(Courtesy: DM Register)
SAY‘Hello’TO YOUR NEW DOWNTOWN D.M. COCKTAIL LOUNGE
And it’s in the lobby of the former Register building
BRIAN TAYLOR CARLSON
The entrance is just off the former lobby of the Des Moines Register
& Tribune building. The big revolving globe is gone, but a row of
armoires filled with bottles of spirits line the far wall. Rhythm and
blues music from the ’50s and ’60s plays in a room that’s made to look
and feel as comfortable as a living room of a bygone era.
A nearly 100-year-old Wurlitzer spinet piano rests beneath the
painting of a fashionable lady in a white, sleeveless dress. She’s
smiling and enjoying a sloe gin cocktail with a cigarette in a space
that was created just for her.
That’s Marjorie. And she seems to be enjoying herself.
Hello, Marjorie is the newest nightlife nook to take its place among
the downtown Des Moines cocktail scene. It’s the concept of Nick
Tillinghast, 28, and Kyle McClain, 28, who created DMDT Hospitality
& Lifestyle in February 2016. Ryan Hutchison, 36, also came on as a
partner to help bring the venture to life.
Tillinghast’s childhood memories of his sociable and stylish grandmother, Marjorie Anderson, are behind the Hello, Marjorie concept. Marjorie was known for
enjoying her sloe gin cocktails and the occasional social cigarette. “I
remember going to Latimer to see her and people would greet her wherever
she went,” Tillinghast said. “Latimer was a very tight-knit community
and it was rare for us not to walk into a room and for people to say,
‘Hello, Marjorie,’ or ‘Hi, Marge.’” After Marjorie’s husband, Harry,
passed away from a sudden heart attack in 1965, she placed all her
attention and devotion on raising her three daughters. And she never
remarried because Harry was the love of her life. “This concept is
capturing her when she was in her heyday,” Tillinghast said. “I wanted
to capture when she was at her best.”
Hello, Libations
The partners hired
mixologist Zacharia Avila, 31, to manage the spacious 134-seat bar and
lounge and to be the creative mind behind the cocktails. Born and raised
in Apple Valley, California, he’s been hard at work getting things up
and running, commuting from Mason City every weekend. After Tillinghast
sent Avila an email explaining the concept, Avila wanted to help
Tillinghast capture Marjorie’s personality through the art of the
cocktail.
“I was
impressed by the little story of Marjorie and had a couple of ideas
right off the bat that I wanted to explore,” Avila said. “I started to
see cocktails forming in my head as far as what I would serve in that
vision.” Avila set in motion his creative plan for the cocktail list,
with Marjorie as the focus, but with nods to the building’s previous residents.
The first cocktail he thought up was the Editor’s Note, a mix of
American Prairie Bourbon, apricot liqueur, smoked apple bitters and
simple syrup. It’s mixed and poured over a big ice cube sphere and
garnished with dried apricot and sliced apple. Avila recommends nibbling
on the apple after each sip to enhance this whiskey-forward drink.
Avila makes his own bitters using a secret process, and there are seven
different kinds of traditional and obscure bitters available for his repertoire. “It depends on the cocktail and the flavor profile,” Avila said.
The Register & Tribune is a shaken mixture of Glenmorangie
10-year scotch, Plymouth sloe gin, lemon juice, fine sugar and house
bitters.
The cocktail is
strained into an absinthe-laced retro coupe glass. This cocktail is
lightly sweet and oaky with just a hint of licorice from the absinthe.
And the house bitters add a touch of pecan flavor.
But the cocktail that Marjorie would have had is called, aptly, The
Marjorie. “I wanted to find Marjorie’s counterpart,” Avila said.
Plymouth sloe gin is shaken with Absolut pear vodka, fresh lemon and
raspberry bitters for zing, and strained. It’s served straight up with a
sprig of rosemary that adds a nice, herbaceous nose to the drink.
The rosemary was Tillinghast’s idea.
Avila made sure to touch base with different kinds of cocktail
drinkers by using a variety of spirits including vodka, gin, bourbon,
scotch, sloe gin, rum, rye whiskey, mescal, and cognac. But the
largest scope of the cocktail menu is freshness. “I love using things
that have just been cut, just been sliced, just been juiced, just been
made,” Avila said. “It makes everything 10 times better.”
There’s even a classic Stinger on the menu, made from Hennessy VS with
Fernet Branca Menta, a dry crème de menthe. It’s served in a Nick &
Nora cocktail glass, another classic vessel that’s making a comeback.
Hello, Marjorie also has eight local beers on tap that will change
throughout the year. And speaking of taps, the bar has Templeton 6 on
tap.
That’s right: It
has whiskey on tap. “This is unique in the country,” Tillinghast said.
“No one else is doing it.” Storypoint Vineyards Chardonnay and Carletto
Prosecco Sparkling Wine are on tap as well.
Bottled beers range widely with a mix of local, domestic and imports
including West O CocO Stout from West O Beer in Okoboji, Bell’s Two
Hearted Ale from Michigan and St.
Bernardus from Belgium. The wine list is by the glass or bottle. It’s modest, but it has most categories covered.
The drink menu will change in the next few months, rotating with the
seasons. But the wants and needs of its customers will take precedence.
“We want the guests to dictate how we move forward.” Large parties can
reserve space for 10-12 people in its dining room or living room areas,
and the entire space can also be rented.
Hello, Des Moines
The decor of the space was designed with the help of Tony Rose,
creative designer at both Siteworx Design + Build and Function House
Hospitality Group. For more than 10 Sundays in a row, the partners
would jump into a van with Rose and travel around the Midwest,
including Chicago and St. Louis, looking for pieces to use in the bar.
“Tony even went all the way to Atlanta (himself) for some things,”
Tillinghast said.
A
deep green leather banquette runs the length of the plate glass windows
while an assortment of old retro lampshades hang from the slate-gray
ceiling. “The prettiest girls in the world live in Des Moines,” reads a
pink neon sign by the door, a quote from Jack Kerouac. Gold drapery,
honey-colored wood paneling and high-top bistro tables with swiveling
leather chairs line the walls.
Some pieces came locally.
West End Salvage provided the fireplaces. Other pieces came from Gladys
and Betty’s Parlour; Funky Finds Vintage and Retro, and Modville — The
Porch Junkies in Adel. “They all bought into what we were doing,”
Tillinghast said. “If they didn’t have it right on the spot, they were
able to get it for us.” There’s even pink waiting room furniture from a
doctor’s office in Miami that’s set up for socializing. And hanging on
the wall is the painting of Marjorie herself, painted by Kelly Kunzler
of Kunzler Studios in Des Moines. Tillinghast and his partners couldn’t
be happier with the location of their new bar. “I love the history of
Des Moines and specifically the Locust, Grand and Walnut area,”
Tillinghast said. “You have all these nooks and neighborhoods, and with
all these apartments popping up, it’d be great to get some nightlife
back into the middle of the city.” And with the 164 R& T Lofts
apartments nearing completion in the same building, residents will have a
convenient place to hang out and unwind.
