Cordial will retain the long bar from the previous Rustic Tavern design.
While higher-end craft cocktail bars have come to downtown and other areas near campus, the Park Street area has lagged behind. But change is coming. Cordial, which the owners describe as an intimate cocktail lounge, is moving into the former site of the Rustic Tavern, a neighborhood tap.
Co-owners Brett Marshall, Jenny Baldwin and Travis Knight are focused on creating a welcoming environment for conversation and connection.
The staff wants to “remember your names, who you are, your stories,” Marshall says. “I think that's just human decency. I feel like that’s missing in a lot of places, that connection with another person, not just a transaction across the bar.”
Cordial, which alludes to both a warm and friendly attitude and is a synonym for liqueur, will feature a dark interior palette, low lighting and soft music. The space needed some interior updates to match the new cocktail bar’s tone, and remodelers just finished with demolition and are beginning to reconstruct the interior. A prep kitchen will be added to the basement. The layout, on the other hand, which includes a long, central bar, is not changing much.
They hope the look and vibe will bring back the era of the speakeasy. “Speakeasies were the pinnacle of the American cocktail experience,” Marshall says. “It was under the radar. It was the advent of classic Americana cocktails.”
Seating will include a banquette for “intimate conversations with friends,” says Marshall, as well as high-top seating at and around the bar.
Cordial will focus on affordable, classic craft cocktails, and won’t try to “reinvent the wheel,” Marshall says. The bar will also offer a wide variety of non-alcoholic cocktails for “people who still want that energy and ambience and atmosphere of going out, without necessarily getting intoxicated.” A small menu will feature bar snacks like puppy chow and small sandwiches.
Marshall met Baldwin on their first day in the UW-Madison marching band 16 years ago. The two worked at Natt Spil where they met Knight nine years ago. Together they have significant bartending experience. Baldwin worked at Paul’s Club for 10 years and Cask and Ale for five. Knight has been a bartender at Magnus, Tempest and Natt Spil. Marshall was a bartender at Natt Spil for six years and a server for three years prior. He will work as lead bartender at Cordial.
With new apartments coming up around Park Street and Leopold's Books Bar Caffè opening in the Park/Regent area, Cordial will fit in nicely in the up-and-coming neighborhood, Marshall says.
“We all have different personalities and strengths, so it's bringing some charm, some elegance to a space that's uniquely ours,” Marshall says. “We like to go to other cities, enjoy the culture. It's the amalgamation of everything we've experienced and found that we've loved.”
The co-owners plan to open Cordial by the end of the year.
