The Gold Door on Magnolia Road

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The front door of The Volstad Room used to be a tree in Pennsylvania. Sam Pisasale cut down the black walnut himself, shaped the door by hand and had the leftover wood milled into the bar top, West Of reports. That is a lot of effort for a door. It also tells you how this place got built.

The address is 15 Magnolia Road in Avondale, the spot y'all knew as Voodoo Tiki Bar, from the folks behind the Tattooed Moose. Caroline's Aloha Bar had a short run there next. Then came a long renovation, and for months the only clue was that shiny gold door. Locked.

The new room went the opposite direction from tiki. Leather on the walls, red leather banquettes, tin ceilings and sputnik chandeliers. The floor got a glassy swirled finish that West Of compared to a polished bowling ball. Three original midcentury pin-up paintings by Larry Vincent hang over the whole thing.

Pisasale's mood board reads like a road trip through America's old lounges: the Ranstead Room in Philadelphia, the Green Mill in Chicago, Atomic in Las Vegas, plus the Frolic Room and The Dresden in Los Angeles. The Dresden is the one to know. It has poured drinks in Los Feliz since 1954, the jazz duo Marty and Elayne have played there since 1982, and it was a starring location in Swingers. The Volstad crew has floated occasional live jazz of its own.

Now the bar talent. Pisasale brought in Jason Stalker from Gene's Haufbrau and Ben Masto, who did time at The Ordinary and Sissy Bar. Masto runs the drink program. The Post & Courier lists all three men as owners.

The kitchen came later. Back in July there was no food menu at all, just a plan for small plates borrowed from street food in the world's red-light districts, with Hamburg's Reeperbahn as the muse. According to the Post & Courier, the menu went live in October with Thai grilled pork, sweet potato dumplings, charred okra and shishitos with spiced yogurt, and a calamari and baby octopus pasta off the grill.

The pitch from day one: West Ashley has plenty of beer, so this is a cocktail bar. Classics, made fast. The house list has a Benne-Coolada built on toasted benne coconut cream. The Post & Courier also reports a lychee and habanero vodka drink called the Soho House, plus Narragansett on draft for anybody who wanders over from Gene's.

The practical stuff. Open every day, 5 p.m. to midnight. The Post & Courier reports happy hour runs 5 to 7. In July, Pisasale said he hoped to get a permit to stay open until 2 a.m., and there's no word yet on whether that came through.

Start with the door.

Sources: West Of (walnut door and bar top, decor, partners, beer-bar pitch, jazz plans), Cooter Soup (inspiration list, Reeperbahn, Benne-Coolada, hours, 2 a.m. permit), Saving Places (The Dresden's history), Punch (Voodoo Tiki Bar) and the Post & Courier (ownership, food menu, Soho House, happy hour)