Cherokee Street has a sleek, new cocktail bar and listening lounge: The Saturn Lounge (1915 Cherokee).
The Menu
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The bar serves signature cocktails, such as the all-business Sign Painter (rye whiskey, Genepy liqueur, Benadictine, lemon, bitters) and the more relaxed Slow Jam (coffee caramel pecan liqueur, whiskey cream, coffee, orange bitters). Draft beers include selections from such local breweries as Civil Life, 4Hands, and Rockwell, in addition to a lengthy bottle and can list, as well as nonalcoholic options and spirit alternatives.
A food menu is also on the horizon, with experienced chef KT Ayers (formerly of Schlafly Bottleworks, Purple Martin, and Riddles) tapped to run the kitchen. The menu is still in development, with food service slated to roll out in the next four to six months. The plan had originally been to open with the kitchen already installed in the building next door. As co-owner Doug Morgan puts it, however, “the supply chain issues are real.”
The Background
With an impressive collection of records and other physical audio media, the Saturn Lounge’s name is inspired by the vinyl albums’ resemblance to the eponymous planet.
Dubbed “The Blacksmith Shop,” the two-story brick building that it occupies was built around 1880. The interior has been completely gutted and revamped, with a spacious, string-lit brick patio added to the front. The main room includes the bar and booth seating along the exposed brick wall. A secondary parlor is located in the back.
Co-owner John Curtis already had the Benton Park building and a neighboring building in his possession before approaching Morgan (previously co-owner of the Delmar Restaurant and Lounge, as well Boogaloo) about the collaboration. “It was a hard yes—let’s do this,” recalls Morgan. “I thought it was a perfect neighborhood for the concept.”
Morgan is also known for his weekly radio show on KDHX, The Record Sto, which he’s hosted for more than 32 years as himself and his alter ego, Doug Love. The albums played at the Saturn Lounge are from Morgan’s own collection, which spans about 20,000 records. A post on the lounge’s Facebook page suggests records purchased across the street at Dead Wax may have a shot at getting a spin on the turntable, but don’t count on it.
“I do the programming,” says Morgan. “I’m not saying if somebody suggested something and I had it and I was in the mood that I wouldn’t play it, but as a general theory it’s not a jukebox.”
The Saturn Lounge is open from 3 p.m.–close Wednesday through Sunday. As Morgan puts it, “We close when we close. We’re done when we’re done.”
Doug Love could not be reached for comment.
