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[REVIEW]
Fountain of Youth The Soda Fountain at St. Louis Union Station offers a magical retreat for the young and young at heart Written by
CHERYL BAEHR The Soda Fountain 201 South 18th Street, 314-923-3939. Sun.-Sat. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
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hat is the point, you might wonder, of placing a gigantic rainbow-colored, unicorn-shaped lollipop into the even more gigantic Very Happy Un-Birthday milkshake that’s already garnished with a snickerdoodle cookie? And whipped cream. And sprinkles that coat the entire top-third of the glass. There’s even a full-sized cupcake — it too covered in whipped cream and its own layer of sprinkles — balanced atop this spectacle. The lollipop could be considered the cherry on top of this aptly named Freak Shake, were there not an actual cherry on it as well. To answer this question, you must step inside the mind of a sixyear-old — in this case, my daughter — who saw the sucker not as a gratuitous addition to an over-thetop confection but as an opportunity. Using it as a spoon, she dunked the lollipop all the way to the bottom of the glass and dug out the ice cream and whipped cream, with melted sugary cream smeared all over her face and dripping from her hands to her elbows. At one point, the “unicorn sucker,” as she called it, proved to be the perfect implement for chiseling off the layer of vanilla frosting and sprinkles that surrounded the glass. She was a hot, sticky mess, and she was living her best life. This scene is precisely what Lodging Hospitality Management, or LHM, had in mind when they conceived of the Soda Fountain, a 1950s-style ice cream parlor and
The egg salad sandwich and double cheeseburger alongside the All-American Sundae and A Very Happy Un-Birthday Freak Shake. | MABEL SUEN diner at the reimagined St. Louis Union Station. After purchasing the landmark property in 2014, LHM knew they wanted to do something grand that would reinvigorate a place that was once a must-visit destination, whether in its first incarnation as the city’s rail hub or its reinvention in the 1980s as a dining and shopping destination. heir first step was to renovate the hotel and its iconic Grand Hall. What to do with the back part of the property, however, required more thought. As they looked around to other cities of similar size, they realized that St. Louis’ lack of an aquarium was an anomaly. After settling on that for the interior of the property, they came up with the idea for the St. Louis Wheel, a miniature golf course and a carousel. The lake would be turned into a light show with ames shooting out of the water to music, and there would be a ropes course, a mirror maze and a playground. All they had left to do was plot out the food options. Originally, LHM thought they had that figured out. All the way up to 2017, the Hard Rock Café was supposed to stay put, and, at the time, it made sense. The restaurant chain was known throughout the country as an entertainment destination, so it seemed like a good fit. owever, when the Hard Rock pulled out, LHM saw their opportunity to create a restaurant that would be even
more cohesive with the St. Louisthemed, orld’s air-in ected vision they had for the property. A soda fountain made perfect sense. Not only would it nod to the 1904 World’s Fair/Louisiana Purchase Exposition and St. Louis’ alleged role in inventing the ice cream cone, it also would evoke the sort of nostalgic, familyfriendly whimsy that they wanted the property to offer. With that vision in mind, LHM partnered with the Lawrence Group to help them convert the former Hard Rock space into a pastel-hued fairytale land: part soda fountain, part diner, part candy store and all fun. You don’t have to be six to appreciate the stunning aesthetic that LHM has brought to life. The moment you step in the door, you feel as if you are being transported into a Neapolitan-colored dream. Pale pink, white and pistachio-green paint and oor tiles cast a pastel glow, and round glass lights line the ceiling to make you feel as if you are on a carousel. Although the restaurant occupies 10,000 square feet, it’s smartly divided into three separate areas — the soda fountain counter and a dining room, a central dining room and a retro candy shop — to make it feel less cavernous. In the evenings, the room is particularly magical, as the twinkling lights from the St. Louis Wheel, carousel and other attractions glitter
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through the restaurant’s many windows, lighting up the room with a jewel-like twinkle. f needed confirmation that their idea for the Soda Fountain was a good one, they got it in the form of the overwhelming reception they’ve received. Though there was no wait on either of my visits — which were on weekdays with no St. Louis Blues home games — the restaurant is already famously busy, with wait times as shocking as its Freak Shakes. On weekends, it’s been known to have a four-hour wait time, which would prohibit dining there were it not for the fact that the restaurant uses Yelp Waitlist and has an entertainment complex mere steps outside its doors. To accommodate the potential for such wait times, chef Russel Cunningham (who oversees all of the restaurants on the Union Station property except for Landry’s Seafood House), smartly kept the Soda Fountain’s menu simple and straightforward. However, at a restaurant that easily could have phoned it in with sub-par, frozen concession stand food because of its captive audience, he does this simple food well. A griddled double cheeseburger is the quintessence of the form — crispy around the edges, juicy in the center, topped with molten American cheese that soaks into every crevice of the
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