The Gin Room on South Grand has some of the best cocktails in St. Louis

Behind the bustle of South Grand, a secret garden glows with sparkling spritzes and clinking glasses. On The Gin Room’s lush, secluded patio or inside the cozy yet expansive dining room adorned with rich jewel tones, guests can explore centuries-old European drinking traditions. Spritz and amaro carts set the scene, presenting everything from bright, citrusy aperitivo to earthy, herbaceous spirits. The ritual blends playful theater with education, a hallmark of the bar’s philosophy. “We’ve always been an education-focused bar,” owner Natasha Bahrami said. “You’ll leave us a little more enlightened on spirits and modifiers.”

From Café Natasha to The Gin Room
The Gin Room’s story began decades earlier with Café Natasha, a popular Persian restaurant Bahrami’s parents, Hamishe and Behshid, opened in 1983. After moving to South Grand in 2001, it became a mainstay of the neighborhood for nearly 40 years. In 2013, fresh from a stint working in politics in Washington, D.C., Bahrami carved out a corner of the restaurant to launch The Gin Room.

“I didn’t know what it was going to evolve into,” she recalled. “I had been passionate about gin since I was 22, when my drink of choice was a dirty martini. Growing up in your parents’ restaurant will drive you to drink,” she added with a laugh.

The Gin Room grew quietly but steadily, at first stocking just seven gins. A decade later, it boasts more than 400, with 2,000 more in Bahrami’s personal collection. When Café Natasha retired in 2022, The Gin Room emerged as the family’s defining identity. Since debuting in 2022, the restaurant portion carried the name Salve Osteria, but the team is now moving away from that moniker and embracing a single, unified identity: The Gin Room.

“The identity of The Gin Room is who we are now,” Bahrami said. “Café Natasha was a thing of its own – generations of people went there – but this is our new excitement.”

Cocktail curiosity
Education is evident in every element of the menu. Guests can sample guided gin flights, explore the custom flavor wheel that maps botanical notes like pine, dill or berry into a DNA-like spiral, or taste how seasonal ingredients play against different spirits.

The bar’s signature drinks push boundaries while staying fun. The Tropical, a clarified riff on the classic Saturn cocktail, uses coconut milk to fat-wash mango liqueur and gin, creating a silky sipper that quickly became a year-round hit. Conceptualized by general manager Brad Phillips, this nearly clear cocktail may look understated when it arrives at the table, but it’s certainly one of the best drinks on the menu.

Then there’s the Double Standard, a classic negroni elevated with luxe ingredients that’s paired with an adorable negroni jello shot served in a vintage coupe. Each element stands on its own, but the cocktail truly shines when you take a small bite of the jello, then sip the negroni, letting the flavors mingle into what is easily one of the best negronis in town. “We wanted to find ways to keep cocktails approachable rather than stuffy,” Bahrami said. “A jello shot in a beautiful glass adds that element of fun.”

Another signature touch at The Gin Room is that their spritzes are crafted with Sicilian lemon tonic instead of alcoholic bubbles such as prosecco, letting the amaro shine in full force while being enhanced by bright, citrusy notes. The commitment to detail is seen even in the ice: Custom cubes from local producer Nice Ice ensure cocktails dilute slowly and remain balanced.

Ginworld goes global
The Gin Room’s momentum spilled into something much larger: Ginworld, the festival Bahrami launched in 2015 to bring distillers together in one place. What began as a street festival on South Grand is now a national celebration spanning 15 U.S. cities, with St. Louis still at the center.

“This city’s enthusiasm for the category has inspired us,” she said. “St. Louis was known as a beer, bourbon and barbecue town, but now it’s a very important foodie city.”

This October, Ginworld returns for its 10th anniversary, headlined by industry heavyweights Simon Ford, of Ford’s Gin, and Miranda Hayman, of Hayman’s Gin based in London. The week-long series of events will culminate on Oct. 12 with the Gin Festival at Majorette in Maplewood, featuring hundreds of gin and cocktail tastings.

For Bahrami, one of the most memorable moments came years ago, when she sat down with Tom Nichols, longtime master distiller of Tanqueray. “I had just lost my father and was scared to go national,” she recalled. “He told me, ‘You need to do it. The U.S. needs to fall in love with gin.’”

Culinary innovations
This summer marked a new chapter for The Gin Room’s culinary program with the arrival of chef Justin Newsom. His pedigree stretches from Washington, D.C. – where he worked with Andrew Markert and Aaron Silverman of Rose’s Luxury, and trained alongside his friend James Vu Tran, former sous chef at the French Laundry – to some of St. Louis’ most acclaimed kitchens, including Tempus, Blood & Sand and the Lucky Accomplice.

Newsom’s cuisine is characterized as New American with French and Asian influences, staying true to The Gin Room’s harvest-centric ethos and hand-rolled pasta tradition. His mother, Mary “Meece” Corvina, assists with making pasta in the kitchen, adding another family touch to the restaurant’s lineage. The program continues to feature curated wine dinners led by Phillips, who is also a sommelier, adding depth to the experience.

The menu highlights seasonal creativity with dishes like heirloom tomato burrata served with cucumbers, sherry vinaigrette and a delicate basil foam. A rotating hamachi crudo showcases the harvest, paired with radishes, avocado purée, and aguachile that shifts weekly – red bell pepper one day, watermelon a few weeks ago – finished with jalapeño, pressed radish and cilantro. For something richer, the agnolotti carbonara is filled with prosciutto ricotta and topped with a silky yolk sauce, shaved Parmesan and more prosciutto.

“The Gin Room team has embraced Justin’s cuisine since he joined us in July,” Bahrami said. “We’re excited to see the program evolve.”

Raising a glass
Ten years in, The Gin Room is more than a neighborhood bar. It is an internationally recognized destination, particularly after becoming the first Missouri bar listed on World’s 50 Best Discovery.

The Gin Room has also been recognized by the James Beard Foundation. The bar was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2023 for Outstanding Bar. In 2025, Bahrami earned a nomination in the newly created category of Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service. Both nominations were announced while Bahrami was on a mountain in Oaxaca, and the most recent nomination created an even more meaningful moment since once you’ve been nominated in the semifinals but don’t advance to the final round, you typically can’t be nominated again for five years. The new category made this recognition possible, and it felt especially significant. “I think it meant more to us that something like gin would be given the spotlight where it’s often overlooked,” Bahrami said.

Amid the fanfare of international recognition, Bahrami remains focused on what truly matters: connection, whether through a guided tasting or an organic conversation across the amaro cart. “If we can continue to be a place where people come to us curious and we’re able to connect with them in a way that inspires or excites them, that’s what we’d like to do.”

This article appears in October 2025.