Watching talented bartenders who’ve worked together for a long time is like watching an intricate dance: They know the steps, and they know exactly where their partner will be at any given instant. They’re in complete command of their space. For Lisa Carielle, John Neely, and Andre Sykes, it’s a dance they’ve done regularly for years in their joint bar pop-up, Black on Both Sides, or BOBS for short.
The three bartenders are each longtime hospitality veterans in Detroit, helming award-winning bar programs over the years, including those at Shelby and Alpino. During that time, they’ve racked up international acclaim and brand partnerships.
The co-founders started BOBS in 2022 as a one-off February pop-up at Willis Show Bar. When nearly 500 guests showed up, they realized that they’d tapped into something magical. Since then, BOBS has appeared at bars all over Detroit and in cities like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and San Diego. It currently has a weekly Monday night residency at the IO Godfrey Rooftop Lounge in Corktown.
The residency features the three bartenders mixing up a fresh menu every week, with a guest DJ spinning tunes and an occasional guest bartender. It’s a joyful celebration of Detroit’s best and brightest Black bartenders, artists, musicians, and entrepreneurs.
A conversation about Black History Month among the three bar professionals a few years ago prompted the idea for the events. The pop-up was born from a “lack of representation in the city as a whole” of Black talent behind the bar, Neely says. “Detroit being a very Black city, now you see more people of color in positions of power” than in the past, he says. The events, Carielle says, “give shine to the people that already exist in the space” who have built Detroit’s rich cocktail culture.
In early iterations, the trio held BOBS events all over Detroit at a different high-end cocktail bar each month. Sykes explains, “The whole reason that we do this is to reclaim part of those spaces” for underrepresented groups “and have Black folks, POC, and LGBTQ people feel safe enough to come into those spaces” that aren’t traditionally Black-centric. “All three of us combined, we’ve been doing this for a very long time, and we want to be able to showcase the people that are putting in the work.”
On a recent Monday night at The Godfrey, that talent is on full display. Carielle, Neely, and Sykes chat with one another and their guests, breaking into brief bouts of dance to ’90s R&B and cracking jokes while they stir, mix, and shake with dazzling speed and precision. This week’s guest DJ gauges the crowd and adjusts the music to meet the tone, including tracks from Mos Def’s 1999 album Black on Both Sides, which inspired the collective’s name. The three founders, plus bar staff, wear black T-shirts emblazoned with the BOBS logo on the front and the phrase “Black Opulence” on the back.
Black opulence is the cornerstone, the inspiration for the trio. “‘Black opulence’ means a certain level of success and contentment with being a person of color,” Carielle says. “It’s about being a well-rounded, successful person.” That couldn’t be more evident, watching the three masters of their craft celebrate the joy of hospitality.
This story originally appeared in the February 2025 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our digital edition will be available on Feb. 10.
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