The Observer, March 25, 2005
Volume XXXVII, Issue 22
Wine Bar on Cedar-Fairmount serves cocktails with class
"One martini is all right; two is too many; three is not enough," author and cartoonist James Thurber once joked. At The Fairmount, the new martini and wine bar at the curving intersection of Cedar and Fairmount, the sky's the limit on the number of martinis worth having – it's the wallet that must be watched as the night wears on.
Though connoisseurs bicker about the correct balance between vermouth, gin, and/or vodka in a perfect martini, The Fairmount's drink list offers an unbiased balance of classic recipes and more dessert-oriented drinks like the key lime martini, cherry martini, and perhaps the most unique of the lot, the caramel crème brûlée martini.
The bar's signature drink, aptly named The Fairmount, is a pure classic: mixed with a practiced flourish, strong enough to open the eyes a little wider, and served complete with a traditional blue cheese-crusted olive that deserved to be starring opposite Humphrey Bogart, not a grubby college student.
But grubby college students we were, my companion and I, and The Fairmount wasn't a terrible fit for us. My date, who would have loved to make fun of me for ordering a Cosmopolitan or some other fruity (and tasty!) martini variant, looked resigned to his fate when scanning the drink list ... until he saw the refrigerated case that held a respectable assortment of domestic and imported beers. So a Miller Genuine Draft accompanied my martini.
It's hard to belittle a taste for domestic beer, though, when that was what held our tab down – the beer and martini combined for a $12 total, which was a pleasant surprise after I had braced myself for the worst when faced with a martini list that contained no prices at all.
The food selection, which consisted mostly of heavy appetizers like cheese pizza and spinach-artichoke dip, runs in the range of $8 to $12, and for those who disdain both liquor and beer, the wine selection is ample and a glass can be had at a reasonable rate. (Reasonable, of course, for trip to a martini and wine bar, not reasonable compared to getting a box of wine at Giant Eagle and drinking it in your suite.)
The Fairmount's decor conjures images of floating in a glass of red wine, as the walls are washed in rich red hues and the wood and brass bar and stocked wine racks exude quiet sophistication. However, touches of funk permeate the bar as well: a couple eye-popping iridescent tall tables line the windows, and dyed fluorescent-green daisies dot the tables.
There's even a hint of college bar in The Fairmount: the small candles on each table are Grey Goose-sponsored, and the bartender flipped through the sports page in between pouring drinks for the small after-work crowd that trickled in on a Monday evening.
In short, The Fairmount fills an important niche in the Case bar scene. While it doesn't promote buckets of beer for five bucks or less, as is common on the Coventry strip, it provides a great drinking outlet for people who consider themselves more James Bond than John Belushi. Prices aren't outrageous, drinks are mixed with care, and the atmosphere balances Great Gatsby gaudiness with film noir sophistication.
For a night out with some style (possibly the most impressive date within walking distance), have dinner at Aladdin's or Mad Greek then walk down to The Fairmount for a dessert-flavored martini night-cap – it's open from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Friday, and from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Saturday.
A visit might lighten the wallet a bit, but experiencing a fine martini every once in a while is a nice departure from the local watering holes. And to get yourself in the right mood for a martini and wine bar, take Robert Benchley's line in the appropriately ridiculous 1940s movie The Major and the Minor out for a spin: "Why don't you get out of that wet coat and into a dry martini?"
