Review: The Fortune Teller Bar on Cherokee Street
The screen door slams behind me on a chilly Friday night, and I see a girl in full-on Goth mode huddled over an old, converted barrel table that looks like it could still hand out splinters. Entranced in a worn paperback, she doesn’t look up as she takes a pull off a bottle of beer with an unfamiliar label. It’s dark inside, as it should be.
This little-known Cherokee Street den of booze and black magic was shuttered in the 1990s, presumably never to be spoken of again. Retreating into the floorboards, the magic sat dormant – cloaked in a string of failed commercial ventures. Darkness, though, has a tendency to reemerge.
Still marked “Hippodrome” in the aged tile step under the creaking screen door, The Fortune Teller Bar has quietly stolen back its roots. More than ever, this bar is an odd place to be. But the recent excavation and revival of The Fortune Teller under the care of co-owners Kristin Dennis, Matt Thenhaus and Sam Coffey is something special. Honestly, these people could write a how-to for the new generation of upscale dive bar proprietors. While old-timey from the tin pressed ceiling down to the herd of mounted animals that adorn the walls, this place has a vibrancy and modern sense behind it. Things weren’t just placed here and there. Skulls sit in the window, but you have to look twice to find them. A clever and ominous little portrait of Rasputin glares out from a wall above one table; a stuffed fox frozen in mid-step creeps over another; and behind a wooden screen sits a fortune teller, who, for a little tip money, will draw tarot cards. Instead of a kitschy, fly-by-night hipster bar haphazardly thrown together and just as easily forgotten, this is a quirky and classy re-imagination of a dark, back-alley saloon. And when they’re not dabbling in the black arts, the folks at this place sling damn fine cocktails.
The patrons are pulled from the ranks of the young, hip, chic crowd that inhabits this neck of town. The weekend comes, and the Teller becomes the mecca for Cherokee locals who dart in and out of the bar, ducking into the underground comedy club next door or lounging out front for a smoke on a torn-out car seat.
Ingenious little cocktails can be a little weak at times, but for the most part are just as they should be. The fact that the ownership triumvirate cut their teeth behind the mahogany at bars like Schlafly and The Royale is not lost in the menu, which caters to the tastes of discerning customers with lesser-known liquor brands paired with house-made mixers. A standout in the seasonally rotating cocktail menu is the house Manhattan, a not overly sweet mixture of local J.J. Neukomm whiskey and Byrrh Grand QuinQuina, topped with a dark cherry that soaks up all that whiskey for a strong finish to the fine cocktail. For something more original, I’d suggest the Alpine Daisy or the Comte. The former is a delightful smattering of Old Tom gin with fresh lemon, grenadine, a hit of Salers Aperitif Gentiane and soda. The Comte (totally breaking with the off-brand bath-tub gin speakeasy trend) is a great success in its odd mix of Maker’s Mark bourbon with Dewar’s, Green Chartreuse, sugar and fresh lemon. It reminded me of a Mike’s Hard Lemonade, only this actually tasted good.
An outstanding selection of beers represents the best of the local breweries – 4 Hands, Civil Life – as well as some solid international players (see Wernesgrüner Pils). About 30 types of bottled beer are offered, along with eight drafts that, along with the ubiquitous Stag, include great new crafts like Urban Chestnut’s Hop Switch, a refreshing and lightly fruity cousin beer to the brewery’s Zwickel. There are a handful of wines, such as a Monte Antico Super Tuscan or the spiced Glühwein, but these were ignored by a crowd more interested in the hard stuff. Food is primarily in the form of meat-and-cheese boards, fortified with bites procured from local farmers and bakeries.
Billed as an approachable neighborhood haunt, The Fortune Teller is unmistakably highbrow in its stock of stellar hooch. The service is great. The crowd is eccentric as hell and loving every inch of this place. The Cherokee neighborhood has reclaimed an authentic clubhouse in this saloon for a new generation of believers.
THE FORTUNE TELLER BAR
2635 Cherokee St., St. Louis, 314.776.2337, thefortunetellerbar.com
