Plush
The normal conceit of these “Bars Of…” pieces is to write about venues that are being visited for the first time. As in, the very first time. Maiden voyages, if you will. In almost all cases this time out, there’s a bit of a twist; though the inherent desire to find the new and notable spots stays intact. Centrally located and recently brimming with added dining and drinking options, Grand Center’s our latest stop in investigating every location in St. Louis with a liquor license. Wish us luck!
Plush
3224 Locust, 63103
Before this weekend, I’d eaten dinner at Plush, had drinks there, even played an hour or two of ping-pong in what’s arguably the most-unexpected table tennis location in town. But I’d not been to the music venue until summoned in by the third Hanukkah Hullabaloo, The Brothers Lazaroff’s annual, holiday-themed variety show. In some respects, it was a perfect night to take in the music room, as the crowd was thick and the music was accompanied by speakers, circus performers, comic storytellers, DJs, you-name-it.
By any measure, the Hanukkah Hullabaloo is a very different animal than most shows, with vendors lined up along one wall, and dozens of chairs taking up space near the dance floor, better to accommodate the evening’s older audience. Those quirks aside, the venue still gave off the basic of which I’d heard: the sound system is quite good, the sightlines are generally unimpeded, the mezzanine looked kinda cool, and there were nooks-and-crannies of booth seating throughout. The particular sights have to be noted. For one, is there a deeper stage among St. Louis clubs? And what other club features a sound booth just above the bar?
Plush is full of weird and wonderful touches, some of them quite subtle, some overt; they play out over multiple floors and in just a warren of differently-shaped-and-themed rooms. The music space has found a niche in booking indie rock, hip-hop and quite a few one-off shows, things like KDHX’s annual Art Attack and, now, the Hullabaloo. All of the shows booked alongside a full-service restaurant with its own bar, which circles around from the one on the club side. If you’ve not investigated the space before, find a reason to go: food, fellowship, music, quirk. All are offered in varying amounts.
Dooley’s Beef N Brew House
601 North Grand, 63103
314-531-7600
Having worked in Downtown for a good bit of the 1990s, Dooley’s isn’t exactly a new name, though its delayed reincarnation in midtown remained a mystery to me until last week. A late lunch/early dinner was calling, as was a glass of beer. Stress needed to be addressed in the form of sitting in a public space and enjoying the basics of life. A bit of food, a sip of alcohol and, for good measure, arguably the nicest view of Grand Center going, with windows that look right out onto Leon Strauss Park and the district’s linchpin intersection of the Grand and Washington. With the sun dropping on a brisk, early winter evening, it was a pleasant enough way to pass an hour.
Dooley’s is cut up into a couple spaces; we opted for one that looked both outward (to the street) and inward (into the kitchen). There, cooks were busily prepping for a night’s dinner rush, compliments of a Fox crowd, as what seemed to be an army of servers fanned out around the floor. Having gotten there just before their arrival, our service came via a bartender in a Meshuggah t-shirt, an efficient metal fan who got us taken care of in no time.
The venue’s got that vibe of sports bar-slash-casual restaurant, with flags and posters and liquor merch tacked up alongside some actually nice features. So it’s comfortable, let’s call it, just like the old spot Downtown, without a lot of airs and with food and drinks that’re priced right, especially if the need for nutrition strikes you during happy hour. It’s the view, more than anything, though, that seals the visit. Find your space. Make sure it’s along a window. You’ll feel the “real city” buzz, guaranteed.
The Field House Pub & Grill
510 Theresa, 63103
314-289-0311
Here’s yet another variant on the “first time only” conceit: I’ve been to Field House before, maybe a half-dozen times over the couple of years that it’s been open. But, and here’s the wrinkle, I’d never been during a TV broadcast of a Billikens basketball game. That counts, and here’s why: of all the places that ring Saint Louis University, the Field House (along with Humphrey’s, of course) can lay claim to being the “best place to watch the Billikens.” With tons of TVs and unimpeded views of them, the Field House offers the corporate sports bar experience, but without the annoyances of those places and with local ownership.
Found in a somewhat-unobtrusive building directly between Lindell and Washington, the Field House’s modest exterior belies a fairly large interior. Separated into a bar room with seating and a larger dining room, the TVs are going to dominate your visual enjoyment of the space from either side, with TVs circling around the top half of the venue. The place draws a reasonably healthy lunch and dinner business, with solid pub fare the norm, along with a row of taps that reflect both local and national beer offerings.
On nights when the Billikens play, the place hums, we’ve heard. But this visit was a little bit tricky; the Bills were playing Old Dominion in a hotel ballroom in Mexico, in front of a tiny audience. With the Thanksgiving holiday starting that Wednesday night, the Field House’s usual crowd was severely repressed, too, with just a few diehard viewers drifting over from the Frost Campus to watch the game. While that wasn’t good for the house, it was plenty good for a viewer, with plenty of elbow room. Every so often, a great play would occur, and there’d be hoots and hollers, little echoes compared to nights upcoming, when the Bills’ competition level increases and the students and young staffers of SLU filling this spot. It serves a role near campus, this Field House, and it does the role right.
The Magnolia Cafe
3524 Washington, 63103
http://answers.kdhx.org/customer/portal/articles/1380994-larry-j-weir-center-faq
Once again, we feature bit of a cheat here. The Larry J. Weir Center will be opening for business in the span of about a week, with KDHX’s offices, music libraries and studios permanently shifting from the longtime home in Tower Grove East to Grand Center. In the new space, once home to the second version of the Creepy Crawl, a live music venue called The Stage will take up half of the ground floor. The other half will be given over to a small coffeehouse called The Magnolia Cafe. (As people who’ve visited Austin, Texas, may very well know, the Magnolia Cafe there is one of that city’s most-beloved spots. This version is named after the street on which KDHX has existed for the past quarter-century.)
A few weeks back, KDHX open the doors to the new facility as a venue for Cinema St. Louis’ International Film Festival. In doing so, the station gave a sneak peek to the new rooms on that first floor, though each is still undergoing final prep work. The venue itself proved a really good one for film, especially those titles that aren’t going to draw a huge audience. Seating featured both standard chairs and high two-tops, allowing folks to sit on a couple different levels. Going forward, the room’s expected to have a capacity of roughly 130 for shows, perhaps a few less in certain configurations. Beer, wine and spirits will be offered, during regular day/evening hours and whenever a show is taking place.
The cafe that night was pretty spartan, with only two taps operating. They featured the most-hyper-local beer possible, from Urban Chestnut Brewing Company; from the front door of the Magnolia, you can basically see the UCBC original location, just a block down Washington. A few snacks were offered, but this was a stripped-down version of what’s coming later this month. It was interesting chance to experience a show before doors officially open, with the venue tying into the local community about as much as possible: a local movie, screening in a new room, featuring beer from down the street, with an audience that was filled by St. Louis notables. It was an auspicious preview.
