I wrote about Los Angeles’ Caña Rum Bar more than once after it opened in 2010, including here in Distiller. It was easily LA’s best rum bar at that time, due in large part to warm, engaging service and a rum geek’s spirits selection from then-general manager/bartender Allan Katz.
Then in 2018, Katz and partner Danielle (Dani) Crouch moved to Las Vegas and opened their Caribbean-reggae ode, Jammyland. They oversee the development of the restaurant’s Jamaican-inspired menu and spirits selection and lead a tight team that includes senior bartender/lead cook Jessie Cruz and senior bartender Tyse Maestas.
Crouch and Katz both cut their chops under bar legends King Cocktail Dale Degroff, Julie Reiner, and Vegas’ Tony Abou-Ganim, from NYC to LA, San Diego, and Vegas. They bring decades of industry experience, as well as a true sense of calling to give back through mentoring and creating community.
During a heartwarming winter visit to Jammyland, I reveled in the cocktails, Jamaican food, and warm service. I followed up with Katz and senior bartenders who have learned under him, part of Jammyland’s hospitality-first ethos. Jessie Cruz has been in the F&B industry for nearly a decade, working corporate chains and opening his own beer garden. Tyse Maestas grew up in Albuquerque, moving to Vegas over six years ago where he started bartending.
What led you both into the cocktail and the bar world?
Katz: I‘m such a context junkie. If I love something I geek out. Dining, spirits, and cocktails were no exception. With an Afro-Caribbean family working in hospitality, learning about this wasn’t taboo. Rum means a lot to Colombians and Puerto Ricans! My tio Jorge (essentially my dad) was banquet captain at the original Waldorf and taught me a ton. I started barbacking in high school. Bartending put me through teaching school where I had an emphasis in Afro-Caribbean studies.
I taught English and history until I hit my career tipping point. Shortly thereafter, I was declared terminally ill due to a viral brain disease. Knowing I wouldn’t live long enough to affect the change I needed to make to respect myself as an educator, I decided to die young as a bartender, hopefully leaving some worthwhile recipes behind.
A cocktalian regular on Long Island, Morton Fink, educated me on historic mixology. He wrote “77 West Houston” on the back of his card and said, “Ask for Audrey,” thus changing my life. [Audrey Saunders’] Pegu Club floored me. Shortly thereafter, I was working under Dale [DeGroff] uptown, falling in love with NYC’s burgeoning cocktail scene.
Lucking out and surviving the virus in my brain allowed me to meet Dani, whose tenacity and intellect allowed us to build my teenage pipe dream of a bar. Jammyland is named after the NYC reggae record shop/practice studio/classic vinyl reissue label I grew up with.
Cruz: I have been in the industry for about eight years and I’ve always wanted to further and further my craft. Thankfully, through a mutual friend of Allan and I, he introduced us. From there I fell in love with the whole aspect of history and techniques that come with this industry.
Maestas: I was led into the cocktail bar world simply out of a desire for change in my life. I had a job I hated and wanted to work in something that allowed me to be myself and to be creative. I also love helping people, so hospitality is where I landed. When I learned I was actually really good at it, I fell in love. I’m not particularly social or extroverted, so I love that bartending allows me to put myself out there and meet people I might not have ever met otherwise.
How does being based in Las Vegas influence your bar’s style and operations?
Katz: Dani and I decided to put roots down here primarily based on our love of Vegas’ Arts District and our wildly eclectic neighbors. She was a Las Vegan by way of Napa when we met working for Tony Abou-Ganim [legendary barman who made his name in San Francisco in the 1990s; now in Vegas] at his first foray into bar ownership, Bar Milano. I was a frequent visitor who dreamed of having a bar in this adorably preserved slice of Americana.
The district’s growth encouraged us to do something unique. Being a deejay mecca, [Vegas] encouraged me to build Jammyland’s soundtrack. To combat the notion that “reggae all sounds the same,” I made sure no two subgenres were back to back. Mento, ska, rocksteady, roots, punky reggae, third wave ska, dub, jungle, dancehall, soca, afrobeat, and more are repped in over ten languages. Exposing the global roots for this diverse spectrum of sounds was important as it ties into our culinary program spanning “the rum languages.” India, Southeast Asia, Africa, Cuba, Guyana, Colombia, Puerto Rico — they’re all celebrated.
I’m still that kid that wanted to save the world, and Dani shares those values. Jammyland has hosted countless benefits. Our back patio has functioned as a free meeting space for organizations dedicated to bettering our city and planet.
