Painkiller Offering Zombie Bowls

Feeling reckless?

Painkiller, the new tiki bar on the Lower East Side, is now serving "Zombie Bowls," which, as co-owner Richard Boccato described it, is basically a punch bowl-size Zombie cocktail.

The menu addition is notable in that Painkiller is known for denying customers more than one Zombie, as the legendary rum cocktail is lethally alcoholic. The Zombie Bowl—cost: $80—is obviously intended for a group of people. And Bocatto still reserves the right to deny service. He said recently that he had served only two of the bowls so far. Others who ordered the specialty were politely turned away, as already being one or two sheets to the wind.

More About Painkiller

Richard Boccato and Giuseppe ("Joe") Gonzalez' new tiki bar Painkiller opens officially tonight. I visited the place on Monday, and talked to Boccato about the debut menu shortly after. Here are my findings, published yesterday, in the New York Times' Diner's Journal.

Zombies Descend for Drinks on the Lower East Side

By ROBERT SIMONSON

If the patrons at the new Lower East Side tikiden Painkiller want to order a Zombie — as many will — they’ll have a choice.

“We have to pay respect to Donn Beach,” said Richard Boccato, one of the owners of Painkiller, which officially opens on Friday. Beach, who founded the legendary Don the Beachcomber bar in Hollywood in 1934, is one of tiki’s founding fathers. But one of his signature drinks, the lethally alcoholic Zombie, is also one of the most debated cocktails in tiki history, with several differing published recipes.