Stephen Karlisch

Staying in is the new going out, so why not up the ante with an in-home bar to rival your favorite neighborhood watering hole? Having your own lounge or speakeasy means you get to choose the music and mood (no more overplayed songs or over-served strangers to kill the vibe), and if the party’s going strong, there’s no racing against the clock to make the most of your night. For many, a standard rolling cart is a good entry point, but if you’re a die-hard home mixologist, fancy yourself an entertaining aficionado, or just want the option to enjoy a cocktail in private luxury, leveling up with a dedicated, built-in space is the next logical step. And according to designers across the country, there has been an uptick in this type of request. 

“We’re now putting bars in about 80 percent of our projects,” says Caitlin Jones Ghajar of Seattle-and-San-Francisco-based Caitlin Jones Design, who recently completed a moody custom wine room with floor-to-ceiling wooden built-ins in Sonoma County. “Right now, people want to entertain their friends at home and have a sophisticated place to do it,” she adds. 

A posh wet bar set inside a carved out wall space.

Joshua McHugh

“Clients are looking for a gathering bar, as opposed to a self-service bar,” notes Michael Kovac of Los Angeles–based Kovac Design Studio, adding that many homeowners seek the flexibility to bring in a professional bartender for events or parties. “They want the bar to integrate into the social fabric of how they entertain.” This means zoning an area—sometimes an entire room—for a full, U-shaped bar with a complete workstation (including durable counters, integrated plumbing, refrigeration, and sparkling-water or beer taps), built-in shelving to display bottles, and stools to accommodate guests. Instead of relegating the bar to a secondary space such as a basement, designers are incorporating them into (or at least locating them next to) high-traffic areas or popular communal rooms to increase use. In one residential project in La Quinta, California, Kovac installed woven-metal curtains on tracks around the bar, which is open to the kitchen and great room, allowing his client to choose how incorporated they want it to feel. 

“One of my favorite places to put a bar is inside the dining room,” says Emily Seiders, whose firm, Studio Seiders, is based in Austin, Texas. “We’ve carved out dedicated space in an existing dining room with great success. It’s a typically underused space, and adding a bar turns it into a multipurpose entertaining area.” 

For a private-club or speakeasy feel, a full bar can be tucked behind paneling in a library or an office, with an inconspicuous entry door. Inside, the possibilities are seemingly endless: Do you want a dark, low-lit lounge for sipping martinis and listening to records? A sleek, standing-room space for tasting wine? Of course, aesthetics are key, but much like the kitchen, a functional bar is a household workhorse, which is important to keep in mind when choosing materials. Jones Ghajar recommends using a quartzite bar top, while Seiders opts for dark soapstone and granite—all are durable, visually dynamic options that resist stains and don’t react to acid as severely as marble does (good news for citrus lovers). “You can also use a large walnut butcher block that turns the whole counter into a cutting board,” Seiders says, “and just embrace the story that it’s going to tell when you use it—the wine marks and cuts and scratches are a reminder of all the great times with friends and family.” 

A glamorous home speakeasy in Manhattan by Hines Collective. Designer Emily Seiders makes this built-in bar stand out with a jewel-toned palette.

Courtesy of Hines Collective

Kovac Design Studio also leans into the “embrace the story” approach. “We’re careful with materials,” Kovac says. “Brass that patinas a certain way, wood, leather. A space can be elegant and luxurious but also feel time-worn, like you can imagine who sat there and the conversations they had.” 

An easy way to customize a bar—and make an impact—is through color. In one Austin project, Seiders used two shades of blue on the ridged wall paneling and bar base to create an arresting jewel-toned nook with glass-encased bottle storage. A sudden or unexpected change in color or material produces an element of surprise and generates a psychological transition from daily duties to “it’s time to toast.” Unique counter shapes and built-ins are another way to make a room feel elevated. For the 2021 Kips Bay Dallas show home, Yates Desygn installed a cantilevered quartz bar with a custom octagonal walnut base. Open brass shelving backed with sage-green quartz imparts a sophisticated look, topped off with rows of vintage decanters uplit to glow a warm, complementary amber tone. “One of the keys to transforming an environment is lighting,” says Yates Desygn cofounder Bryan Yates, who suggests a bold chandelier over the bar, as well as thoughtfully placed uplighting and sconces. “It helps to create the mood you’re trying to achieve but is also functional for going from day to night.” 

