Lounge for French cocktails, small plates opens in Northside Iowa City

IOWA CITY — A new lounge is bringing French style to life in a two-floor lounge and retail concept.

Claude, opened by Adélaïde Subtil and Thomas Heineman on Jan. 10, hosts a svelte lounge on the second floor with plans for a furniture and decor shop downstairs.

The renovated 1870 building at 215 N. Linn St. brings a sophisticated new option to downtown Iowa City for craft cocktails and small French plates in an intimate, 28-seat lounge. The space offers an emphasis on French design by Subtil, a native of France with a background in fashion who has lived here 14 years.

“When we moved here, I didn’t really know what to do with my fashion background,” she told The Gazette. “I’ve been missing France very much.”

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The speakeasy, evocative of late 19th and early 20th century Parisian cafes, is outfitted in pieces inspired by France as well as the couple’s travels around the world including velvet couches, velvet curtains, dim wall sconces, custom marble tables from Turkey and a vintage McIntosh sound system from the 1960s.

Enjoy bites of food in the French aperitif dinatoire style — similar to Spanish tapas — that make a meal with options like tapenade tartines, saucisson sec and cornichons (a French-style sausage) and pâté de Campagne pork terrine.

In addition to a cocktail program designed by David Basinger, who previously served at Rodina in Cedar Rapids, the new lounge offers an extensive menu of champagne sourced directly from French producers.

The 2,500 square-foot building will be completed as the store downstairs is finished over the next several months.

“We want the first floor to feel kind of like a hotel lobby where you come in, and there’s couches and you kind of hang out,” Heineman said. “You can meet a friend, but at the same time the couch is for sale and the art is for sale.”

Walk-ins are welcome, as are reservations for groups of six or more at claudeic.com.

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.

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