Cry Baby bar in Solomon St, Adelaide, is all about the good times
A NEW bar in Adelaide celebrates good music, good wine and great times.
“YOU can go all around the world trying to find something to do with your life, when you only got to do one thing well,” sang Janis Joplin – and Adelaide’s newest bar Cry Baby, named after that song, has nailed that ethos.
Cry Baby is a bar that’s all about good times – a pool table, a popcorn machine pumping out free Cajun-spiced popcorn, a jukebox, a design by Adelaide’s Studio AKA that riffs on the speakeasy, meat and cheese platters, and an owner in heavily bearded Jon di Pinto who knows how to get a party started.
“We always wanted this bar to be about the good times you can have. It’s not all about the drinks, it’s also about the place – the fun and the good vibes,” says Jon, who’s a veteran of Adelaide’s bar scene at 26, having stirred, mixed and shaken at Hains & Co, Baddog and StreetADL.
The focus of the bar is the big neon Cry Baby sign.
“The first thing we bought was that sign. It’s my dad’s handwriting. And I don’t know why, I just thought Cry Baby needed to be in pink,” Jon says.
“And we have a jukebox which has been a huge hit. People sit in here, their song comes on and they have a dance.”
As you’d expect, the jukebox riffs on thatJanis Joplin hit, too.
“We play Cry Baby at least three times a night,” Jon says.
“The jukebox is filled with that Joplin style of stuff, true to the late ’60s, ’70s and early ’80s: T-Rex, Blondie, Talking Heads, Beach Boys, Bowie, Sabbath, Creedence, The Police, Springsteen – and Chisel, you’ve gotta have Cold Chisel…”
And the drinks list is a greatest hits of grape and grain – Hither & Yon, Down the Rabbit Hole, Alpha Box & Dice alongside Clare Valley Brewing, Fox Hat, Mismatch and “heaps of gin and whisky”.
“We have 12 craft beers and we’ll rotate some, so you’ll always find something different,” Jon says, nodding at the Fox Hat stout and Clare Valley’s Blackberry Porter.
The cocktail list keeps things simple. There are seven to choose from – and all are takes on classics.
“We’ve got a cocktail called the London Calling – it’s gin, sherry, lemon juice – a super-smashable, refreshing cocktail.”
Beware though when the party is really in full swing the deliciously dangerous house shot comes out – a maple bourbon.
Little wonder the party kicks on till 2am most nights.
Sat-Thu 4pm-2am, Fri noon-2am, 11 Solomon St, city, crybabybar.com.au