The post Lavish In-Dwelling Bars Are Changing into the New Luxurious Should-Have – Robb Report appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

INTRODUCTION

In 2018, I made a map of Los Angeles’s oldest restaurants and wrote a bit about them. It proved relatively easy because there was lots already written on the subject. When I started writing about Los Angeles’s oldest bars, it proved much more difficult. Not only could I find no serious effort to draw upon, most of the flimsy listicles out there were a jumble of misinformation copy-and-paste jobs from equally terrible listicles served with a side of rehashed clickbait. An endless, Ouroboros-like circle of content creators eating their own necrotic tails. And so I actually had to spend a lot of time and effort on this piece. If you like it, please consider tipping yours truly by becoming a patron. The more I get in tips, the less I have to find money elsewhere and the less worthless “content” you’ll find clogging your news feed. We all win, in other words.

Un bar aux Folies Bergère by Edouard Manet (1881-1882)

I began with a seemingly obvious question, namely, what is a bar? One dictionary definition states that a bar is “an establishment where alcohol and sometimes other refreshments are served.” By that definition, though, Outback Steakhouse is a bar. I’m not even sure Outback Steakhouse is a restaurant although I ate a bloomin’ onion (an Australian delicacy) at one in Oklahoma in 1998. To wash it down, I drank an ancient can of Guinness, served without a glass, that I had to wipe dust from the top of before joylessly consuming. I don’t have a better definition of what a bar is but, like United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who when asked to define obscenity stated “I know it when I see it,” I reckon I know a bar when I see one. A bar is a place that serves alcohol and sometimes other refreshments but that’s not all it is. If that’s all it was, we bar lovers would happily save some money by buying alcohol from a convenience store, pour it into styrofoam cup, and get drunk it in the parking lot or alley.

A bar is also a third place — the sort of place we differentiate from first places (our homes) and second places (our jobs). A bar, in that way, is like a bookstore, a church, a coffee shop, a donut shop, an arcade, a pool parlor, a social club, a park, a bowling alley, a post office, or a library. In the past, pharmacies were also third places but most independent pharmacies have been replaced by soulless CVSes and Sav-Ons… and you’d have to be a real sicko to want to hang out an either of those any longer than is absolutely necessary. Chain pharmacies are Hell — and Hell is a second place. There are still exceptions here and there. Fair Oaks Pharmacy is a delight. At bars, you don’t choose who else is there. You might sit at a bar with people from different economic classes, with different political views, and of different faiths — and if they’re sitting at a bar, any, ideally, might happily discuss those topics we’re told to avoid in polite company — namely money, politics, and religion. Or, conversely, you can grab a quiet booth, crack open a book, and enjoy a drink or two. There are few things better than reading in a quiet bar.

BAR HISTORY

The oldest bar in continuous operation is San Francisco‘s Old Ship Saloon, established in 1851. California is, supposedly, home to more historic bars than any other state. I don’t have a source nor do I know by what metric the bars’ historicity was measured for that but I read it somewhere and so I’m repeating it as fact. That sort of reasoning happens a lot at bars. Most bars, in my experience, has their Cliff Clavin. “It’s a little known fact that this bar was owned by Charlie Chaplin… and it was a speakeasy… and it was the last place the Black Dahlia was seen…. and she was with Charles Bukowski!” At bars, tall tales well-told are valued at least as much as actual facts, which is probably why there’s so much BS repeated over and over until it becomes accepted bar lore. Here, though, are some facts.

The city (but not county) of Los Angeles officially went dry in 1917. Prohibition was enacted on 17 January 1920. Beer was legalized on 7 April 1933. Prohibition was entirely repealed on 5 December 1933. Los Angeles never truly went dry, though, and both City Hall and the Los Angeles Police Department were intimately involved in bootlegging. Some bars survived Prohibition by selling near beers, bitters, and sarsaparillas. Others went underground, sometimes literally. For the purposes of this piece, I’m focusing on bars that have been open since the 1930s or earlier. There are surely some that I’ve missed but others, that you may expect to see here, are more often than not newer than they’re usually claimed to be. For example, The Continental Room in Fullerton is marketed as the oldest bar in Orange County and one that has been in operation since 1925. The building may be that old but the bar itself opened in 2002. For that reason, I’ve included newer bars that make similar claims on the map. If you know of any other heritage bars, however, let me know in the comments.

Here are the pre-1950 bars that I know of…

THE AIRLINER (1946)

The building in which The Airliner is located was constructed in 1923. Before that, there was a house there.  John Yutronich and Jack Vojkovich operated the Lincoln Cafe there from at least 1932 until 1934, when they retired… for the first time. In 1934, Charles Paglia was charged with running a fictitious business there, Star Tent & Awning Co. In reality, it was Spaghettiville Inn that opened there in 1934. Spaghettiville Inn was shortlived, though, and in 1937, Yutronich and Vojkovich re-opened the Lincoln Cafe. In 1938, it was still the Lincoln Cafe when convicted rapist, Dick Walton, was shot in the arm and arrested by a police officer after he a attacked a fellow patron with a blackjack.

