Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Jeff Bell is the owner of PDT — Please Don't Tell — the hidden-phone-booth speakeasy that helped define modern New York cocktail culture, alongside Crif Dogs, Mixteca, Kees and the newly opened Highball Ltd inside Grand Central's 10 Grand Central building. We get into the arithmetic of running one of the busiest small rooms in the city — turning a 44-seat bar nine times on a Saturday night — and the guest-first heuristic he runs every new idea through: is this cool, tested against whether it's actually feasible, not whether the business can capitalise on it.
Jeff traces his path from a philosophy degree in metaphysics at the University of Washington, through a brief and unhappy stint selling annuities, to a barback job at PDT in 2010 under Jim Meehan. We talk about what it actually took to buy PDT and Crif Dogs from their founder in the middle of the pandemic — the year the bar sat dark, the unemployment cheques, and he's candid about how much harder ownership turned out to be than he expected, and the burnout of rebuilding a team from nothing.
That experience fed directly into Kees, his West Village bar built with longtime PDT colleague Victor Lopez: eight core cocktails, four variations each, and a menu stripped of anything that might confuse a guest before they've had a sip. We also cover the pitch that landed him the Waldorf Astoria's Peacock Alley and Lex Yard, and the story behind Highball Ltd, a bar named for a train signal a few hundred feet from Grand Central Terminal.
Along the way: fatherhood as bartending training, why the industry's best operators eventually miss being behind the stick, and why specialising — rather than trying to be everything to everyone — is what keeps an old bar alive.
🍋🟩 Fever-Tree - For the very best mixers that taste pretty damn good even by themselves
🌾 Belvedere Vodka - Organic vodka, with substance, made from Polish rye and absolutely no additives.
📷 Follow me on Instagram - instagram.com/tristanstephenson
📚 I've written quite a few books on spirits and cocktails - thecuriousbartender.com
Jeff Bell is the owner of PDT — Please Don't Tell — the hidden-phone-booth speakeasy that helped define modern New York cocktail culture, alongside Crif Dogs, Mixteca, Kees and the newly opened Highball Ltd inside Grand Central's 10 Grand Central building. We get into the arithmetic of running one of the busiest small rooms in the city — turning a 44-seat bar nine times on a Saturday night — and the guest-first heuristic he runs every new idea through: is this cool, tested against whether it's actually feasible, not whether the business can capitalise on it.
Jeff traces his path from a philosophy degree in metaphysics at the University of Washington, through a brief and unhappy stint selling annuities, to a barback job at PDT in 2010 under Jim Meehan. We talk about what it actually took to buy PDT and Crif Dogs from their founder in the middle of the pandemic — the year the bar sat dark, the unemployment cheques, and he's candid about how much harder ownership turned out to be than he expected, and the burnout of rebuilding a team from nothing.
That experience fed directly into Kees, his West Village bar built with longtime PDT colleague Victor Lopez: eight core cocktails, four variations each, and a menu stripped of anything that might confuse a guest before they've had a sip. We also cover the pitch that landed him the Waldorf Astoria's Peacock Alley and Lex Yard, and the story behind Highball Ltd, a bar named for a train signal a few hundred feet from Grand Central Terminal.
Along the way: fatherhood as bartending training, why the industry's best operators eventually miss being behind the stick, and why specialising — rather than trying to be everything to everyone — is what keeps an old bar alive.
🍋🟩 Fever-Tree - For the very best mixers that taste pretty damn good even by themselves
🌾 Belvedere Vodka - Organic vodka, with substance, made from Polish rye and absolutely no additives.
📷 Follow me on Instagram - instagram.com/tristanstephenson
📚 I've written quite a few books on spirits and cocktails - thecuriousbartender.com
