Halfway down a Bushwick side street, in the back of an artisanal doughnut shop and through a photobooth, this rhino-themed restaurant has quietly been slinging drinks and bites since October.
Ra-Ra Rhino, the latest addition to the city’s hidden watering hole scene, offers a sleek, Tiki-influenced back room with an eccentric menu of drinks and eats, as well as a smoke-blowing rhino head.
The inspiration for the new speakeasy came when bar owner Michael Lombardozzi was searching for a doughnut shop in Bushwick during the coronavirus pandemic. “I discovered there aren’t any,” Lombardozzi said.
So he decided to open Ra-Ra Rhino’s front, Dromedary Doughnuts — but doughnuts alone didn’t strike him as a good business model, so he also decided to build “an elevated, elegant, sexy cocktail bar” in the back, too.
“The doughnuts inspired the bar,” and his friend’s random Instagram giveaway post of a giant, fake rhinocerous head inspired the name, explained the Bensonhurst native, who also owns Dromedary Urban Tiki Bar, a popular Bushwick brunch spot open since 2016.
(That older Dromedary location, Lombardozzi told The Post, will be closing in January — he recently sold it to his staff, who plan to renovate and change up the business.)
“We were able to make it blow smoke out of its nose because why not go all the way?” he added of the rhino head, which has been painted purple and gold.
The menu features a series of unusual offerings, many of them creations that 28-year-old executive chef and Eleven Madison Park alum Annabel Sharahy has had in her “back pocket” for years.
Highlights include the charred octopus tentacle Octo Roll ($25), Cacio e Pepe Beignets ($10), which involve doughnut dough filled with pecorino and black pepper — “like a savory, mini, filled doughnut,” and a soon-to-be-added French onion soup “in the form of a potato.”
For dessert, patrons can head back to the entrance for Sharahy’s doughnut creations, with options including the $4.50 Chocoquito (mezcal, cayenne and coquito cream) and the $5 Alscapone (pineapple mascarpone, Mike’s Hot Honey butterscotch and prosciutto).
Lombardozzi also gave staff a great deal of freedom in crafting the drinks menu, but one cocktail was non-negotiable: He required his beverage director, James Allison DeFoor III, to create a Vegemite-based martini. Vegemite, a popular yeast extract spread from Australia, is known for a rich umami flavor when used in the right proportions — though the taste has long been polarizing, especially among Americans who didn’t grow up eating it.
“I actually lost sleep over it,” DeFoor told The Post of creating the Vegemitini.
Ultimately, he decided to infuse Vegemite into Botanist gin and combine it with Haku vodka, Noilly Prat vermouth and a touch of sherry for salinity.
“It ended up a perfect balance for people that love Vegemite and those that we want to indoctrinate,” said DeFoor.
The creation costs $17 and comes with a side of toast with butter as a garnish — a cheeky nod to how people in Australia typically eat Vegemite, with a thin layer atop toast and melted butter.
Dromedary Doughnuts is currently open Wednesday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to midnight or until it sells out. Ra-Ra Rhino is open Tuesday through Thursday from 5 p.m. until 2 a.m., until 3 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and midnight on Sundays. Both businesses are located at 1329 Willoughby Ave.
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