The Airliner Steak House & Cocktail Lounge opened there on 7 February 1946 with Dom Palermo and Jack Lima at the helm. It was robbed on 1 April 1946. The bandits made off with $1,000 in cash and $100 worth of liquor. In October 1948, Samuel L. Leonard reported that a locker containing his wallet and exactly $189.53 was robbed. Meanwhile, Yutronich and Vojkovich, unable to stay retired,  opened Jack & John’s Restaurant in El Sereno in 1950. Palermo was still the proprietor of the Airliner at least as late as 1978. Lima died on 19 December 1985. Palermo died in 1986.

The Airliner continued on as a bar after that. In 2006, Daddy Kev, DJ Nobody, Gaslamp Killer, and edIT founded the famed Low-End Theory there. Monica Blair and Sean Kelly took over the bar around 2019 and shut it down in 2023.

Hopefully, it will re-open under new ownership.

THE ALHAMBRA COCKTAIL LOUNGE (1936)

The origins of the Alhambra Cocktail Lounge, like those of many old bars, are a bit blurry. According to a probably unpaid intern writing for Timeout, it opened in 1904. This is dubious since the County Assessor‘s office claims that the building in which it’s located was only built in 1912. Even more daming is a sign hung outside the Alhambra that says “since 1936.” Bars claiming to have opened at a later date than they actually did is pretty much unheard of. I haven’t yet gone to the Alhambra, though although once, when I was having a pint at the Whale & Ale, however, a salty dog named Tim regaled my friend Mike and I with many colorful tales. One involved his days of “shanghaiing” unsuspecting dupes at the Alhambra and then somehow conveying them to and leaving them in the old San Pedro jail. He then invited us to accompany him to his favorite haunt. We passed.

GETTING THERE

The Alhambra is served by LADOT‘s DASH San Pedro Line and Commuter Express 142. It’s also near The Port of Los Angeles Waterfront Red Car Line, assuming that it re-opens someday.

THE BLUE ROOM (1947)

The Blue Room is located inside a building that was constructed in 1928. Located near the Glendale-Burbank border, it was known as The Glen-Bur Cafe until 1947, when it was taken over by Augustine J. Grafi and Frederick B. Haddix. That May, they opened Augie & Bucks Blue Room. The cocktail bar had (and has) an appropriately blue color scheme, down to the booths and lights. In addition to serving drinks, they served steaks and chops.

The Blue Room was in the news quite a lot for a cocktail bar in the years since it opened. In 1949, L. Leo Morgan sued the owners when a rat climbed up his pant leg and bit him whilst he occupied the phone booth. In 1955, it was raided for running bookkeeping businesses concurrent with the Hollywood Park racing season. In 1954, the lifeless body of Mary Von Elm (wife of golfer George Von Elm) was discovered in the front seat of a car in the parking lot, near an empty bottle of insecticide. With her was a younger golfer, Roy Ford, who lived with the Von Elms and claimed he dated his protege’s wife. Her death was ruled a suicide.

In April 1956, a fire broke out and a man who identified himself to firefighters as the owner asked that they chop a hole in the wall through which he retrieved a sack of money before vanishing. He was not one of the owners, who by then were Bermeice and John Samarjian. In 1957, two gunmen (Dale G. Kempf and Lambert Fontenot) held up the bar, robbing both a bartender and customers. Patrons and a bartender were again robbed at gunpoint in 1964. Augied died in 1992.

GETTING THERE

The Blue Room is served by Metro‘s 94 and 96 lines, and the Glendale Beeline‘s 7 Line.

CLUB TEE GEE (1946)

In 1946, two World War II veterans and brothers-in-law, Neil W. Tracy and Joe Grzybowski, opened Club Tee Gee. The “Tee” and Gee” were references to the owners’ respective family names. They remodeled an old bank, applying a flagstone façade and a neon “cocktails” sign. Tracy died in 1961. Grzybowski met a transplant from New York City named Betty Barlotta, who took over ownership of the bar in 1981. Grzybowski died of a heart attack in 1984. Barlotta continued to run the bar, with new partner Bob Kick. On 1 September 2017, ownership was transferred to Greg Dulli. To read more, click here.

GETTING THERE

Club Tee Gee is served by Metro’s 92 and 201 lines.

