A red light above an unmarked door marks the entrance to this luxe speakeasy by Gerard Craft’s Niche Food Group. After you traverse a long tunnel, another door gives way to a sophisticated bar with navy furniture, dark wood accents and dim lighting.
Bar manager Fionna Gemzon’s cocktail program is filled with inventive surprises – and worth the potential wait. The Desert Flower is fruity and spicy, with Armagnac, agave-based aqara and sotol, pineapple, and a biryani tincture infused by Gemzon herself.
The balanced, earthy In the Mood for Love combines black sesame rye with pimento dram (an allspice liqueur), cumin, coriander and citrus. Meanwhile, the Pg. 28 arrives in dramatic fashion, topped by a smoke bubble that signals the key note in the cocktail’s blend of rye, Sfumato, Cardamaro and tobacco bitters.
There’s no kitchen, but the bar’s small selection of snacks includes highlights like chilled smoked mussels served with crackers and an irresistible charred scallion dip with kettle chips.
3730 Foundry Way, St. Louis, 314.656.6682, notastl.com
This article appears in March 2024.