So Fresh, Dark and Inviting

There’s a reason why San Simón has won the Best Bar in Bend award from readers of the Source Weekly for the last two years in a row and why its sister bar, The Flamingo Room, took the runner-up prize in 2023. They’re both specifically cocktail bars that, while both having deep benches of flavors with their drinks, specifically curate the entire experience… not just the alcohol.

Owned and operated by Brian and Ashley Trottier, the vibe at both bars is timeless and impeccable, from the staff that always exudes a delightful balance of warmth and playfulness, to the Bohemian, candlelit ambience that thankfully forgoes the glow of a dozen televisions for the way the easy light plays off your companion’s eyes.

But those drinks, though. Around 75% of San Simón’s drink sales are their signature cocktails off their menu. In a town/country where everyone has a drink of choice, while it’s not unheard of, it’s certainly a rarity. “I've been a bartender for over 20 years, but I only had like a year and a half of mixology experience,” says Brian Trottier. “The other bars that I worked at were like corner taps or dive bars, so New Orleans was my only real mixology experience. So, when we decided to open San Simón, we were 100% about the atmosphere. The most important thing is finding the right location, setting it up in the right way, like making it beautiful, hiring and training the best staff, having it be dark, having no TVs, and then we'll figure out the drinks.”

And figure them out they did. The drink selection (specifically at San Simón) is deceptively simple. They don’t overdo the ingredients and instead just focus on crafting something delicious that doesn’t reek of the desperation some bars have of bougie decadence. The Trottiers’ menu quietly innovates without bringing attention to itself.
“If you use good ingredients, you really don't need a PhD in mixology to make a good cocktail,” says Trottier. “Our thing is, everything we use, we juice fresh every day. We juice grapefruit, lemon, lime, orange, ginger…some other stuff. Then we use good spirits. So like a month before we opened, I didn't have a cocktail list ready, and I wasn't the kind of person who had an arsenal waiting, ready to go. Then in that last month, we're like, OK, we need two gin drinks and we're like, ‘what goes well with gin?’ And we're like, ‘we need two mezcal drinks, with what goes well with mezcal.’ So, the cocktail part of it is really important for us, but it was never the lead-off.”

I’d be hard pressed to find a signature drink I like more in town than San Simón’s “When Icarus Strikes” with Plantation Pineapple Rum, Wray & Nephew Overproof Rum, Luxardo maraschino, salers, pineapple and fresh lime. But with their Jalapeno-infused tequila, their homemade tonic, their insanely good mocktails… it’s always been pretty hard to decide what to drink. I guess I’ll have to go back and try something new. What are you doing later?