COLE’S (1908)

On 8 December 1908, Harry M. Cole opened Cole’s P. E. Buffet in the basement of the Pacific Electric Building. His son, Rawland, was born the following year. Although the main claim of Cole‘s is that they invented the French dip sandwich, that culinary distinction is almost certainly owned by Philippe. The claim is seemingly based entirely on the fact that they opened before Philippe’s but conveniently ignores that it didn’t appear on the menu of either establishment until the 1930s. Not that it matters to me. I like animals and so the idea of eating cow flesh stuffed between pieces of soggy bread is no temptation The only sandwiches I routinely get excited about are bánh mì (with thịt chay, natch)… and sometimes I get a bit wistful about the lack of Reubens in my life if I’m honest.

I’m not trying to paint a picture of Cole’s or Cole as dishonest then but Harry Cole was arrested for fraud on charges unrelated to sandwiches in 1942. That probably had to do with Cole’s check-cashing service, Cole’s Check Service Inc., which first Harry Cole launched from the bar in 1920, and which with Rawland ultimately took over. Harry died in January 1945. The state of California shut it down the check service in 1955.

In 1974, Cole’s was designated Historical-Cultural Landmark No. 104. In 1988, bartender Jimmy Barela, who was hired in 1925, finally retired. By 1993, it was owned by Gitti and Madhi “Martin” Beheshti. They sold Cole’s to the 213 Hospitality in 2007. 213 has since rebranded as Pouring With Heart. It re-opened in 2008 with a second bar, Varnish, inside a converted storage closet. I’ve been to Cole’s a few times with friends, including my friend Matt and Karen Lee Williams — despite the fact that my ex lived across the street — because it’s a great bar and a few picklebacks heal all wounds.

GETTING THERE

Cole’s is served by Metro‘s 20, 60, 720 lines; and LADOT‘s DASH D Line.

COOK’S CORNER (1926, bar added in 1933)

In 1883, a merchant named Andrew Jackson Cook acquired 77 hectares in what was then still Los Angeles County. The following year, he constructed a structure or two at the corner of Live Oak and Santiago Canyon. In 1926, Cook’s son, Earl Jack (or “EJ”) began selling food at a food stand across the street from where the bar is situated, basically the starting point for the Cook’s Corner restaurant. In 1933, right after Prohibition was repealed, Cook began selling booze across the street from inside a honey hut borrowed from Asbury Jackson Shaw. The operation moved into its current location after a building from a World War II airfield was moved there in 1946.

On 19 December 1968, The Tustin News reported that Cook’s Corner was burglarized when burglars climbed through a window broken in a previous burglary. According to Paul Dale Burger, they made off with $25 worth of pottery, $21 worth of beer, and $3.50 worth of meat along with the change from a cigarette machine and a jukebox. Not that that’s much of a story but I found it amusing.

In 1975, the Cook family moved to Montana and sold Cook’s Corner to Victor Villa and Volker Streicek, of Santa Ana-based motorcycle accessories company Cheat’ah Engineering. At that point, it became popular with motorcyclists. Villa and Streicek sold the bar in the early 1980s. In 1988, Cook’s Corner was purchased by Frank de Luna. De Luna spent another $90,000 on upgrades, adding a compact disc jukebox, a big-screen television, and a cocktail bar. As a result, the bar began to cater less to outlaws (the traditional clientele) and increasingly to “rubs” or “rubbies” (rich urban bikers).

At that point, it began to change hands so often that it’s a bit dizzying… or merely disinteresting. In 1999, faced with permitting issues, de Luna announced his intention to sell the bar for $2.7 million. Pete Katelaris and Costas Papacharalambous bought it in 2005. At some point, Pete Burback bought it and announced it was shutting down in 2017. I’m not sure who owns it now but last I checked it was still open. I still haven’t been to Cook’s Corner but Mike and I once headed there and (lacking cell reception) ended up in Silverado Canyon, which is a really magical place.

GETTING THERE

Cook’s Corner isn’t served by mass transit. Most visitors, it seems, arrive by motorcycle.

1881 (1946)

The 1881 Cocktail Bar is often said to have opened in 1936. However, it was Al’s Place until 1946. Al’s Place was owned by Albert P. and Bessie R. Nowlin. In 1946, they sold it to Pietro and Marianna Milana, who opened the 1881 Club. It was run by Santo P. Milano.

GETTING THERE

The 1881 is served by Metro’s 31, 32, 256, and 686 lines.

EL PASEO INN (1930)

El Paseo Inn opened in 1930, the year Olvera Street was given a tourist-friendly makeover spearheaded by Christine Sterling, who wished to play up Southern California‘s pre-Mexican Spanish period. It was founded by Maria Elena Peluffo and Frank Webb and originally served both Mexican and Italian dishes. When Prohibition was repealed, in 1933, it secured the fourth liquor license given out that year.

