Club Soda
by Alex Vagelatos

When Frank died, he took a way of living with him. The relentless pursuit of excellence. A code of honor and behavior unbreakable in its tenacity. Large men with no necks.

"You've got to love livin' baby," Frank Sinatra would tell his friends (and who didn't want to be a friend?), "because dyin' is a pain in the ass!"

Well, Frank still died. But his legacy lives on -- along with excellent food, exquisite live jazz and perhaps the most sophisticated service in town -- at Club Soda, 235 E. Superior St., Fort Wayne. More than any other Fort Wayne restaurant, Club Soda speaks of the uptown life that Frank practically invented.

"We wanted to recreate the look of a jazz club in New York or Chicago in the 1940s and 1950s," said Don Young, co-owner most likely to be around when you're there.

A happy combination of events unlikely to be repeated in our lifetimes enabled that dream to come true in a building nearly 100 years old at the edge of the parking lot south of Headwaters Park.

Young and a group of partners that eventually came to include Lou Knoble, Jason Smith, Jim Cornell, Doug Ulmer and Don's wife, Deb, wanted to run a fine steakhouse and looked around for a restaurant. When they couldn't find one that fit the bill, they opened their own in the former Indiana Textile Co.building. Young is the one with previous restaurant experience, having managed and opened other restaurants before taking 20 years off to work in sales.

"When we first saw this place, there were walls and floors and nothing else," Young said, still amazed at the chutzpah that was needed to entirely refurbish three stories for a saloon/restaurant that would have made the Rat Pack proud.

An interior designed by Patricia Baldus features tastefully printed quotes from and about Frank on the walls. Be sure to stop by the first-floor men's room for particularly good read. Everything else is understated wood, brick and painted metal. You can't help but feel that Dino or Sammy would send a round of drinks to your table if they could just see you here.

Perhaps they would choose from the four pages of custom martinis. I have had religious experiences with both The Blue Moon and The Purple Haze.

Music is a large draw at Club Soda, with the band set up just inside the front door and next to the wide stairway, which allows music to waft upwards to the second-floor dining room. Many of the best local jazz musicians set up shop at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, and 9:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Regulars include Ron Barber, James Baker, George Ott, Shelly Sanders, Jamie Wise, Dave Sapp, Skip Gambrell, Todd Ramsey and Steve Smeltzer.

"We've had many out-of-town musicians stop by and sit in with the band. It's amazing, but people all over the country have heard about us and what we're doing to present jazz here," Young said.

In warm weather, the crowd drifts out to the enclosed patio for languorous hours of food, cocktails and animated conversation.

First and foremost, Club Soda is a steak joint, with a large selection of Certified Angus Beef. Steaks are the heart and soul of the menu. Research of the finest steakhouses in the country created a menu which includes chops, fish, pastas, salads and soups. Clint Lowery is the executive chef.

We started with five shrimp only slightly smaller than lobster tails smothered in a powerful cocktail sauce. If asked, I also would recommend as appetizers the Cajun crab and crawfish cakes and the portabella mushroom caps, marinated and charbroiled, served with red peppers.

There isn't a bad choice here, and believe me, I've tried to find one. The herb and roasted garlic potatoes and brown sugar whipped sweet potatoes would satisfy even the, uh, toughest member of Frank's entourage.

Heeding Jason Smith's advice, I ordered the most popular steak, an eight-ounce filet smothered in garlic-and-butter-sautÈed mushroom caps and a mound of crispy onion threads (toppings cost extra, but you don't want to skimp at a time like this). My companion, a flashy young female with blonde hair piled up and enough bright red lipstick to sink the Pacific Fleet, noisily carnivored down on four enormous New Zealand Spring Lamb Chops. It's going to be a very good year, I thought.

Dessert was a rich Black Forest torte, which I finished when Blondie (as Jonathan Winters used to say, "Not much upstairs, but from the neck on down, gangbusters!") went to powder her pretty little nose.

Club Soda has just instituted an express dine-in lunch called "Lunch Came Running," which guarantees the food is on your table in 15 minutes or the next express lunch is free. You can also fax your lunch order so it will be ready when you hit the door. Parking in the adjacent lot is free evenings and weekends, and the Club Soda people will give you a token to cover the cost during the week.

Look, it's Frank's world. We're just living in it. Okay?

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