Will Coles / Misa Hospitality Colton Brock, pictured here at Khla, has been dreaming up ideas for the Liar’s Club since 2016. It is set to open in September. Liar’s Club Meet the team behind Cocktail Bars Baby Boy and Khla. BY SARA CROCKER T he crew that’s built a buzz – literally and figuratively – with its creative cocktail concepts Baby Boy and Khla will open a third downtown establish- ment, the Liar’s Club, this fall. Sandwiched between Valley Bar and the Cornish Pasty Co. on Central Avenue, in the former home of Downtown Deli, the Liar’s Club will be a neighborhood spot with a cocktail program by Colton Brock and food by Tyka Chheng. “It’s a downtown specialty cocktail bar where the food is not an afterthought, and at the same time it’s a local neighborhood restaurant where the cocktails aren’t playing it safe,” Brock says. “This intersec- tion here is the bull’s eye of downtown Phoenix.” Brock, Chheng, and John Sagasta comprise Misa Hospitality. The trio is part- nering with Cobra Arcade Bar’s Ari Bracamonte on this project. The Liar’s Club is an idea they’ve been thinking about since 2016, Brock says. “We’ve always had this in our back pocket,” he says. “It’s been brewing for the last six years, smoldering in our heads.” The idea behind the Liar’s Club is to highlight what makes us human, cele- brating both the good and the bad. “At the end of the day, we’re all humans with our own faults and secrets. We thought that was cool to celebrate that,” Brock says. With service for lunch, dinner, and late night – they’ll have a DJ and dance floor in the back of the shotgun space, and will serve a limited menu at Valley Bar – Brock says the team is aiming for “a cool vibe that’s open to everyone.” As far as food, expect Detroit-style Will Coles / Misa Hospitality Misa Hospitality partner Tyka Chheng is returning to the kitchen at the Liar’s Club, which will serve Detroit-style pizza and burgers. pizza, smash burgers, and bar snacks like shrimp cocktails and tots, all served in-house and for takeout or delivery, says Chheng, who worked in the culinary world before moving behind the bar. “I wanted to make the menu approach- able and super fun,” he says. “We’re doing everything from scratch.” The dough and sauce will be scratch- made, along with burgers ground by hand. For drinks, Brock is leaning on his extensive expertise in all things agave. There will be a section of the bar dedi- cated to those spirits, joining a selection of beer, wine, and cocktails. The cocktail menu will include drinks like a take on a Fernet and coke – an Argentinian highball that Brock is infusing >> p 32 31 phoenixnewtimes.com | CONTENTS | FEEDBACK | OPINION | NEWS | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | PHOENIX NEW TIMES AUG 4TH–AUG 10TH, 2022
