Femme, which opened in Worcester, MA, in 2023, takes the identical strategy. “We don’t discriminate towards anybody,” says Danielle Spring, who owns the bar and restaurant together with her spouse. “So long as you like us, we love you.” The area sits someplace between an old-school lesbian bar and a homey restaurant, with black partitions and pops of gold and pink. It’s an aesthetic Spring dubs “not too girly, however actually girly.” Cocktails and mocktails are named after queer bops, resembling Fletcher’s “Becky’s So Sizzling” and Kehlani’s “Want I By no means.”
The folks behind these new tasks share a want to create neighborhood establishments the place their communities don’t simply drink and depart, however really feel at residence and need to stick round. That extends to constructing menus and cocktail choices which can be engaging. “We wished the meals to be actually enjoyable, approachable, and never too fussy,” says Herbkersman, who leads the kitchen at Ruby Fruit alongside two sous cooks. There are loaded raclette fries dolloped with mostarda, charcoal-roasted Japanese candy potatoes with anchovies, and seasonal fruit-topped olive oil cake, all to be loved in a joyful pastel-colored area. Ruby Fruit’s wine checklist solely options bottles from queer and feminine winemakers, which might generally show difficult attributable to affordability, small manufacturing, and restricted distribution.” It’s onerous to do,” says Bielagus, “nevertheless it’s enjoyable.”
These new companies are difficult the notion that lesbian bars of the previous closed as a result of they have been now not wished—or wanted. For its half, Femme is usually so packed that there’s solely standing room. You’ll be able to eat a scorching honey hen sandwich or swipe pita chips via hummus as you stand shoulder to shoulder with new associates. “Girls come out,” Spring says of the bar’s success. “I see acquainted faces on a regular basis.”
