× Expand Paul Hamilton new bar restaurant rum The site of Paul Hamilton's soon-to-be rum-bar-themed restaurant.

Photo by Kevin A. Roberts

The announcement of Paul and Wendy Hamilton’s next restaurant venture came, almost as a matter of fact, Tuesday on the Restaurant Tuesdays radio show on 550 KTRS. The couple was named "2018 Restaurateurs of the Year" in the October issue of St. Louis Magazine.

As host John Carney rattled off the list of restaurant successes—Vin de Set, 1111 Mississippi, PW Pizza, 21st Street Brewers Bar, and Hamilton’s Urban Steakhouse & Bourbon Bar—Hamilton nonchalantly added “and we should have another one open by the end of October.”

Say what? The steakhouse has been open less than three months and now something else? Hamilton explained that he signed a lease adjacent to Hamilton’s because the restaurant complex on Chouteau “needed the 150-space parking lot.”

It just so happened it came with a 10,000-square-foot building.

Hamilton, who owns property on Virgin Gorda, elaborated that they’d planned to do a “Christmas in the Caribbean”–themed pop-up in the space, featuring Bad Santa’s Rum Bar, but realized a permanent restaurant could be built for not much more. The restaurant at 2107 Chouteau (formerly the home of a coil springs manufacturer) will occupy the 4,800-square-foot first floor, and will feature Caribbean small plates and cocktails to match. While the name of the restaurant has yet to be decided, you have to admit Spring Bay Beach Club, after a favorite Virgin Gorda beach, has a nice ring to it.

The new venture, however, is “not a tiki bar like in the South Pacific, but a beach bar like you’d see in the Virgin Islands,” Hamilton cautions. The main difference is the cocktails. Only the former are served in funny-looking glasses with umbrellas, Hamilton says.

A lot of famous cocktails were created in the Caribbean, Hamilton explains. “The Painkiller originated in the Soggy Dollar Bar in Jost Van Dyke [one of the British Virgin Islands]. The Bushwacker originated in the Caribbean as did the BBC [banana, Bailey’s, and coconut]—all great cocktails.” Expect to see Rum Runners, Hurricanes, and 10 or so frozen drinks. Hamilton hopes to feature the largest selection of rums in the Midwest. Caribbean beers (like Red Stripe, Kalik, Carib, and Banks) and non-alcoholic drinks will be part of the beverage mix as well.

The kitchen will produce uncomplicated small plates that complement the island beverages. Think savory patties, plantains, pelau, and jerk chicken. In true island style, Hamilton foresees reggae nights, limbo contests, and—it’s unavoidable—nods to Jimmy Buffet.