It was originally located at the end of the street in a smaller location. In 1953, Andy M. Camacho bought it moved it to a larger location on Olvera, one previously inhabited by Café Caliente. Its former spot was taken over by Cielito Lindo. The building in which El Paseo Inn has been located since then was built around 1870 and used in wine production. It may surprise modern-day readers that Olvera Street was formerly known as Calle de los Vignes and Los Angeles was the wine-making capital of the entire country.

GETTING THERE

El Paseo Inn is located across the street from Union Station so there are two many transit options to mention.

ERCOLE’S (c. 1936)

The neon sign at Ercole’s proclaimes that it was was established in 1927. I’m not sure where that year was arrived at. In 1918, the building in which Ercole’s is located was constructed but in the 1920s, it was home to Notion’s. The Manhattan Cafe opened there on 29 June 1929. Its founers were Grace Ullery and Giuseppe “Joe” Ercole, an immigrant from Quattordio, Italy. Ercole had been busted for bootlegging in 1921 but the Manhattan Cafe seems to have been a legitimate sandwich and ice cream parlor. Ercole remained in 1933 and his new wife, Blanche, also helped run the establishement, which remained in business until at least lat 1935.

By 1937, the Ercoles had closed the cafe and opened, in its place, Ercole’s Cafe. Ercole’s offered steak, chicken, and Italian dinners. The chef was Frank Brusasco. There was also a cocktail bar. In 1945, Joe Ercole was joined behind the bar by his son, Alexander “Al” Jerry Ercole, who’d just returned from World War II. In 1948, Al took over the establishement with his sister, Marguerite, and Marguerite’s husband, Robert E. Morrison. It was remodeled with a western theme by George “Red” Jones. An ad from that year proclaimed that Ercole’s was celebrating its 25th anniversary, which would’ve meant that it had opened in 1923 — which it didn’t.

In 1950, Al began running the establishment with Roland M. Polsley and Hal E. Bachmann. Al cashed out in 1957, after which it continued to be run by Bachmann and Polsley. It was later owned by Louis and Ellen Underwood. It was bought by Gary Keith Moore on 16 March 1972. Joe Ercoled died in 1983. Al Ercole died in 1994. Gary Moore died in 2015.

GETTING THERE

Ercole‘s is served by Metro‘s 438 Line and Beach Cites Transit‘s 109 Line

FOOTSIE’S (1948)

In 1932 or ’33, Howard Hardware closed and was replaced by Cliff’s Inn, a tavern run by expert marksman (and member of both the L.A.-Santa Monica Gun Club and the Red Lion Skeet Team) Major R. Slater and “Pete.” Cliff’s Inn was still in business as late as 1946, however, and still run by Slater although Pete seems to have been replaced by Fred Seney. Major Slater retired in 1948 and Cliff’s Inn was bought by Ferdinand “Footsie” Gioia, who opened Footsie’s. Footsie died in April 1963. Its next owner was Pietro Ferro. It was purchased by Greg Dulli in 2003 and given a New Orleans-theme makeover. To read more about the history of Footsie’s, click here.

GETTING THERE

Footsie’s is served by Metro‘s 81 and 251 lines.

THE FORMOSA CAFE (1939)

The Red Post Cafe was in operation as early as 1915. Around 1939, nightclub owner Max Goldie acquired it, added a dining room, kitchen, and bar, and it re-opened as The Formosa Cafe. The cross street is Formosa Avenue but, of course, Formosa is also the name the Portuguese named the island of Taiwan and the Formosa Cafe had an Orientalist aesthetic. A retired Pacific Electric Railway car (800 series) was repurposed as the Star Dining Room.

Goldie was murdered in 1947 — shot in the back whilst using a payphone on Santa Monica Boulevard. A bookie named Jimmy Bernstein took over operations. According to a memoir written by Lindy Brewerton, a bartender at the Formosa for 48 years, chef Lem Quon came on board in 1948 or ’49. Quon was from Hong Kong, not Formosa/Taiwan, and so, appropriately, the cuisine he made was mostly Cantonese and American Chinese (although there was and maybe still is Mongolia BBQ — which is essentially Taiwanese teppanyaki). When Bernstein died in 1973, Quon became the sole owner. Quon’s stepson, William Jung, took over operations before Quon’s death in 1993. In 2015, it was given a disastrous makeover, with the autographed headshots of Classic Hollywood Era movie stars removed, and newly blank walls painted a depressing gray. After an outcry, it was mostly restored but then closed in 2016. It re-opened in 2017 with new owners 1933 Group at the helm.