Tell me about your food menu:
Katz: John “Bubba” Grayer, our opening chef-partner and my childhood bestie, worked through cookbooks dating back to Caroline Styne’s 1899 Compendium of Jamaican Cookery. I didn’t have a single Caribbean pal who ever had a patty that wasn’t factory-produced. So nailing this meant properly translating the beef patty that descended from the British pasty. For our jerk, the city wouldn’t permit a jerk pit, so we bought a Smokin’ Tex to smoke jerk proteins. Faithfully reproducing these Caribbean staples will always ride our menu. We’re dead serious about faithful renditions of classics, but there’s a notable sense of play to everything we serve.
What is your philosophy on deciding what spirits to stock in your bar?
Katz: Value is a key factor. Having an impressive wall of rare merchant-bottled rums that nobody can afford isn’t much fun. We want folks to feel they can put together a flight without spending special occasion money. What makes a great record shop? People eager to share what they love and make it relevant to customers. Swap customers for guests and you get what makes a backbar something more than a shelf for booze.
Number one is the spirit being an honest representation of its genre. Barrel finishes are great. But tequila needs to first taste like responsibly cooked and distilled agave to pass muster. When we train bartenders, it’s so important for them to know what the classic characters of spirits are, devoid of gimmickry and whatever the volume seller of the day is. This is where we owe a ton to the in-depth spirits training we had with Tony [Abou-Ganim]. [He] forever influenced how we think of spirits in relation to each other.
Vegas is not a market like SF, NYC, or LA. Lotta folks are just discovering things. So our policy toward tastes is very liberal. We’ll do a tiny pour of almost anything when we get our guests curious. I often like to put it alongside a benchmark in that category.
How do you educate customers on small-batch, quality spirits?
Maestas: I love introducing people to new spirits, so any chance I get to suggest something new and start a conversation about it, I will. I love when someone falls in love with something they’ve never heard of or thought to try.
Cruz: I give them a little tasting and the backstory of the spirit I’m showcasing, listen to what they have to say, inform them on common tasting notes, textures, and what pairs well in cocktails.
What is your philosophy on hospitality and the type of atmosphere you want to create at Jammyland?
Katz: To us, #genuinehospitality isn’t just guest-facing. People can read your vibe. We show each other respect and empathy and we don’t stop there. It’s having a cold soda on a hot day for delivery people. It’s knowing your mail person. It’s being a genuinely good neighbor. Do that and you’re halfway there. Of all the cool shit that we do, our general vibe is what I’m most proud of. Our crew is not a Death & Co., murderers-row of cocktail geeks. But they all have the hospitality gene in ways you seldom see. It’s a joy to be at the bar where they develop that alongside their tending skills.
Maestas: Hospitality for me is all about service to others. You never know what people are going through, so if I can have even just a small impact on brightening someone’s day or night, I love that. I just want people to feel welcome, seen, and safe.
Cruz: I want you to feel welcomed as if you were coming to my home. Whether it’s lending an ear to someone who just wants to vent or wanting to explore spirits to broaden their horizons, I want to make sure when you leave the bar you will be coming back.
Both: How do you envision the bar world evolving in the coming years?
Katz: Trendwise, it’s clear bartenders are going to get crafty on previously unlovable cocktails from the dark ages or the ’tini era. It’s a course correction I don’t mind, even if the words “Espresso Martini” will forever annoy me. Cocktail bars got too steampunk serious. Then they got too modernist weird. Now it feels like the cocktail community overtly wants to inject fun into itself and I’m all for that. If and when the pendulum swings back toward tiny mixology temples, I think they’ll be the better for it.
I also think we’re going to see more hybridized concepts. Jammyland was an odd duck five years ago. Common questions were: “So you put all this effort into what you cook, but you consider this a cocktail bar?” Or “Wait, you throw parties with people dancing — and you’re not a club?” Covid prompted tons of pivots and now a venue that can’t be pigeonholed is common as operators try to wring every drop of revenue out of their businesses.
Shit got real dicey since 2020. Pricing hasn’t stabilized. F+B has been gouged continually since. Everyone that didn’t hit the PPP or RRF lottery faces debt lag from the worst of those years. I think people are much more willing to bring unique things that make them happy into their ventures, because you better believe in what you’re doing now.
Cruz: I definitely see that we’ll have more non-alcoholic beverages, which is nice because everyone should be welcome at a bar. Bars will start doing more fresh ingredients because everyone is realizing fresh will always taste better. I love this industry because it’s constantly evolving.
Maestas: I think we’ll see a lot more craft mocktails which, as a sober bartender, is so cool. I also think more bars will start leaning into the craft realm and we’ll see innovation and cool ingredients. I feel like the bar world is in constant transition, which makes it exciting, but you always have to pay homage to the classics.
