Bad Luck Bar

Bad Luck Bar is the speakeasy of the Detroit Optimist Society, the craft-cocktail restaurant group founded by Dave Kwiatkowski (The Sugar House, Wright & Co., The Peterboro, Honest John's). It opened December 8, 2016 inside The Albert building in Capitol Park, accessed through an alley off Griswold marked only by a painted snake and a red neon glow. Kwiatkowski designed and built the 800-square-foot room himself, with 15-foot cherry-wood ceilings cut into hexagonal paneling and a white Silestone bar — a deliberately theatrical, hidden-in-plain-sight counterpoint to its downtown surroundings.

The regular cocktail list runs to elaborate, high-concept drinks built around tarot and folklore themes, so it's notable that the bar treats its zero-proof program with the same intent rather than tacking on a mocktail as an afterthought. The dedicated Additional Drinks menu groups four composed non-alcoholic cocktails by classical element: FIRE (non-alcoholic tequila, non-alcoholic agave, Caribbean spiced pepper, pineapple, acid-adjusted grapefruit, mint, housemade Hellfire bitters), AIR (non-alcoholic gin, non-alcoholic agave, mango, oolong tea, pineapple, lemon, soda), WATER (non-alcoholic gin, dulse, lime, saline), and EARTH (non-alcoholic whiskey, non-alcoholic bittersweet liqueur, rainbow carrot, beet, acid-adjusted grapefruit, ginger). Each uses the same housemade syrups, bitters, and acid-adjusted juices that go into the alcoholic menu.

Beyond the four listed drinks, the bar will build a bespoke non-alcoholic or low-ABV dealer's choice on request, extending the same call-ahead, speakeasy-style service — knock or call for admission, seating is limited and reservation-recommended — to guests who aren't drinking.

Bad Luck Bar sits half a block from Campus Martius in Capitol Park, one of downtown Detroit's densest concentrations of bars and restaurants, and operates Monday through Saturday, closed Sundays.