Food + Drink
www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I JULY 2017 37
He wanted to open the speakeasy
to provide something different for the
community.
“Brooklyn and Manhattan have them,
and we wanted to bring something new
to Astoria,” McSorley said.
He thinks the new outdoor space will
bring more people to Astoria, and make
going out to a speakeasy-themed spot
more convenient for Queens residents.
The themed bar will have drinks and
food that will go with the times. The
gastropub already has more than 40
beers on tap – they serve many spe-cialty
beers including
Lagunista: Born Again Yesterday, Victory:
Golden Monkey, Montauk Watermelon
and Allogash White to name a few. But
for the speakeasy, McSorley also wants
to “change it up and have more authentic
drinks to the ‘20s and ‘30s.” They will serve
themed cocktails, such as old-fashioned
dry martinis, gin and tonics and Canadian
whiskeys. Katch is also working on a menu
to go with the food fads of the time period.
The outdoor speakeasy will have seven
televisions to show themed movies. Mc-
Sorley plans on “sticking to movies from
that time, not just set in that time period.”
(He won’t be a stickler to the time period
all the time, though; he said
he wants to show “The
Untouchables,” even
though it’s from the
1980s.) All of the
movies will be black and white to go with
the black and white decorations.
Katch will be decorated with black and
white table covers. The servers will be
wearing black and white, too. McSorley
wants everyone to have the full experi-ence,
to make the courtyard feel like “a
throwback to that time of the world when
alcohol was prohibited,” when people had to
“make an effort to get into a place to drink.”
McSorley hopes that the speakeasy
will become the neighborhood’s Thursday
night spot. He wants people to have fun
and enjoy the outdoor space: “We’re inside
half the year anyway,” he said. And he’s
confident that Katch has transformed this
little corner of Astoria so well that visitors
will be taken back in time to the Prohibition.
“No one will be disappointed,” he
promised.
Katch Gastropub and Eatery
31-19 Newtown Ave., Astoria
718-77-2230
