I think that I might have just found one of my favorite new bars in Buffalo… and I haven’t even hung out there yet.
According to owners Bethany Halbreich and Cameron Sinclair, Labyrinth – located at 15 Allen – will be unlike anything that we have seen to date in Buffalo. Actually, you would be hard pressed to find anything like this concept anywhere in the world. It’s that unique.
What makes the Labyrinth concept so original is the owners. The husband and wife team has lived and traveled all over the world, and ultimately decided that Buffalo was a city that is deserved of such a novel bar.
While Bethany is originally from Buffalo, Cameron grew up in London, although he is from Scottish descent. Both are designers. Cameron is a “recovering architect,” who recently taught at University at Buffalo. His specialty is post-conflict reconstruction. He is the founder of Worldchanging Institute and founding member of Football for Life – co-mingling organizations that are dedicated to the field of humanitarian architecture, by way of building sports facilities for wartorn countries such as Ukraine (learn more).
Bethany also hails from the world of design, and owns her own design agency called Incipe Labs. She is also the founder of Paint the World – an initiative that is dedicated to establishing art projects in underserved communities.
It turns out that Bethany and Cameron met in NYC, when Cameron was there visiting for work. After a whirlwind courtship the two decided that it was time to settle down together. Thankfully, both felt that Buffalo was primed for their talents. So they relocated and began to look for a design studio that they could share. They soon realized that a storefront in Buffalo was the same price as a studio, so why not get a studio-storefront?
“We found this circumstance to be very unusual,” said Cameron. “It’s an incredibly low barrier to entry. We are realizing that you can do things in Buffalo that you can’t do anywhere else. We can do design work during the day, and operate an experiential bar at night.”
Both Cameron and Bethany agreed that Buffalo’s audience is very mature. The more they learned about what was going on here, the more they realized that they wanted to be part of “the movement.” Cameron stated his case by referring to The Merry Shelley – Buffalo’s Literary-themed Romantic Horror Bar. “Buffalo has some incredible stuff here – there are places that are a lot more than just sitting down and drinking. Bethany chimed in my saying that they paid a visit to Café Bewilderment, where the owners immediately took them under their wings by showing them the lay of the land. “Everyone is so friendly here,” said Bethany. “Everyone wants to help each other.”
I asked the couple where they source their design inspiration from, and they told me that they are both naturally creative and experimental. Take their wedding, for example. One component was based on a speakeasy complete with flappers (dancers), costumes, lavish set designs, etc. They took the multi-tiered wedding ritual to the nth degree, which is exactly what they do with every stage of their life together. The same will be true for Labyrinth. The plan is to keep people guessing, with a series of thematic cocktail pairings that will be in synch with cultural phenomenons such as… David Bowie (yes, think Labyrinth).
“We want to get people off their phones and digital devices,” Cameron told me. “We want people to experience something different. Something that will make them think. To start, we will take guests through the life and works of Bowie, with appropriate pairings.”
Cameron stated – somewhat in jest, but not really – that anyone that wants to talk on their phone at Labyrinth can do so in the storefront cubical-like window, for all to see.
“Cameron has been researching Bowie’s life, his musical works, and his films,” said Bethany. “These themed evenings will have pairings that reflect the life and times of Bowie, with film projectors, infusions from our apothecary… we’re limiting this to 16 seats a night, and after the lite bite and cocktail pairings are over, guests can order drinks from the full bar, and/or some menu items such as a kimchi grilled cheese. We don’t have a full kitchen, so we’re going to get creative with our grill and hot plates. Every three months we will change the theme to something new – a new journey tied into our obsession with the creative arts. We will do this four nights a week to start (open 6pm to 9pm).”
As the saying goes, You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. I did tell Bethany and Cameron that I would not let all of the cats out of the bag. Suffice to say, down the road people can expect to find a quirky-funky film club, a Christmas market, soccer (futbol) viewings paired with Real Madrid and Barcelona specific cocktails… the list goes on and on. Oh, and there’s a popcorn machine!
I asked the couple who would be slinging the cocktails, and Cameron told me that he would be managing that end of the bar. “I paid for college by working bars 80 hours a week in London and NYC. I’m from South London, I’ve traveled the world, and have to say that there’s no place like Buffalo. I flew from Buffalo to JFK recently and the pilot broadcasted that we were arriving in New York. The whole plane shouted, ‘We were already in New York!’ That’s what I love about this place. The people. There’s already a great cocktail scene here, and we’re happy to be a part of that, and so much more.”
Reservations are officially open for Labyrinth’s pre-dinner cocktail tasting experience.