By David O'Neill
Pablo Weiss is best known for Kitchen K and Nectar, both of which draw urban types who take food, drink and ambience seriously. Nonetheless, it was no prank when, on April Fool’s Day, Weiss opened a new bar near Busch Stadium III that catered to a different animal: the baseball fan.
When Weiss learned about the new stadium and the proposed Ballpark Village, the wheels started turning. “I was inspired—or, rather, excited,” he says. “One thing I’ve done in my career is try to be the first to get in there and do something different.” That he did with Mercury, which draws “a more sophisticated crowd,” he says. “It’s been more civilized, not loud kids drinking 24-ounce cans of beer.”
As the baseball season nears its end, Mercury’s after-dark visitors have something else to look forward to: an alternative to the megaclub. The demographic will be largely the same, “not so much ‘upscale’ as open-minded and fun-seeking,” Weiss says, “and the focus will be more on DJs: more DJ-oriented house, hard house and trance—and we might try some hip-hop.”
The space, in the Cupples Station Apartments building on Spruce Street, will still feature a chic modern sensibility: cork flooring, copper fixtures and a stained-concrete bar. At around 1,600 square feet, the place isn’t cavernous, but with room for about 60 indoors and 70 on the patio, no one’s squirming.
The bar menu—a baker’s dozen of items in the gracious $4–$7 range—is small and accessible but still dares to be a little different. The house wings are tossed in a honey-jalapeño glaze, and it’s hard to lose with beef satay or a thin-crust pizza. Standbys like Bud and Bud Light are available, as are higher-end microbrews (Boulevard, Goose Island, Fat Tire) and liquors.
1025 Spruce, 314-621-5502, www.mercurystl.com.
Opens two hours before Cardinals games and stays open until the crowd clears out.
Lunch is served 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Mon–Fri; music and food are available 9 p.m.–1:30 a.m. Fri & Sat.
