At new Johnson County cocktail bar, ‘the protagonist of the night’ is you
In the middle of a growing Johnson County development, where cranes and large glass buildings reside, velvet curtains go up in a storefront.
The change hints at something new.
Inside, Benjamin Davalos twirls his measuring jigger and, with a turn of his wrist, releases a swallow’s worth of straight rye. It silently splashes into a glass. He slides across the finished product and explains that he developed this after working a long shift at The Green Lady Lounge.
Neat. Bar, a new cocktail lounge in Lenexa City Center, is a combination of Davalos’ stories.
“For me, it’s the culmination of 10 years in the industry,” he said during a Thursday interview with The Star. “I’ve had a very blessed experience to have a very rich education that started here in Kansas City.”
But Davalos is asking customers not to judge the book by its cover. He knows his bar is in squeaky-clean Johnson County. Its tidy exterior may make it seem like a button-up spot. But neat. is for everyone, whether their shoes are shiny or not.
“I hope it to be Lenexa’s preeminent cocktail bar that has a very cosmopolitan soul as well,” he said.
The bar quietly opened last weekend and will continue to be in the soft opening phase until its grand opening is announced.
Living in the former Savoy Tea Space at 16953 City Center Drive, neat. has dark walls and greenery hanging from its rafters. Round, wooden tables surround plush leather couches.
For now, it’s open from 5 p.m. to midnight this Thursday through Saturday. Reservations are first-come, first-served. Customers should watch neat.’s social media pages for updates.
The Gun For Hire ($16), was one of the first drinks Davalos ever experimented with. It’s a mashup of an Old Fashioned and an espresso martini, and it’s similar to the Revolver. But his has beeswax-rested J. Rieger straight rye, J. Rieger Caffe Amaro, Mr. Black cold brew liqueur, Messenger cold brew, vanilla-lactic syrup and orange bitters.
For the finishing touch, he presses the top of a torch, sending a burst of flames over the glass.
“There is a certain caramelization of those flavors that really bridge the whiskey and the coffee aspect, as well as the vanilla,” he explained. “Oftentimes orange has an ideal acidic pH level that interacts really well with most coffee products.”
This particular cocktail is named after a Bruce Springsteen lyric, “this gun’s for hire,” in his song, “Dancing in the Dark.”
His Takeoff ($16) is a spin on the Aviation, but with a botanical-spice cordial. It also has Lifted Spirits Bright gin and creme de violette, with lemon zest. The result is a pinkish liquid with a floral flavor.
This one, he said, was named after a Cory Wong song, also called “Takeoff.”
Some of the drinks are inspired by his travels across the world. His Once Upon a Time in Mexico ($16) has arette rospado tequila, chile blend-infused La Luna Black Label mezcal, nogale and kola syrup, and mole bitters.
His Parrot Cay ($16), named after an island in Turks and Caicos, has Probitas white rum, pineapple juice, fresh lime juice, organic coconut water, coconut syrup and coconut milk.
While Davalos is the partner who’s the most seasoned in the industry — locally, he worked at The Green Lady Lounge, The Monogram Lounge at J. Rieger, The Hey! Hey! Club and The Primrose — he’s not in it alone.
He’s teaming up with husband and wife Samir Shura and Dipti Bhakta, whom he met while working at The Primrose. Shura enjoyed Davalos’ work and followed him to different bars around the city.
About two years ago, Shura asked Davalos if he’d ever be interested in opening up his own concept. He said yes.
“He pitched us a few different ideas,” he said. “We were looking for something more intimate, relaxed (pace) as well.”
This is Bhakta and Shura’s first cocktail concept, but the pair were in hotel ownership for several years before moving away from it in 2022.
At the time, there weren’t many cocktail bars in Johnson County. Even today, Lenexa has a few sports bars, but concepts like neat. are nonexistent.
“We live here in Johnson County,” Bhatka said. “We really want something that’s close by so that we can have our friends come together and not have to drive so far for a neat experience.”
As for the name, it’s partly due to Davalos’ mother’s insistence that he do everything as neatly as possible. It’s also one of his most-used words.
In some conversations with well-to-do bartenders attempting to flex their cocktail knowledge, Davalos would just listen and say, “Hey, man, that’s really neat.”
When serving Davalos’ collection of stories, he doesn’t want his own to swallow up his visitors’ storylines.
After all, the experience is always about the customer, whom he calls the “protagonist of the night.”
“I’m the storyteller,” he said. “I’m the narrator that’s assisting the protagonist as they go about their own stories.”