The Maybe Frank Team to Open a ’50s Vegas-Inspired Cocktail Bar

There’s a lot of “maybes” around the new cocktail bar from Maybe Frank of Surry Hills and Randwick co-owners Stefano Catino and Vince Lombardo, and the group’s creative director Andrea Gualdi.

It has a name, Maybe Sammy, but it’s yet to secure a liquor licence, so there’s no opening date – though it’s expected to launch later this year.

A Harrington Street address in The Rocks has been locked down, opposite Neil Perry’s fine diner Rosetta , but unlike the award-winning Maybe Frank pizza joints, the newcomer won’t be serving Italian.

Instead it will take inspiration from 1950s Vegas glamour “like a high-end hotel cocktail bar, minus the hotel part”. And while there’ll be snacks, it will be a drinking destination first and foremost, with world-class bartenders and an all-new cocktail list.

Like Maybe Frank, Maybe Sammy gets its name from the old Vegas posters, which read, “Dean Martin, maybe Frank [Sinatra], maybe Sammy [Davis Jnr]”, referring to the latters’ reputations for arriving unannounced for Dean Martin shows.

Basically, you didn’t know what to expect from the show, but you knew it would deliver.

Maybe Sammy has no eats menu yet, the venue is a shell and the cocktail list is still in the works, but given the nous of its creators – Gualdi was Australian Bartender Of The Year 2017 (Diageo World Class Competition), and Maybe Frank has a slew of bar awards under its belt – a little ambiguity now probably isn’t indicative of what’s to come in the long run.

Maybe Sammy is slated to open at 111 Harrington Street, The Rocks, in coming months.

maybesammy.com