really big and terrifying. So we managed to take a smaller bite.
DDB: This was a good way to dispel our fears and say, Can we actually do this? I’ve been an AGM, but I’ve never run a spot myself. I said, Let’s see if we can do it. And it turns out, we can!
What has the reception been like? How are people responding so far?
IT: People have seemed to really love it. There’s something special about being allowed into a New York institution after-hours and we really wanted to make sure Pancakes [did] justice to that experience. So far it seems like we’re doing okay!
You described turning around the space to open. What’s it like at midnight, when you close?
IT: The end of the night, the staff has a Margarita or a glass of wine in their hand. D’s mopping the floor. We’re carrying dump buckets. It’s down and it’s dirty after you’ve served people. It’s a five-hour shift: You’ve given your whole heart for five hours, but the best and worst part is breaking it down every night. And then you clean up what you’ve done, so [S&P] can come in and do their service the next day. It’s really humbling.
DDB: It’s this ephemeral thing. It’s like, it could have never really been here. But the lights were purple when they came in this morning.
