Paul and Wendy Hamilton’s Rhone Rum Bar now open

It’s yo-ho-ho and 101 bottles of rum at Rhone Rum Bar, the Caribbean island–themed restaurant bar from Paul and Wendy Hamilton, founders of Hamilton Hospitality. The locally-based, multi-concept restaurant group includes Vin de Set, 1111 Mississippi, PW Pizza, 21st Street Brewers Bar, Moulin Events, and the recently-opened Hamilton’s Urban Steakhouse & Bourbon Bar. It also operates the food service inside Charleville Brewing Company and Tavern.

In October, in SLM named the Hamiltons “2018 Restaurateurs of the Year.”

This latest project came about by a bit of happenstance. The duo needed additional parking for the restaurants (all but 1111 Mississippi are located along Chouteau Avenue) and a 150-space lot became available just west of the complex on Chouteau.

The space came with a 10,000-square-foot building, “so we thought we’d better do something with it,” joked Paul. The couple extensively traveled to (and now owns property in) the Virgin Islands and had longed to re-create something similar to the divey beach bars that are common in the Caribbean.

The result was Rhone Rum Bar, named after the RMS Rhone, a mail freighter that sunk in the British Virgin Islands 150 years ago (and whose wreckage was featured in the 1987 movie The Deep). The sunken ship is a popular scuba destination. “Everybody in the islands is familiar with the Rhone,” says Paul.

The 5,000-square-foot, 100-seat space is a treasure trove of fun and whimsy: The aqua and white wall color evokes shallow Caribbean waters; the postcard photos are of nearby island beaches; and island expressions dot the indoor landscape, a handful finding their way to the back of staffers’ T-shirts.

Epoxied wooden tabletops could have found a home on the deck of an island schooner; the plastic wicker (“plicker”) barstools and chairs are designed for the long haul. Nautical flags adorn an ornate, winding wood-and-steel stairway (built by the prior tenant, a craftsman and woodworker) that leads to a possible future private event space.

To-come attractions include a rear outside patio (accessed via an operable garage door) and a former loading dock that’s being converted into an indoor sand volleyball—make that Wallyball—court, the first in the city according to Hamilton, who predicts that murals of palm trees, the sea, and the beach painted on the block walls will be transformative.

The décor—call it “cool kitsch”—is repeated at the bar. A soothing, deep ocean blue anchors a back bar replete with 101 bottles of rum. The menu asks you to “take one down and pass it around.” The rums hail from 20 ports of call, some as far away as Fiji and Brazil. Prices range from $6 to $30 for a dram of Samaroli Guadeloupe, a long-aged rum from (wait for it) Scotland that retails for close to $300 per bottle.

On, above, and behind the bar is the expected beach bar ornamentation: filament bulbs hanging from natural fiber ropes, wooden sailing ships, a ship’s clock, glass fishing floats, bamboo sheeting—all of it judiciously (and thankfully) apportioned. The peaceful, easy, feeling created conjured Eagles rather than gulls.

The 15-item cocktail list is split between frozen iterations and boat drinks (all are $8). Several of the libations—like the Painkiller, Bushwacker, and Banana Bailey Colada (pictured at right)—were created at Caribbean beach bars. Others—like the Strawberry Daiquiri, Sex on the Beach, and Piña Colada—are as ubiquitous as flip-flops. The house drink is The Rhone, a frozen mix of two rums (Sailor Jerry and Blue Chair Bay Pineapple Rum Cream), blended with wild berry and piña colada mix.

The Hamiltons wanted the small-plate offerings to reflect casual Caribbean fare, and so they do: a straightforward, 10-item menu led by crunchy-not-chewy conch fritters and an unusual (and must-have) tomato-and-coconut-based chowder with bay scallops, snapper, shrimp, conch, two kinds of potatoes, and a bracing snap of lime. It’s light, lovely, and a steal at $6.99.

Roughly the same combination of seafood makes up the ceviche, sided with plantain and a superior taro chip, both made in house (an $5.95 order of both chips served with pineapple salsa is a great starter/sharable).  

Flaky Caribbean hand pies come three ways—curry chicken, root vegetable, and beef and goat (“I would have liked that one to be 100 percent goat meat, but thought no one would order it,” confesses Paul). All are excellent, but the curry paired best with the accompanying mango-tamarind chutney.

The same chutney comes alongside three monster, jerk-seasoned chicken wings, served intact, just like in the islands. Meatier still is an easy-to-negotiate trio of Pig Pops (braised mini pork shanks known elsewhere as “pig wings”) served with tamarind barbecue.

Also on the menu are salt cod and seafood lettuce boats; grilled, chilled shrimp skewers; pulled pork nachos; and one dessert, a piña colada cake.

Rhone does not accept general reservations but group happy hours can be arranged. A New Year’s Eve Pirate Party (including a limbo contest and a conch-blowing competition) was just announced. Advance $20 tickets are available here.

The rum bar’s porthole logo includes several archetypal treasure map symbols. We’ll play the spoiler and reveal the address: 2107 Chouteau. Plot your course, matey.