Chris Frankel recently returned from a months-long tour of American bars and has found a new home at RDG + Bar Annie. Leveraging his observations of various bar programs around the U.S. and his own experience in cocktail development, he has created a new drinks menu at RDG that is not quite like anything else in town.

Frankel, who is locally famous in bar circles for his work at Anvil, Underbelly and Cuchara, is using often-overlooked fortified wines and spirits and inspiration from various cuisines for his unique creations. Take, for example, the Looking Glass cocktail, a mix of Slivovitz (a European plum brandy), Kirsch, sake, passion fruit and orange bitters. The golden cocktail (photo below, left), garnished with a single kaffir lime leaf, works beautifully in spite of its seemingly disparate parts.

And this is where Frankel’s talent lies: bringing together ingredients into something more successful than anyone else might imagine. Science or alchemy? You decide.

The alchemy isn’t constrained to flavors, either. The droplet of walnut oil added to the Nassau Street (below right) provides an overall silkiness to the mouthfeel of Cynar (an artichoke-based liqueur, believe it or not), sweet vermouth and Peychaud’s bitters.

Frankel says that during his tour of the United States he visited various bar programs and asked himself, “What are they not doing?”

“There aren’t many bar programs that are utilizing eaux de vie and brandies,” he said. “Kirsch, for example, is very rarely used as the basis for a cocktail. RDG already had a good selection of these types of things in-house and I expanded it.”

How is the reception of the new bar program going? “In some ways it’s tougher to take over an already-successful bar program than to start a new one. The regulars already know what they like and will order their usual, which is fine. But if people will try some of the cocktails on the new menu, I think they’ll find some rewards there. The Plum Collins has been popular. It is a light, clean, citrusy summer drink. The Jack Rose is an interesting classic and people have enjoyed that as well.”

RDG + Bar Anne, 1800 Post Oak Blvd. between Westheimer & San Felipe, 713-840-1111, rdgbarannie.com