A once-forgotten underworld beneath City Foundry STL has been transformed into one of the city’s hippest bars: None of the Above (3730 Foundry Way), a speakeasy-style cocktail lounge from James Beard Award–winning chef Gerard Craft’s Niche Food Group. Craft hopes the elegant, transportive space will offer guests more than just great drinks—he wants it to provide respite from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Here’s what to know before you go.
The Atmosphere
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Guests enter through an unmarked, street-level door illuminated by an industrial-style red light. They then walk through a graffiti-lined tunnel (the street art is original work recovered when work began on City Foundry) before descending down a ramp and stairs to the underground lounge level.
Inside, the dimly lit space, illuminated by downcast brass table lamps, invites guests to sink into the dark-blue velvet semi-circle banquettes or plush metallic-flecked beige velvet chairs (pictured below). The entire space, including the stunning wooden bar, has a hybrid Art Deco, midcentury modern feel to it. It’s decorated in vintage artwork, brass sconces, and luxe textured wallpaper. A large floor-to-ceiling mirror doubles as a secret entrance into a 20-seat private room, dubbed The Library (pictured at right), where guests can bask in an intimate setting, complete with a fireplace and framed photographs of St. Louis iconic restaurateurs and chefs.
“We wanted it to be luxurious, but the first thing we wanted was for it to be cool and clever,” Craft says. “We’re hoping that maybe people will get a little dressed up and come in to have a sophisticated experience. We want it to be a place where you can hear the person next to you and where nobody is knocking into you and spilling their drink on you. It’s a fun, special place.”
Beginning with the grand opening on Thursday, Dec. 14, hours of operation are Thursdays – Mondays from 5 p.m. to midnight with last call at 12:30 a.m. Reservations are not accepted, but parties larger than five are encouraged to call ahead. Guests can either walk in or join the waitlist on Resy here. Note that None of the Above will only seat complete parties and hold waitlist spots for 15 minutes.
The Menu
Craft tapped longtime bartender Fionna Gemzon (Olio, Taste, Brass Bar) to run the lounge, giving her creative control in developing a menu centered on creative, elevated cocktails. Craft describes the resulting cocktail menu as one that respects classic cocktails but offers fun, modern takes on them.
Classic cocktails include quintessential versions of an Old Fashioned, a Negroni, a French 75, and a Der La Louisianae. While the classics adhere to traditional recipes, Gemzon was able to exercise a little more creativity with the menu’s house cocktails, with such drinks as the In the Mood for Love (with black sesame rye, sotol, pimento dram, lemon, cumin, and coriander), The Chronicles of a Disappearance (made with apple brandy, celery root, amaro, gorini, and za’atar), and the Fallen Angel (consisting of chili crisp fat-washed tequila, cynar, cassis, lime, and ginger beer).
“I’ve been leaning a little more on food flavors for these drinks,” Gemzon says. “They are definitely approachable, even if I am using a lot of ingredients that are not necessarily thought of. We’ve also simplified the descriptions so as to not overwhelm the guests by listing every last ingredient. If people want to know more, we are ready to answer, but we also want to give you what you need to know to just order your drink.”
While None of the Above doesn’t have a kitchen, Craft and his culinary team, led by Peter Slay, have created a small menu of snacks, including charred onion dip and house-made potato chips, cheddar and caramel popcorn with candied ham, as well as cured olives and chilled smoked mussels. Craft is also excited to bring back a popular dish from his early days on the St. Louis culinary scene: salted peanut butter cookies with foie gras mousse and riesling gelee. “It’s a play on a peanut butter and jelly,” Craft says.
The Backstory
Eight years ago, Steve Smith, whose Lawrence Group had just bought the abandoned industrial complex that would become City Foundry STL, came across its waterlogged lower level. At first, he was unsure of what exactly he was looking at. As they started to drain it, however, they quickly realized that the water went down much deeper than expected, revealing a subterranean labyrinth of tunnels spanning the entire area beneath the massive facility.
Smith’s son and business collaborator, Will Smith, almost immediately knew the space would make the perfect speakeasy, and it took no time for him to convince the rest of the Lawrence Group to lean into that idea. Once Craft came on board with the overall City Foundry project, in 2019, the speakeasy concept had been somewhat fleshed out, though the team tabled the idea as they worked to get the food hall and companion Kitchen Bar up and running. By early 2023, however, Craft and his Niche Food Group colleagues turned their attention to the project, working to develop the details that would become None of the Above.
“We want people to feel transported a little bit,” Craft says. “One of the great things about coming down here through the tunnels and into a windowless room is that you could be sitting here in the middle of the day, but it could also be nighttime. You are instantly transported. My goal with restaurants is to have people forget about their day-to-day lives for a minute. We all go through so much every day—it’s nice to be able to step away for a bit. If you can buy someone two hours, that’s a little vacation.”
