"We found out we were very much alike as far as style, music, so we became friends pretty quickly," Taylor says.
Now the two are getting ready to open their first bar project as owners, which they describe as an "underworld speakeasy" called the Devil's Drink. It will debut at 3330 Mariposa Street, below the 25-room Kasa Comma hotel in LoHi, on Saturday, August 19. "I'm super excited. This is what I've always wanted to do," Taylor notes.
The address was previously home to the Comma Cafe, but the owner of that concept "wanted out really, really bad," Harris says, so things moved quickly after he first looked at the space in late June. In just a month, he and Taylor have transformed the place with dark, moody vibes, red lighting and devilish design touches. "If this devil was in the underworld and had a place to drink, this would be it," Harris adds.
The space has been transformed from white and bright to dark and moody.
The Devil's Drink
Harris describes himself as "a metalhead, covered in tattoos. Sometimes I feel out of place," he adds. "I like to enjoy nice cocktails, and I want people that might feel out of place to have a classy place they can go to."
Taylor, who is designing the smoke- and fire-inspired cocktail program, was immediately on board with the concept. "I mean, I got married on Halloween," she says.
Guests can expect "Vegas show drinks with extraordinary garnishes on them," Harris says, with names like Succubus in a Red Dress, Heart of Darkness and All Black Everything. "It's over the top."
"We want it to be a very visual experience for our guests," Taylor explains. "So it's not only good cocktails, but fun for people watching the process, too." There will also be beers from Ratio and Bruz on draft, plus a natural wine program. The owners have plans to add happy hour specials as well.
The food menu consists of on-theme canapes like deviled eggs and steak tartare (dubbed Hannibal's snack), along with caviar served with potato chips and bottomless truffle popcorn. The Rock N Lobster Roll truck will pop up at the bar weekly, too. That business is "far from gone," Harris notes. "It's just changing."
Procession Coffee will continue to operate at Zeppelin Station when it moves into 3330 Mariposa Street.
Procession Coffee
Procession was started by longtime friends Joshua Bosarge and Stephen Ashley as a cart in early 2022; last November it moved into Zeppelin Station, where it will continue to operate. "The opportunity gets us closer to that end goal of having our own brick-and-mortar," Bosarge says.
It will also give the Procession team a chance to expand its offerings, adding options like coffee cocktails, pastries and grab-and-go food items. But it doesn't plan to expand its minimalist coffee menu; in fact, minimalism is a core belief of the Procession brand, influencing everything from its design to its product. "We're strictly no decaf," Bosarge notes, and the shop only offers whole or oat milk and carries its housemade syrups in just two flavors, vanilla and chocolate. While it does add specialty drinks "here and there," he notes, it's not the kind of place where you'll find a long list of options.
Procession will definitely have its own identity at the Mariposa space. "Our concepts could not be more different," Bosarge says. At night, he notes, the Devil's Drink "will be able to add certain elements to make it theirs, then we'll start fresh in the morning with a clean slate."
Ultimately, Procession's goal is to not only move into a space that is "100 percent ours," but to expand into other cities across the country in the next decade. "We're trying to build Procession as not only really good coffee," Bosarge concludes, "but a brand."
