RIVER NORTH — What was once a speakeasy beneath the storied Green Door Tavern will draw heavily from its roots when it reopens Jan. 14 as a bar called The Drifter.
The cozy saloon at 676 N. Orleans St. has retained much of the subterranean charm — and stuff — of its Prohibition-era days, including dusty bottles of Fernet Branca, giant circus-themed signs, a wooden phone booth and bar bric-a-brac.
At the helm of The Drifter is beverage director and general manager Liz Pearce, formerly of Aviary, The Drawing Room and The Gage, who has developed a rotating menu of cocktails based on Tarot cards.
Janet Fuller says scenes from "Boardwalk Empire" were filmed in the bar:
The drink menu itself won't be thick and type-heavy. Rather, patrons will be given a small set of Tarot cards, between six or eight changing nightly, from which to order.
"The devil card is a Malort-based cocktail," Pearce said with a devilish grin.
Classic cocktails also can be ordered. The wine list is short — one red, white and sparkling to start — and the beer will be limited to four on tap and a few more in bottles.
Food will be similarly streamlined to snacks and finger foods such as deviled eggs and spiced chickpeas.
To go along with the drinks and nibbles, the bar will host what Pearce called "performers of eccentric talents," from stand-up comics and ragtime piano players to sword swallowers and burlesque performers, though Pearce said, "We don't really want to be known as a burlesque bar."
The Drifter's vibe will be "grittier," she said, the sort of place where wanderers looking for work and fun might have congregated in the 1920s, in the vein of HBO's "Boardwalk Empire," which was set during Prohibition.
Funny enough, a scene from the show was filmed in the bar, Pearce said.
"We're hoping for kind of a rowdy, raucous, drink-slamming good time," she said.
The Drifter is the latest update in the gradual makeover of the 93-year-old Green Door Tavern, which revamped its menu last year with the help of chef Dirk Flanigan. The basement bar previously was used for private events.
The Drifter will be open Wednesdays through Fridays from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., and until 3 a.m. on Saturdays.
There is no cover charge this first week, but after that, the bar will charge a "small" cover fee to be added onto customers' bills, Pearce said.
The bar is accessible via the basement door of the attached building just south of Green Door Tavern.
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