GETTING THERE

The Formosa Cafe is served by Metro‘s 4 Line, as well as the WeHo CityLine and the Pick-Up Line.

THE FROLIC ROOM (c. 1946)

The building in which both the Frolic Room and the Pantages are located was completed in 1930. The theater was originally a cinema and part of the Fox West Coast Theatres chain. It opened on 4 June 1930. The space occupied by the Frolic Room appears in photos from the cinema’s opening as “for rent.” By 1936, they had a tenant — the Fountain Cafe — which advertised beer and wine — as well as steak and chicken dinners. In 1939, it was for sale. I haven’t been able to pinpoint exactly when the Frolic Room moved in but the slang, “frolic room,” seems to have first begun to appear in American English in the second half of the 1940s.

The first dated image I’ve seen of the Frolic Room is from a photograph dated 29 January 1947. Although it is very difficult to make out what is purportedly the Frolic Room, it probably is at least from that year, as Song of the South is playing at the Pantages and that film was released in 1946. That suggests to me that unless the Frolic Room had just opened, it had probably been there at least since 1946. The first written mention of the Frolic Room that I’ve found is in the 1948 city directory. There are also numerous advertisements in that year’s Hollywood-Citizen News proclaiming that the bar’s speciality, in addition to cocktails, is Boston baked beans and brown bread. There is also an attempt to placate patron panic over potential pandemonium in the form of a proclamation stating “no orchestral din.” In 1949, Howard Hughes bought the building and renamed the Pantages the RKO Pantages.

GETTING THERE

The Frolic Room is located across the street from Metro‘s Hollywood/Vine Station, which is served by the B Line. It’s also served by Metro‘s 180, 210, 212, 217, and 222 lines; and LADOT‘s DASH Beachwood Canyon and Hollywood lines.

THE GALLEY (c. 1945)

Most sources claim that the Galley opened in 1934. I’m not saying that they’re all wrong, but the County Assessor says that the building in which it’s located was constructed in 1936 and an ad from 1937 lists it as for sale. In 1945, Guiseppe Gallo was running a business there called the Gallo Cafe with his business partner, Clifford Stephens, and it was that year that they acquired a liquor license. It was known as The Galley at least as early as 1948. By 1956, Stephens’s son, Ralph, had taken over. That year, whenever mentioned, the story was that it as more 35 years old — meaning it had opened in 1921 or so — fifteen years before the building had been constructed. In 1966, the Evening Vanguard reported that it was 30 years old. Ron Schur took over in 1989.

The Galley is served by Big Blue Bus‘s 1 and 8 lines.

THE GOLDEN GOPHER (1939)

The Golden Gopher‘s official origin story is that it was founded in 1905 as the Golden Sun Saloon and that it was secretly owned by none other than Theodore Roosevelt, who was president of the United States until 1909. If that seems unbelievable to you, then you are not alone. Roosevelt was practically a teetotaler and a litigious one at that. He once said a man for libel because he claimed that Roosevelt drank booze. Roosevelt proclaimed in court “I have never been drunk or in the slightest degree under the influence of liquor.” Not that there haven’t been hypocrites in office, before, but that no one in the press would’ve discovered that he was, while president, also a secret saloon keeper, well.

The truth is that the building in which the Golden Gopher is located was, in fact, constructed in 1905. The floors above were run as a boarding house and the groundfloor’s first tenant, apparently, was the Broadway Skirt Manufacturing Company. In 1906, Misses Setzleff and Nordby moved their “health and beauty sanitarium’ into the space. They offered ladies electric light baths, magnetic massage, manicures, and treatments for rheumatism, colds, constipation, and nervous troubles. It’s hard to imagine a less Rooseveltian operation. Roosevelt grew up a sickly, asthmatic, home-schooled New York blue blood. He laboriously constructed an image of a macho rugged cowboy and big-game hunter. I doubt his fragile grasp on masculinity would’ve allowed for “Swedish manipulation” at the hands of a masseuse, even though the parlor eventually opened its doors to gentlemen. It remained there until at least 1910.

By 1916, however, it was home to Edward O’Neil Retail Liquors. The space was for lease again in 1919 — the same year that Roosevelt died at the age of 60. Coincidence? Probably. In 1922, it was home to the Crystal Grill. In 1938, it was reported in a newspaper that a ten-year lease had been signed by a “Minnesotan concern” who intended to renovate the space and re-open it as a “restaurant and cocktail bar” on 1 January 1939. Not long after, a writer for The Coast wrote a short review of a bar called the Golden Gopher. “This is a brand new downtown drinkery. It is a swell place to drop into after the movies and is very centrally located.” The bar’s name, of course, referred to the mascot of a Minnesotan college football team. It has been the Golden Gopher ever since. I don’t know when the sign was created, but it certainly looks period-appropriate for the Art Deco era.

