Squeezing Up the Freshest Drinks in South City

Everything about The Royale Food and Spirits is fresh. Located within the South City purlieus, The Royale injects a fresh blast of retro hipness to the strip just south of Arsenal Street on Kingshighway Boulevard. Evidence of its creativity is a snazzy drink menu featuring no less than 28 specialty drinks – one representing each ward in the city. The River Des Peres is a very dirty martini and The Soulard Sling adds a Mardi Gras-inspired rum-and-fruit-punch-style cocktail to the menu. Most notable of all, The Royale features fresh-squeezed juices in its libations: lime, lemon, orange, pear and cucumber. Yes, cucumber. The Royale’s signature drink – The Subcontinental, representing Ward 1 – is an original, and it’s inspired by cucumber. “It’s a nice complement and progression to cooling off on a hot day,” said proprietor Steve Smith. “It’s cool, refreshing and smooth. It’s a nice contrast to the sweeter summer drinks.” The Subcontinental is an original recipe from self-proclaimed student of mixology Tim O’Connell. A mix of Bombay Sapphire gin, Cointreau and cucumber juice create a cocktail reminiscent of a classic cucumber vichyssoise – minus the cream and potatoes of the traditional soup, of course. It makes a nice aperitif with its strong cucumber flavor and barely there gin undertone. “I came up with the Subcontinental three or four years ago when somebody gave me a juice extractor,” said O’Connell, a very recent St. Louis defector to The Washington Post. “Somehow I got the idea to juice a cucumber and decided it would be perfect for a hot summer day.” Within three or four attempts, O’Connell created this signature drink. He recommended it on the rocks, though it is generally served as a martini at The Royale. “The gin marries really well with the cucumber,” said O’Connell. And while he has sought out other cucumber drinks and found a few martinis, his recipe remains an exclusive. “I feel a certain ownership to it,” said O’Connell. “It’s a gift to Steve.” The entire drink menu, largely authored by O’Connell – he came up with the recipes as well as the witty, tongue-in-cheek descriptions – is a gift to Smith. “Steve from the very beginning was interested in having fresh juice on the menu,” said O’Connell, who escorted Smith on a research tour of the best Chicago and Milwaukee bars. And while he took notes on craftsmanship and style from hot Chicago spots, it was from Milwaukee that Smith extracted The Royale’s spirit. “Milwaukee has a very strong community bar scene,” said Smith. “And I wanted to establish a strong tie with the community. I want The Royale to be the kind of place where you can hang out with friends, your girlfriend, your parents.” The Royale features an enclosed and pleasantly private courtyard that makes an evening out feel like a social, yet stylish, backyard gathering. The interior has a retro feel, with large portraits of historical figures such as Frank Sinatra, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. The room’s design is capped off with ceiling fans that look vaguely like white-wall tires and a disc jockey booth. “It’s sort of reflective of my personality and whom I hang out with,” said Smith, known locally for his day job as a boxing promoter and owner of the Panda Athletic Club on North Broadway. A popular personality and avid St. Louis promoter, Smith has a strong civic interest in city revitalization and feels The Royale attracts the same sort of clientele. On any given day, it is not unusual to find an alderman or two sharing bar space with a city cop and a young hipster. The Royale, open a couple of months, promises to be a notable, fresh destination with a focus on quality. “I have a soft spot for really good drinks,” said Smith, whose background in restaurants includes several years of bartending and management. With a smile he added that establishing The Royale required “a lot of research – a long, arduous process of drinking.”