Cobra, the Brewery-District cocktail bar and restaurant, honored as one of region's best

Cobra on South High Street in the Brewery District
Cobra on South High Street in the Brewery District

Cobra, the six-month-old Brewery-District nightspot with Asian-influenced cocktails and late-night dining, is in the running for top honors from an international industry group.

The Tales of the Cocktail Foundation, whose annual Spirited Awards have been described as the Oscars of the beverage industry, has named Cobra as one of 10 nominees for best new cocktail bar in the central United States. Others in the running are from Chicago; Austin and Dallas, Texas; New Orleans; Kansas City; and Rochester, Michigan.

Cobra declared itself "thankful and excited" via Instagram. The winner in Cobra's category and others, including best cocktail bars, hotel bars and restaurant bars in the United States and worldwide, are to be announced July 25 at Tales of the Cocktail's annual conference in New Orleans.

Jack Dale Bennett Jr., Alex Chien, Josh Spiers and David Yee, four friends who worked at Watershed Kitchen & Bar and collaborated on cocktail popups, opened Cobra last October at 684 S. High St., a building that had been occupied by the Clarmont restaurant for 65 years.

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It was named among the city's best new restaurants for 2023 by Columbus Monthly.

Cobra's cocktails incorporate flavors such as yuzu, pandan, ginger, curry leaves and Thai basil. Its food menu is more definitively Asian, with house-made noodles and dumplings, yakitori, spring rolls and other dishes.

Cobra is open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Wednesdays through Mondays. It offers a full menu until midnight and a pared-down late-night menu until 1:45 a.m.

Columbus is no stranger to Tales of the Cocktail judges. Law Bird, down the street from Cobra at 740 S. High St., was nominated in 2022 as a best new cocktail bar in our region and was rated among the top 10 new places nationwide.

Watershed was a regional nominee for best U.S. restaurant bar in 2022. Vaso, the rooftop bar at the AC Hotel in Dublin, was nominated as one of the region's best hotel bars in 2019, 2020 and 2022.

rvitale@dispatch.com

Instagram: @dispatchdining

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus' Cobra nominated for best new cocktail bar in central US