In 2004, the bar was purchased and renovated by the 213 Hospitality Group. I reckon they did a fine job. I’ve been there a handful of times since, including once, when I went with my brother, and he abandoned me after I fell in with a bunch of charming Atwater hairdressers celebrating their annual holiday party. What would Teddy Roosevelt have thought?

GETTING THERE

The Golden Gopher is served by AVTA‘s 785 Line; LADOT‘s Commuter Express 419 and 439 lines, Metro‘s 4, 10, 14, 48, 66, 70, 76, 78, and 81 lines; as well as many others if you’re able to walk more than a block.

THE IDLE HOUR (1941)

The Idle Hour opened in 1941. It was owned by Universal Studios film technician Michael D. Connolly who commissioned engineer George F. Fordy to build it. In the 1960s, it changed to La Cana Flamenco. An example of programmatic architecture, it was designed to resemble a giant whiskey barrel. In 2010, it was designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 977. It was restored and renovated by the 1933 Group.

GETTING THERE

The Idles Hour is served bty Metro‘s B, 224, and Express 501 lines.

JAY DEE CAFE (1944)

Vincent James “Jim” Lima and Edward “Eddie” A. Krall opened the Jay Dee Cafe in 1944. The location was previously home to another bar, Elgin’s. It’s name was an hommage to another San Gabriel Valley bar at which Krall and Lima had been regulars, which shared the initionals “J” and “D.” Locally famed for its burgers, in 1973, they added Chinese food to the menu under the supervision of chef Joe Wong, formerly of George Lim’s. Jim Lima died in 1981 and his son, Frank Lima, rand it. Frank died in 2004. It was taken over by wife-and-husband team, Stephanie Wilkins and Jose Jorge around 2007.

GETTING THERE

Jay Dee Cafe is served by Metro‘s 83 Line.

THE KING EDDY SALOON (1906)

The glamorous King Edward Hotel, designed by the celebrated John Parkinson, opened on 15 March 1906, with an hotel bar, The King Edward Bar, operated by partners D.B. Jerrue and William H. Hevren, who’d made his way from Connecticut to Los Angeles by the mid-1890s. Jerrue was subsequently replaced by Clarence D. Richardson. The partners closed the bar in 1918, as California began to go dry. During Prohibition, it moved to the basement where it operated as a speakeasy nicknamed the King Edward Cellar. The walls of the former speakeasy were decorated with charming Bavarian-themed murals that still exist. Upstairs, the plate-glass windows were removed and filled in in 1923 and a piano store moved into the vacated bar room.

The LAPD were not only aware of bootlegging and speakeasies, but they were also deeply involved. Hevren, in addition to running The King Edward, was the chairman of the police commission in Avalon and a member of that town’s board of trustees. In 1929, he was fined $3,000 (about $49,000 in 2021, adjusted for inflation) for operating a gambling house on his property. In the trial, Hevren was quoted as having bragged to one of his criminal associates, “It is just as easy to run a bootlegging or gambling establishment as a grocery store, if you pay your way. Why don’t you join in the gambling?’

Hevren died in 1931, before the bar reemerged, on Repeal Day in 1933 as The King Edward Grill. The speakeasy reverted to a storage space. Around 1960, parking lot operator Babe Croik and a business partner took over expanded it into a former barbershop. It’s likely that it was at this time that was renamed the King Eddy Saloon — the name it retains today. In 1969, Croik took over sole ownership, afterward run by his son, and afterward by his son, Dustin. It was managed by bartender Bill Roller, who lived upstairs, since around 1982. In 2012, it was purchased by the ACME Hospitality Group. In 2018, the building was purchased by the Healthy Housing Foundation and, around then, the bar was taken over by Chris Kasten.

GETTING THERE

The King Eddy is served by Metro‘s 16, 18, 33, 53, 60, 62, 92, and 720 lines, LADOT‘s DASH Downtown Route D; and the the 460 (Disneyland) bus.

