08-07-2025
The Best Part of a Summertime Drinks Menu? Fancy Soda
Today, learning that a restaurant calls itself farm-to-table holds about as much shock value as hearing my server explain that everything at said restaurant is meant to be enjoyed family style. One part of the menu that remains a place of unexpected whimsy, however? The drinks list—and more specifically, the soda section. I find this to be especially true as the weather heats up and my neighborhood farmer's market in Manhattan turns into the place to be on a Saturday morning.
'Serving sodas affords us the ability to create a snapshot of the season. Whether it's a perfumy sweet strawberry or tingly fresh spearmint, using produce during its peak is the ultimate treat,' says Danielle Peters-Clossey, bar director at San Francisco-based Back Home Hospitality, which includes Che Fico restaurants and soon-to-open Bubbeleh. 'Without the use of artificial flavors, sweeteners, or preservatives, we can offer our guests a natural alternative.'
Those local, seasonal snapshots are especially delightful in the summertime. At the newly opened Feathers restaurant inside Audrey Gelman's much-anticipated Six Bells Inn in the Hudson Valley, I ordered a simple, pastel pink soda that made use of local strawberries and rhubarb; at Bastia, beverage director Benjamin Kirke highlights eastern Pennsyvlannia produce with lacto-fermented sodas that, in June and July, include apricot and maquis; strawberry and mint; rhubarb and basil; lemon, lime, and thyme.
