Why You Should Check out Bar Room Inside CMA at The Pizzuti
This winter, escape the cold and head to CMA at The Pizzuti’s Caribbean-inspired art installation-meets-rum bar.
Why My Favorite New Bar is Bar Room Inside CMA at The Pizzuti
By Erin Edwards
Columbus is overpopulated with large, cavernous restaurants and watering holes. I think we need more small, one-room, elbow-to-elbow spaces. The kinds of novel spaces that encourage interaction and conversation: Is this seat taken? Care to play a game of pool? Have you tried the rum cake?
Bar Room, the new immersive art installation at CMA at The Pizzuti (632 Park St.), is just such a space and—I’ll shamefully admit—I wanted to keep it all to myself.
But that’s not what art is about, is it? Especially Bar Room—a permanent, multi-sensory installation from Bahamian artist Tavares Strachan that is meant to be seen, tasted, listened to, talked about, explored and shared with others.
Housed in an intimate gallery space on The Pizzuti’s third floor, Bar Room is actually a functioning cafe, rum bar and pool room with a carefree Caribbean feel.
Enter the bar through a nondescript door and you’ll find a handful of mismatched stools facing a small bar, a checkered floor with a pool table in the center and Afro-Carribean tunes in the air. Red Stripe bottles sit here and there along the room’s perimeter, prompting you to wonder: Are they someone’s empties or part of the installation?
On the wall is an artwork within an artwork, a wall-hanging made out of glass beads that features Haile Selassie, the former emperor of Ethiopia who is considered by many Rastafarians as the earthly incarnation of Jah.
Part of what makes Bar Room successful is how it blurs the lines between art exhibition, cocktail bar and, frankly, a shrewd marketing device for the museum. And if it wasn’t successful as a bar, you might not linger as long to enjoy it as an artwork. (By the way, if you want to learn more about Bar Room, dial the phone number above the bar and you’ll hear from the artist himself.)
When I walked into Bar Room one recent Friday night and saw that Jackson Proctor, the beverage director behind Mezcla’s excellent cocktail program, was behind the bar, I knew the museum hadn’t merely thrown together any old cocktail menu. This was indeed a good sign.
That night, I started off with the Bam Bam milk punch, because who isn’t a sucker for milk punch? Perhaps missing one “Bam,” the cocktail boasts not two but three rums—Barbadian, Jamaican and Guyanese—while still managing to go down smooth, with hints of black tea and black peppercorn. Meanwhile, fans of the classic Caribbean cocktail Corn ’N’ Oil will want to order the Peter Tosh, featuring 12-year Jamaican rum, bonded rye, ginger and cardamom.
Though the cocktail menu is rum-focused, gin enthusiasts (and, well, everyone) should check out the bar’s take on Sky Juice. Hailing from the Bahamas, this popular drink is a refreshing and creamy mix of gin, coconut, condensed milk and fall spices. At Bar Room, the drink arrives as if you ordered it from a street kiosk—in a plastic pouch with a straw.
In addition, Bar Room offers coffee and espresso drinks from Eritrean-owned Upper Cup Coffee as well as a small food menu curated by Taste of Kingston Catering and Ena’s.
I enjoyed my jerk chicken Jamaican patty, which was flaky and flavorful. The bartender recommended I try the oxtail patty next time. The menu also features jerk wings, curried shrimp and curried chicken en papillote.
For a frisky coda to your visit, don’t miss the pineapple mango rum cake, which is really two shots of rum in cake form. Eat this cake and you’ll get all the false confidence you need to challenge someone to a game of pool.
Bar Room’s hours are 2-8 p.m. Thurs.; 2-10 p.m Fri.-Sat.; and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sun.
Admission is free for CMA members and $5 for nonmembers, which includes access to the galleries. You can also purchase a 2026 season pass for $25, which offers unlimited admission to The Pizzuti and Bar Room (but not the CMA on Broad Street) through December 2026.
Mark Your Calendar» Bar Room is part of a major exhibition of Strachan’s work, titled The Day Tomorrow Began, which is set to open May 16, 2026, at The Pizzuti.
Thanksgiving Shout-Out
Just wanted to send a quick thanks to Thurn’s Specialty Meats for continuing to show up for the hungry Thanksgiving hordes. Bethia suggested I buy one of Thurn’s smoked turkeys this year, and what a great suggestion it was. (Just the chance to walk into that smokey, old-school butcher shop to pick up my turkey got me in the holiday spirit.)
My 16-pound bird was not only flavorful and tender (I’m still worthing on the leftovers), but I appreciated having someone else cook the turkey so that I could focus on sides and pies. This is your reminder to follow Thurn’s on Facebook to get updates on its periodic pop-up sales.—Erin Edwards