Quench Beverage Director Steve Oshana Out After a Week

Rockville's brand new cocktail bar has already run into quite the snag when it comes to its supposed mission to "recreate the urban experience in the suburbs." The Post was first to report that beverage director Steve Oshana is already out at Quench, just a week after it celebrated its grand opening. Apparently, the people of Rockville were looking for a little more of a suburban experience — "children’s dishes and highchairs" — that Oshana wasn't happy about.

Both sides tell the Post that that parting was "amicable" and there are "no hard feelings" — though a statement that Oshana sent Eater indicates some drama in which he was "basically stopped" at the door when he went in for work yesterday. Here's Oshana's full statement:

There had been some disagreement about the direction of the cocktail program, and I made a lot of concessions regarding trying to make our menu more suburban friendly, a decision i felt compromised our concept but i nonetheless executed faithfully. I came in yesterday for our managers meeting and they basically stopped me at the door and the GM told me my services were no longer needed. we parted ways amicably as we all agreed this was for the best as I really couldnmt adjust to living and working in the suburbs. I'll miss them a lot, but I'm still close with ownership and the culinary team and I wish them the best and look forward to seeing Quench have great success.

The Post further notes that Matt Allred has taken over for Oshana and that the kid-friendly cartoon brunch kicks off in a few weeks.

· Kiddie cocktails and highchairs: Did they send Quench’s beverage director packing? [WaPo]
· All Previous Quench Coverage [-EDC-]

[Photo: Yelp]