Crafted Cocktails

When cocktail caterer Little Bitte shows up at a party, you know it’s the place to be. Their attention to detail is unparalleled, with elegant bar setups, gorgeous floral displays, and vintage flair providing the perfect complements to the delicious cocktails they shake and stir.

Little Bitte is the brainchild of local Jill-of-all-trades Willa Van Nostrand, who moonlights as a writer, singer, and gallery owner at World’s Fair in Providence. What’s her secret? Living life as an art form, she says, and bringing seemingly limitless energy and care to all her pursuits.

For years, Van Nostrand bartended at local watering holes and developed a following with the locally sourced, farm-fresh garnishes, juices, and small-batch bitters she would bring for cocktail experimentation. Over time, this flair for artisanal alchemy led to private party bartending and then a full-blown cocktail catering business. Today she caters public and private affairs in New England and beyond, flanked by a team of well-seasoned mixologists.

Now in its seventh year, the company succeeds by “happening upon recipes that appeal to a crowd, and kind of bringing that to a science,” Van Nostrand says. Little Bitte knows how to please its audiences: often it’s a “light, spritzy, citrusy cocktail balancing out a menu and then a whiskey or aromatic deeper, darker more intense cocktail.” She also likes to throw curveballs and push her tasters’ palettes with “infusions, spice, mezcal, and smoke.”

Event themes run the gamut as well; a recent BBQ festival inspired garnishes like smoked pork belly on a whiskey cocktail, grilled pineapples on margaritas, and grilled mussels on Bloody Marys. At a Movies on the Block screening of Pulp Fiction in Providence over the summer, one bartender dressed up as Uma Thurman’s character, Mia Wallace. Little Bitte also now occupies two bars at WaterFire – one in the basin and one at Star Field. For September’s Ocean State Oyster Festival, happening at the Providence Riverwalk on September 22, they’ll be introducing recipes with a mermaid-inspired theme.

“For me, my creative process is really important, and I do a lot of research and reading,” Van Nostrand says. “I’m always traveling to new bars and restaurants, and I find that so inspiring and exhilarating.” Following a trip to Italy last summer, she fell in love with aperitivos and spritzes, and hopes to help adopt them more into American culture. Wherever Van Nostrand’s travels take her, you can trust that her curious eye will find the best new flavors and approaches to incorporate into Little Bitte’s cocktails.