Courtland Club
A Two-Woman Team Builds an Atmosphere of Creative Comradery in this Federal Hill Speakeasy
On a quiet side street on Federal Hill, two women are confidently making their mark in food and beverage— it’s where Chef Sam Kundrat and Beverage Director Leishla Maldonado lead the all-female team in an unadvertised, unmarked building. Courtland Club has been adding to the long history of its location by establishing a speakeasy-style craft cocktail bar with stunning snacks, tapas and small plates to woo the imbibers and tale-spinners who land there.
Courtland Club came into being when Jay Shechtman, a real estate and interior design professional, began to uncover the social-club history of the building. Originally, it housed several bakeries including the Crugnale Bakery (the oven doors are still visible) and, by the ’40s, it had become an Italian social club. Shechtman renovated the space, opened in 2017 and, most recently, hired two of the city’s up-and-coming culinary and beverage stars to run things. The decor is spare, with cement floors and unfinished brick walls (one is used for projection movies); combined with the low lighting, it re-creates the effect of a ’40s meet-and-mingle social club. The back lounge area offers comfortable furnishings—a large ottoman, a sofa banquette and small tables—and two elevated wrap-around booths near the front door add to that vibe.
Leishla started in October 2018 and Sam in November, and the two were “fast friends” from the get-go, bouncing ideas off each other, doing menu-planning together, seeking complementary flavors of new dishes and new cocktails.
“Sam and I have made it a point to be part of each other’s creative process,” Leishla says. “We run our ideas by each other. It’s a little more fun and creative and outside the box.”
“Leishla and I came in at a great time,” Sam reflects. “We’re here right at the time to take it to the next level.”
Sam had come from Florida in 2011 to finish the Johnson & Wales degree she had started in Miami, Florida. She was the sous-chef at North under chef/owner James Mark (also of Big King and the former North Bakery) for five years before coming to the Courtland Club.
“I was at North for so long that I have a wheelhouse of Asian flavors to draw from, even though I’m Italian-American and Eastern European,” Sam says.
She is dedicated to making from scratch “everything we can,” from cheese and bread to sauces and mayo. She does this all in a tiny kitchen that has two electric ovens and two induction burners and a carefully organized set of cooking and baking implements.
Sam shrugs and says: “I do what I can with what I have.”
In late spring, she will turn back to more sustainable fish and seafood dishes, with lots of seasonal fresh local vegetables. But in the cooler spring months, she has been intrigued with making bread and pizzas. She’s been offering a “toast of the month” and a “pizza of the week.” Examples of toasts are shakshuka-inspired, cured eggs shaved over baby butter beans in tomato sauce; or roasted vegetables with queso fresco and caramelized onions. Pizzas might include anchovy-mozzarella, sparked with crumbled nori and sprinkled furikake (dried fish, sesame seeds, seaweed, sugar and salt); or salsa verde with chicken.
“Keeping the menu small can be good, because it keeps us from becoming mediocre,” Sam says. “We don’t settle for mediocrity. If I’m going to put my name on something, it has to be great!”
Leishla agrees. She came from The Eddy in Providence, where she’d bartended for two years; she previously worked at many bars in her hometown of Boston, including The Gallows and a margarita bar, Zumas Tex Mex, in Faneuil Hall. Her experiences taught her a lot about spirits, and she has put close to 100 of them on the Courtland’s drinks menu, with unusual choices in 13 categories, from Guyana to Greece, Maine to Mexico.
The currently popular “fancy drinks” are the Green Apple Mule (vodka and sherry, with green apple, ginger, black pepper and lime) and the Parisian cocktail (cognac, vermouth, Benedictine and bitters). There is also a thoughtful selection of wine and beer, including favorite local suds.
But it is the spirit-free drinks that have Leishla the most excited: “It’s been great to offer nonalcoholic spirits and to let people know they don’t have to get intoxicated at the bar.”
They order a nonalcoholic spirit called Seedlip, from England, or they use verjus, a pressed grape juice, and then they “play around from there to build it like any other cocktail,” according to Leishla.
Both Leishla and Sam have been impressed by the community’s support of the Courtland, despite having only word-of-mouth and social media publicity. People come around, looking for the lit-up #51 on Courtland Street.
“Seeing how excited people are makes our work pretty easy,” Leishla says.
Courtland Club
51 Courtland St., Providence, RI 401.227.9300; CourtlandClub.com Open evenings, Th–Su Open to the public. Optional memberships salute the social club history of the building and include table reservations, private tasting events and other perks.
