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THE LEGENDS
JEN DAVIS: Former bar manager at The Eddy and current bar manager at Gift Horse
JESSE HEDBERG: Former bartender at The Eddy and current co-owner of Pizza Marvin and Club Frills
HORUS ALVAREZ: Former bartender at The Eddy and current bartender at Dolores and Club Frills
CATHERINE HOOD: Former bartender at The Eddy and current bar manager at Machines with Magnets
LEISHLA MALDONADO: Former bartender at The Eddy and current co-owner and beverage director at Loma
PARKER LUTHMAN: Former bartender at The Eddy and current bar manager and beverage director at Murmur HiFi Lounge
BRITTANY SIMONS: Current general manager at The Eddy and co-owner of Kingfish
TRINITY AURIEMMA: Current bar manager at The Eddy
Who wants to start on what The Eddy has meant to you all these years? JEN: I got to be part of the opening team. Jay Carr opened it [ in 2012 ] and wanted it to be the cool cocktail bar. Jesse Hedberg, John Dille, Jay Carr and I would all go up to New York a lot together as a crew to see what was going on. Because there was nothing like this place here. As much as The Dorrance was a huge part of the cocktail scene, it was still a restaurant with an amazing bar program, whereas this was the first true cocktail bar. It really took off.
And now Jay is at Track 15. That’ s a pretty big gig there. JEN: There were a lot of ups and downs, because it was really busy. Three years into it, I started being the manager here. One thing I wanted to do was make it a place where people could come and learn and grow, then
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go on. That was always my goal. That was something Jesse did for me. Jesse and I met at Cook & Brown.
What does it mean to you to look around this room and see how many people have started at The Eddy and gone on to do their own thing? JESSE: The Eddy to me has always been the epicenter. Jen can say that she came up under my wing, but Jen took mentorship beyond anything I ever did. I credit Jen for being the real OG mentor of the cocktail scene, because she has had incredible influence on a lot of people.
JEN: When I think about The Eddy, I think about how we were able to build this cool clubhouse for us. This was everyone’ s safe space. It’ s always been like throwing a big party every night. But the core of it was building this team. The first person I hired was Horus, and the reason why it was such a big deal for me was because Horus is the most humble person, but so talented, and also such an incredible mentor for everyone who worked here.
HORUS: When I moved here, finding this place was like finding a gold mine. My first time here, I googled“ cocktail bars,” and I remember sitting in one of the corners by the window, and I was like,‘ This is such a beautiful spot.’ I remember feeling the energy. The list was solid. It was like this place belonged in New York or L. A. My main goal was to work at The Eddy at some point.
JEN: We interviewed you in the alley.
HORUS: We chatted for ten-fifteen minutes. And that was it. The bar has always been run as a very clear example of organization and team leadership. And it was clear that we wanted to create a culture, not just great cocktails.
JEN: We’ d change our menu every four months, so quarterly with the seasons. I also got the chance to bring Catherine on, which was cool because
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she comes from a very different background in terms of creativity, and has a true artist mindset.
Catherine, what did it mean to you, coming in here and working with this team? CATHERINE: It’ s like being back with a family again, but getting the chance to develop a deeper knowledge and appreciation for spirits.
And now you’ re at Machines with Magnets, and you give bartenders a chance to test out their own concepts through pop-up nights. CATHERINE: We have flexibility with the event space, not like a traditional bar or restaurant setup. We don’ t have daily operations that we have to consider, so we have a lot more room to allow different folks to come and use the space through sponsorships.
The common theme here is also education. It feels like every one of you has worked hard to educate the next generation, and I know that came into play with your relationship [ gestures to Jen and Leishla ]. LEISHLA: Yeah, I will cry, so just look away. What I think is beautiful about Jen is that she is this historian. She’ s told us so many stories about Jesse, and what his mentorship meant to her, and what he did for this industry. And she talked so much about Vito [ Lantz, former bar manager of The Dorrance and current co-owner of Lucky Enough and High Motor ]. I remember when I first walked in here, I was coming home from my job in Boston. I had just moved here in 2016 and was still bartending in Boston, and I didn’ t even know what this place was. I came in four or five times, and I would always order the Naked and Famous.
JEN: That was how I knew that she knows something about cocktails. Parker and Leishla both got hired as guests, and it’ s because they were being nerds.
LEISHLA: I gravitate toward spaces that have women leadership. I only
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PHOTOGRAPH: WOLF MATTHEWSON. |
RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY I APRIL 2026 67 |