A new bar has brought a bit of NYC to the Sunshine City — and the Sunshine State. In the downtown St. Pete space that most recently housed Cask & Ale, Rattle N Hum quietly opened its doors in late August at 29 Third St. N.
St. Pete is Rattle N Hum’s first location in Florida, but not nationwide.
Rattle N Hum West calls Times Square home, while Rattle N Hum East is found in lower Manhattan. Owner of the two New York outposts, Joe Donagher, joined forces with husband-and-wife team Greg and Romina Mikurak, with whom he crossed paths more than a year ago, to introduce a third place down south.
While the bar has a large emphasis on craft beer up north, Rattle N Hum St. Pete is on what Greg calls a “different scale.” Don’t expect them to skimp on the suds, though.
“So you have that New York vibe of that craft cocktail bar, but we’re changing up the model a bit,” Greg said. “We have 12 taps, and 10 of them are all local taps. We decided to make things about the local community.”
He and Donagher are hospitality industry vets. Donagher has owned everything from a deli to a beer bar, and the Mikuraks are the proprietors of Thirsty First, another downtown hangout not far from their latest venture. On top of his restaurant ownership and management experience, Greg is a seasoned chef who says he cooked for Spaceballs actor Dick Van Patten’s family years ago.
Staff tending bar at the 2,000-square-foot watering hole, which is meant to carry an everyday speakeasy feel reminiscent of the Prohibition era, focus on more than the classic G&T. Fresh ingredients are incorporated into every drink, booze gets infused in-house, and barrel-aged cocktails are offered on the menu.
“These guys back here have room to roam and create,” said Greg.
Accompanying the wide variety of specialty cocktails and beer, the food is equally important. Chef Greg does elevated bar fare, including poke bites, Irish fries (Rattle N Hum gets its name from a U2 album, after all), and pork belly steamed rolls. Fried chicken, a universal favorite, is even paired with something a little more exciting than hot sauce: house-made pineapple jam.
Irish patrons could dig the bar’s weekend brunch, too. Guinness beef stew and The Sammy — Guinness-soaked bratwurst (sourced from an authentic Irish deli in New York) topped with egg and cheese on a pretzel bun — are among the featured dishes.
And then there’s the mimosa kit. This ever-so-brunchy option allows guests to choose between unusual purées, such as chili salted watermelon and smoked sage pineapple, and mix together their own glasses of bubbly.
“Our specialty is that it is no longer what it used to be. You used to walk up St. Pete and you got a burger and french fries, but it wasn’t really good,” Greg said. “Now everyone really has to come up to the new levels, and I would [say] that we’re definitely part of that level.”
Aside from the bites and beverages, Rattle N Hum — open 3 p.m. to 3 a.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 3 a.m. Saturday and Sunday — offers live music four days a week. The schedule bumps up to five starting Jan. 1.
This article appears in Dec 14-21, 2017.