Longtime fans of Parker’s Table (7118 Oakland) will soon have a new place to sit and stay awhile: The Yale Bar (7120 Oakland), a 30-seat wine bar adjacent to the wine, beer, spirits, cheese, and gourmet food shop.
“I’ve always liked the idea of creating a neighborhood place where people can drop in, gather together, and come and go as they please,” says owner Jonathan Parker.
Find the best food in St. Louis
Subscribe to the St. Louis Dining In and Dining Out newsletters to stay up-to-date on the local restaurant and culinary scene.
The Concept
The idea of adding a wine bar has been a long time in the making. “This was always the plan,” says Parker, who bought the building in 2011. The space was a legal office for the past 11 years, an art gallery before that time, and a barbershop for 40 years. Until recently, the 800-square-foot space had been used to assemble holiday gift baskets for Parker’s Table. Once the holiday season ended, renovation and construction began in earnest.
The interior now features an off-white color scheme, chosen by Parker to create a clean and fresh look that highlights the original artwork displayed on the walls.
“I have artist friends who need wall space, and this place is already set up for it,” he previously told SLM. “Guests can enjoy the art while they’re here—and buy it if they like it.” Each piece includes a QR code linking to information about the artist and the artwork.
Most of the displayed works are whimsical pieces by local artist Sam Melendez, many with ties to the neighborhood—including depictions of the nearby AMOCO sign, Tropicana Lanes, and Fitz’s Root Beer.
There are also photographs by Dr. Peter Tuteur, a local pulmonologist. One notable image shows a senior with a handwritten caption: “I’m here for a good time, not a long time.” Parker says the quote could serve as the unofficial motto of The Yale Bar.
A self-proclaimed scrounger, Parker has a story for nearly every item in the place. The bar top was crafted by renowned woodworker Dave Stine from an ash tree Parker had cut down in Illinois. The copper sheets on the front of the bar came from a roofer’s supply house. “They weren’t oxidized like that when I got them,” Parker says with a smile.
The eclectic furnishings include ladder-back chairs from a Pentecostal church in Tennessee and rustic wood-and-leather bucket chairs that Parker sourced from Facebook Marketplace. The burled English walnut-topped tables once sat in the rathskeller of a Ritz-Carlton before making their way to a local coffee shop—then, eventually, into an alley, at which point Parker intercepted them.
Other salvaged details abound: leftover slate from a chalkboard next door, off-white tile rescued from a bathroom in Compton Heights… The list goes on. Ask Parker about any item, and he’s ready with a story.
The Yale Bar seats 24 inside, with additional tables on the sidewalk in good weather. It will serve wine and a small selection of beer but no hard liquor.
Alongside a house red, white, and rosé, guests can choose from a rotating list of about a dozen wines, available by the glass or bottle. Parker plans to feature limited-quantity selections—“a few bottles here, a few cases there”—to help keep prices affordable.
Half a dozen hot and cold snacks will be prepped in the Parker’s Table kitchen and finished on-site at the wine bar. “Come mid-afternoon, dishes will be moving from one back door to the other,” says Parker. Expect charcuterie items, spreads, dips, plus other favorites that are typically found in Parker’s Table’s grab-and-go case, says chef Steven Caravelli, who describes The Yale Bar experience as an apericena—a blend of Italy’s traditional aperitivo and a light dinner (cena).
The Yale Bar will be open from 5–9 p.m. (“English pub hours,” as Parker says), from Wednesday through Saturday. Mondays are popular industry nights, so that’s a possibility down the line, he adds.
Parking should not be an issue: In addition to street parking, Parker’s has access to the garage next door at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital beginning at 5 p.m.
The opening date has yet to be determined, pending the selection of a wine-savvy general manager.
“Four nights a week for a few hours a night,” Parker says. “It’s a sweet gig for the right person.”
THE BACKSTORY
Those who know Parker might describe him as the consummate shopkeeper. As SLM contributor Jenny Agnew once put it, “With his quiet, measured responses, punctuated by long pauses that were never awkward, Parker is like that favorite college professor who stays well after class because students want to hear more, as one topic gives way to another.”
In 1995, Parker first opened his eponymous wine, beer, spirits, cheese, and gourmet food shop on Maryland Avenue in Clayton, in what is currently the Simon’s Jeweler’s space next to Half & Half restaurant. Prior to that time, he worked in restaurants, was the first wine rep for A. Bommarito Wines, a sommelier at the St. Louis Club, and an assistant wine maker at Mount Pleasant Winery. The Clayton wine shop closed in 2009, when the building was sold. After an ill-fated attempt to open Delmar Farm & Food (which included a farmers’ market, grocery store, and restaurant), he purchased a building in Richmond Heights that had been a post office in the late 1920s.
The reimagined Parker’s Table in Richmond Heights became a mecca for wine, beer, fresh and preserved produce, imported pastas, olive oils, vinegars, teas, coffees, cured meats and cheese, grab-and-go sauces and condiments, fresh baked baguettes, cookies, unusual candies, and gift baskets.
Renowned chef Steven Caravelli (an alum of Chez Leon, An American Place, Niche, Sleek, ARAKA, and Euclid Hospitality Group) operates the kitchen, which serves up charcuterie and lunch items.
In 2022, Yelp named Parker’s Table “the best cheese shop in Missouri,” an accolade based on user ratings. “We really do pride ourselves on a high level of individual customer service,” cheesemonger Phil Billingsley told the Riverfront Times at the time.
It’s a sentiment that Parker still echoes: “A lot of the credit has to go to the staff, who feel empowered enough to take ownership in this place.”
In 2017, Parker bought the adjacent building, which was at one time a neighborhood grocery store. Parker envisioned a versatile venue that could be used for private parties, specialty tastings, wine dinners, and collaborative events with local chefs. Parker outfitted the space the same way he’d done with his other businesses: with hand-me-down Oriental rugs, tables and chairs retrieved from dumpsters, light fixtures upcycled from locations as diverse as The Chase Park Plaza and Chesterfield Mall, and even a moveable wall on rollers that came from a Fashion Bug in Eureka. A slate floor he’d installed (and later removed) from the original Parker’s Table was laid back down in a portion of the new space, which he called The Oakland Room. It was “the culmination of 24 years of working toward this end,” he told SLM at the time.
Now, The Yale Bar completes Jonathan Parker’s revitalization plan. “You have Parker’s Table at the corner of Oakland and Yale, where you can pick up a large selection of food and drink to take home,” he says. “You have The Oakland Room, where you can invite all your friends to a party in your own private room, and now The Yale Bar, where you can grab a glass or two of wine and a snack. I’ve always thought that those should be the three legs of the stool.”
