Located in a cozy nook on Woodburn Avenue, formerly housing Woodburn Dry Cleaners, Anjou comes to us from Chris Wolfe, Andy Smith and Brad Lauck. Pre-pandemic, the trio had a different project in the works in Walnut Hills proper. When Urban Sites contacted them about the Woodburn space, they knew it had potential.

“We wanted to do something different than your average cocktail bar,” says Wolfe, whose history in the service industry includes stints with Sotto, Top Golf and Dewey’s. “We try to make our drinks approachable. The big thing we look for is familiar flavors introduced in a different way.”

Anjou’s cocktail menu lives up to that credo. The names are clever, the ingredients are interesting and, yes, they’re often familiar. What’s more, the whole thing seems fun. Cocktail bars can feel so forced sometimes, hamstrung by a theme or a concept. Anjou has all of the charm with none of the pretension. It does have a broad conceptual underpinning: the bar’s name comes from Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI.

“The building we’re in is called ‘The Henry,’” Wolfe says. “Henry VI at one point went crazy, so during that time Margaret ruled all of England and parts of France.”

The pair were central figures in the Wars of the Roses, an uprising against Henry’s reign in the 15th Century. Margaret led armies to retrieve Henry after his capture by Richard of York. Anjou’s decor subtly calls to mind powerful women, like Margaret herself. The bathroom’s wallpaper features black line drawings of confident nude women, and there’s a minimalist floral component throughout the bar, with large grayscale flower wallpaper adorning the main wall and several colorful floral portraits.

“We want it to be a sexy spot,” Wolfe says. “They’re sexy women, but they also have this power about them.”

The floral motif extends to several of the drinks, if not overtly — though several of them have botanical incorporations — then certainly at least in color and composition. The She-Wolf is a delightful concoction, featuring Old Tom Gin and pear, ginger and elderflower liqueurs. It is a vivid purple color and comes served in a tumbler with a rose-shaped ice cube.

Read a full feature at CityBeat.com.

Anjou, 2804 Woodburn Ave., East Walnut Hills. More info: anjoucinci.com.

Photos by Hailey Bollinger
Anjou, located in The Henry building in East Walnut Hills, is named after Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI. Hailey Bollinger
The bar. Hailey Bollinger
Anjou’s decor subtly calls to mind powerful women, like Margaret herself. The bathroom’s wallpaper features black line drawings of confident nude women, and there’s a minimalist floral component throughout the bar, with large grayscale flower wallpaper adorning the main wall and several colorful floral portraits. Hailey Bollinger
The She-Wolf, with Old Tom Gin and pear, ginger and elderflower liqueurs. It is a vivid purple color and comes served in a tumbler with a rose-shaped ice cube. Hailey Bollinger
The bar. Hailey Bollinger
“We don’t do a set spring/summer/fall menu or anything like that. We really focus on the ingredients. Are they fresh at the time?” says bar co-owner Chris Wolfe. “It’s really based on what the essence of the drink is.” Hailey Bollinger
The Benedetto Alfieri — with basil, shallots and red pepper — is the bar’s most popular drink. Hailey Bollinger
More seating. Hailey Bollinger
The floral theme is seen in the paintings on the wall. Hailey Bollinger
A seating nook. Hailey Bollinger
The bar’s floral motif extends to several of the drinks, if not overtly — though several of them have botanical incorporations — then certainly at least in color and composition Hailey Bollinger
“We want it to be a sexy spot,” bar co-owner Chris Wolfe says of Anjou. Hailey Bollinger
Anjou also offers zero-proof cocktails, wine and beer. Hailey Bollinger
The Anjou space was formerly occupied by Woodburn Dry Cleaners. Hailey Bollinger
The bar. Hailey Bollinger
The She-Wolf. “It’s called the She-Wolf because in Shakespeare’s play Henry the VI, he actually refers to Margaret of Anjou as a ‘she-wolf,’” says bar co-owner Chris Wolfe. “The drink features ingredients from England and France, the color is purple, to signify royalty, and it has the rose in there to signify the Wars of the Roses.” Hailey Bollinger
Anjou is open Tuesday through Sunday. Hailey Bollinger
“(In the Benedetto Alfieri) we boil the shallots and let them simmer and use that water and add sugar to it to make a simple syrup. It really speaks to what we do because it’s about the fresh ingredients, about the familiar taste you might not be used to in a cocktail,” says Wolfe. Hailey Bollinger
Other cocktails include A Ghost of Time, with smoky mezcal and blood orange rooibos tea, and Once An Island, with pomegranate, chai, cardamom and smoked cinnamon on top. Hailey Bollinger
The bar. Hailey Bollinger