Favorite New Sips: Cocktails at I Like It Like That
Plus, why we love the einspänner at Mjomii Dessert & Coffee House.
Cocktail Bars
Favorite New Sips: Cocktails at I Like It Like That
Named for a 1960s hit, this Grandview cocktail bar is already topping the charts.
By Erin Edwards
What’s my favorite new spot to have a drink in 2024? Sing it with me now: “The name of the place is…I Like It Like That.”
At I Like It Like That in Grandview, where Champagne is called “giggle water” and cocktails are “hooch,” you get the sense that the women in charge, co-managers Genevieve Johnson and Lindsay Koontz are having a blast behind the bar—a kind of joyfulness that’s contagious.
Koontz says the pair immediately hit it off when they first met behind the bar at Speck Italian Eatery, and the fast-friends would joke about opening a bar together one day.
Before long, the bartenders got the opportunity to do just that when the owners of Natalie’s Grandview, the daughter-father team of Natalie and Charlie Jackson, decided to add a small cocktail bar adjacent to their music venue and restaurant on King Avenue. This was welcome news to fans of their beloved Worthington “speakeasy,” The Light of Seven Matchsticks, which closed along with Natalie’s Worthington location in 2022.
But comparisons with Matchsticks, as it’s fondly called, pretty much end there. I Like It Like That, which I’ll call ILILT for short, is trying to create its own identity, Johnson says.
“I think that a big thing that sets us apart is that we are female-run, but I also think that we're so much groovier,” she says.
ILILT is inspired less by the Prohibition era and more by the 50s, 60s and 70s. It’s kitschy, colorful, playful and feminine—but with an edge. (Centered behind the bar is a piece of art depicting an elegant woman with boxing gloves, after all.)
“We're trying to make an experience for people, and experiences don't always just come from, you know, politeness,” Johnson says. “So, I will laugh very loudly. I will cuss. I will throw jabs at the guests, and they'll throw them back at me. You know, it's just very playful. We always say that we want people to come into our space and feel like they're going into their friend's living room. And what do you do at your friend's living room besides relax and have fun?”
Johnson describes their cocktails as “weird and kooky”—but in a good way. (There are beer, wine and NA offerings, too.) Here, you’ll find twists on old classics like a damn fine gin martini—the Gin Tini, with celery bitters—as well as a Negroni made with the Mexican spirit sotol. However, I encourage you to explore the bar’s creative cocktails, such as one of Koontz’s favorites named Can You Let It Linger?
“It's kind of like a reverse martini, but it's tequila, coconut water, orange wine and vermouth,” Koontz says. “When people look at [our] menu, I think it makes you turn your head a little bit, ‘Like, hmm, I don't know what that's going to taste like.’ ”
Other head-turners include the lovely agave-based cocktail The Love for Three Oranges, named after an opera, or the weird and wonderful Pimpinella boasting gin and notes of anise from tarragon and an absinthe rinse.
Looking for a cocktail that’s akin to performance art? Be sure to order the Ililtoo Much, in which your garnishes keep multiplying the longer you drink. It’s a lot.
The cocktails here are certainly cerebral and painstakingly researched—there’s even a helpful glossary attached to the menu—but Johnson and Koontz insist that they are trying to create a space that is the opposite of stuffy.
“We're trying to make our bar approachable,” Koontz says. “I think we've all experienced going to cocktail bars that are very kind of exclusive, and it's almost like they don't want to share knowledge with you. We really just want people to feel comfortable asking us [questions about the menu] or helping them to know the right questions to ask.”
The intentional playfulness of the cocktails extends to the bar interior as well.
Vintage art and knick-knacks dot the space, which is broken up into several nooks and crannies. You can sit at the small bar, of course, with its happy-to-engage bartenders. In the same room, a couple of tables nearby are surrounded by warm pink walls—I’d call these the date night seats. There’s also a retro “lounge” with a couch, that aforementioned loud wallpaper, a mini-jukebox and Charlie Jackson’s old Aardvark Video sign (his first small business). Filling out the space are a green room with velvet booths and another with a wooden table good for larger groups.
The bar’s soundtrack is a definite highlight and leans into the Oldies. While sipping your drink, you are likely to hear the catchy 1960s tune that inspired the bar’s name, performed by New Orleans-based R&B singer and songwriter Chris Kenner.
There’s fun food, too, curated by chefs Megan Hodges and Dustin Mustard, including snacks like Matchsticks’ famous duck fat popcorn and shareables like the addictive potato-filled wontons called papas con chile wonton. Customers can also order excellent pizzas, which are conveniently delivered from Natalie’s next door.
With all of this fun, you almost wish I Like It Like That was open 24 hours. Good news: This vibey bar somehow transforms into a coffee shop, the excellent Royal Flamingo Coffee House, on Wednesday through Sunday mornings.
What’s not to like?
Coffee
Favorite Sips: Einspänners at Mjomii Dessert & Coffee House
By Andy Dehus
Trendy Austria-by-way-of-Seoul provenance aside, einspänner is a simple drink: coffee topped with whipped cream. For it to be special, each of its two basic components must be of the highest quality and come together in absolute harmony. One taste, and, yeah, Mjomii’s rendition ticks every box and then some.
A conversation with Mjomii’s owner, Calvin Kim, illustrates why. He creates his own bespoke coffee blend in-house and intentionally roasts it dark; an approach more common in East Asia coffee culture than stateside. Kim’s attention in calibrating roast time and temperature to maximize flavor makes an awfully good case for the style, especially when paired with the sweet dairy topping.
With roasting perfected, Kim then brews his coffee in a cloth-lined pourover apparatus, having concluded that paper filters soak up too much of the oils that balance the mouthfeel of the coffee with its cream topping. I’d think this attention to the filter was precious if it didn’t make clear, observable differences.
The whipped cream? An afterthought for most, and a pursuit for Kim. As I marvel at how perfectly the cream’s texture and sweetness level complement its partner, he says it took two years of practice to refine his technique.
It’s vanishingly rare to see this level of craft applied to this kind of drink. It’s similarly rare for me to find anything with a whipped cream topping in my hands. Rarest yet to genuinely enjoy and respect it. I went in looking to see what the einspänner hype was about and left with a stunned appreciation for the thoughtfulness that goes into that mug, as well as everything else Mjomii does.