Life imitates art at Bar Madonna as the elements on the canvas mirror the space around it.

“His designs typically originate with some piece of artwork,” says Eric Madonna, one of the owners of the cocktail bar in Williamsburg. We’re sitting beneath the painting that started it all—Facetiming his partner, Ray Rando, as he gestures up toward the piece above us.

The painting was done by friend Colm Dillane, also known as KidSuper. The owners asked the artist and fashion designer to create the bar’s look. His instinct, to start with a blank canvas. 

Like the banquettes in the painting, the walls are rich green forest. Pendant lights hang low over the bar, bottles glow softly from a wall of glass blocks beside them. The bones of the space—exposed brick, tall windows, warm wood floors—were already there. But everything else – interpreted through the art.

The menu leans playful, layered with nostalgia and sauce—vodka, tomato, pesto—all reimagined. Osso buco shows up in the form of croquettes. A burger? Not quite. Instead, a smashed meatball parm sandwich: aged beef, pork, and veal smashed onto a semolina bun, finished with a pistachio pesto sugo and a Parmesan crisp, nodding to the crunch of a classic smash burger.

“Eric and I say we’re American Italian kids,” says Ray. “Yeah, I have family in Italy but I grew up in New Jersey. Our overall concept is next generation of Italian-American food, or if you want to call it, American-Italian food.”

That same spirit runs through the cocktails –  a mix of old classics while inviting in new flavours. Gemma’s Sauce is a riff on a negroni, brightened with strawberry and coconut. The Campari & Chamomile reimagines an Americano with housemade chamomile soda. 

“We’re in New York City where there are many different cultures. We have a cocktail called Limoncello Milk Punch and it has genmaicha tea and shiso syrup,” says Eric. “Neither of those things is Italian, but the whole drink conceptually is.” Each cocktail is garnished with something made in-house – a fruit roll-up, a chocolate cigarette — or a cup that has been modelled to create the perfect orange salt rim each time. 

The front of the shirt carries the Bar Madonna logo, its script drawn by Eric’s grandmother, known for her beautiful handwriting. The name, however,was up to the artist. “We told him, whatever you name the painting, we’ll name the bar,” Eric says.