Lilt Lounge, a sophisticated cocktail lounge inside the Epic, is set to open tomorrow. An alternative to the club scene of South Beach, Lilt intends to create a new social experience in downtown Miami by blending libations with art and music.
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Located on the first floor of the Epic, just past the valet station, Lilt will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. In a partnership with the National YoungArts Foundation, it will bring musical acts and solo performances. The current nightly lineup includes Melissa Goldstein on Tuesday, Sam Hart on Wednesday, David Leon and Jaylon Ballard on Thursday, and Cleaveland Jones on Friday. Saturday's "much-anticipated" performer is being kept a surprise till next week.
Area 31's beverage director, Dean Feddaoui, plans to deliver modern takes on libations with their proper place in history. They include Death in the Afternoon, which combines absinthe and champagne and was invented by Ernest Hemingway in the 1930s. Go back even further and order the 1919 Firenze -- a gin, vermouth, and Campari concoction that's really just another name for a negroni. Feddaoui will offer weekly menus with cleverly named cocktails, such as the Morning Tear and the Bitter Truth, keeping things seasonal and fun.
If bubbly is more your thing for such an upscale affair, a cart will deliver classic champagne cocktails and or brut by the glass to your seat. Chef Wolfgang Birk will preprare some bites that are equally refreshing. Expect charcuterie and cheese, oysters, caviar, lobster cocktail, and tuna tartare gazpacho. Prices for drinks and bites range from $13 to $20.
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