JOE JOST (1924)

Opened in 1924. Joe Jost arrived from the Balkans to New York City at the age of sixteen where he got a job as a barber. From there he continued west until he met his wife, Edith McKean, in Upland. They married in 1917. After returning from World War I, he first established Joe Jost’s in Newport Beach in 1920. Since it was during Prohibition, he sold candy, ice cream, cigarettes, and near beer. In 1924, he relocated to Long Beach, where his establishment was a combination poker and pool hall/barbershop. Then as now, there was food, too, although that old bar staple of pickled eggs are the most popular item on the menu. There’s also the special (Polish sausage, Swiss cheese, pickle, and mustard on rye). When Prohibition was repealed, he began selling beer. It was decided that alcohol and cutting hair don’t mix well and so the barbershop aspect was retired. He later retired, himself, to Desert Hot Springs and later, Leisure World. He passed away in 1975. Joe Jost’s remained a family operation, first with Joe Jr. running it and now Jost Sr.’s grandson, Ken Buck. A second location existed from 1979 until 1991. Add Joe Jost to my list of vintage bars to check out.

GETTING THERE

Joe Jost’s is served by Long Beach Transit‘s 41, 45, and 46 lines. Assuming it’ll still be around in seven years (a safe bet) and that Metro’s Santa Ana Branch Corridor Project is completed according to schedule (a riskier bet), there will be a train line passing by in 2028.

MICELI’S (1949)

Carmen Miceli was born in Chicago on 17 March 1923 to immigrants from Sicily. After serving in World War II, Miceli moved to Los Angeles in 1946, where he first worked as a waiter at Ciro’s. He opened his pizzeria, Miceli’s, in 1949. The wooden booths, stools, and wall panels were purchased from the nearby location of the Pig ‘n Whistle chain, which closed in 1952. A Universal City location opened in 1980. Miceli died in 2015.

GETTING THERE

Miceli’s is served by Metro’s 212 and 217 lines.

MUSSO & FRANK (1917)

The building in which Musso & Frank Grill is located was designed by L. A. Smith and built in 1917. It was opened by Frank Toulet in 1919 as Frank’s French Café. After partnering with Joseph Musso, the name changed to Musso & Frank Grill in 1923. In 1927, it was sold to Joseph Carissimi and John Mosso, who moved next door. The “Back Room” opened in 1934. It was given a Hollywood Regency makeover in 1937. In 1955, after the lease expired, the mahogany bar from the back room was moved to the “new room,” where it remains. In 2019, Ruben Rueda, a Musso & Frank bartending legend since 1970, passed away at the age of 67. He’d worked there even longer, having first been hired as an assistant server at the age of fifteen. Many of the staff at the bar are legendary, though, and I don’t remember who served me the last martini I had there, but I remember the bartender confidently said something like, “Now tell me if that isn’t the best martini you’ve ever had” and I didn’t argue.

GETTING THERE

Musso & Frank Grill is served by Metro‘s B, 212, 217, and 224 lines as well as LADOT‘s DASH Hollywood Line.

THE RENO ROOM

The Reno Room opened in 1945.

GETTING THERE

The Reno Room is served by Long Beach Transit‘s 111, 112, and 131 lines.

THE ROCK INN (1929, bar added at unknown date)

Massachusetts-born army veteran Joel Hurd, Sr. moved with his family to Lake Hughes in 1926. Hurd took a job at B. Brannon‘s market. Meanwhile, from 1927 to 1929, he constructed a striking stone building across the street. Brannon’s market burned down in April 1928 and salvaged merchandise was moved across the road to what opened as The Lake Hughes Trading Post. Over the years, it served as an inn, a bus station, a general store, a post office, and a gas station — although I don’t believe that the gas pumps outside have operated in many years.

Around 1951, Hurd became the town postmaster and his sons Joel Jr. and Chuck took over the inn, living upstairs after the lodging was no longer made available to guests. Adrian and Delores “Dee” Shrout ran the inn after the Hurds retired. Around 1972, German-Canadian character actor Paul Koslo, his brother, and his sister-in-law bought the Trading Post. Koslo’s partner’s lost interest and by 1975 he assumed sole ownership. By then, it was colloquially known as the “Rock Bar” or the “Rock House.” It formally acquired the name, The Rock Inn, in 1983. After completing the filming of his part in Loose Cannons, Koslo finished renovating the guest quarters upstairs and made them available again to lodgers. Koslo died in 2019. It’s now run by Warren St. John.

I’ve been to the Rock Inn quite a few times. I love the Lake Towns of Northeast Los Angeles. And, although I’m normally not a fan of internet jukeboxes, Una once chose Blur and Pulp songs which may or may not’ve been the first time any of their songs played there.

GETTING THERE

The Rock Inn, located on Elizabeth Lake Road, is not served by mass transit. Most visitors arrive by motorcycle. Last time, I went, they had just dropped cinders on the highway to melt the snow. We asked the worker, parked at Three Points, how long we’d have to wait. He ushered us through, philosophically observing “Go ahead. Ain’t nothing gonna change.”

THE STAG BAR

The Stag Bar opened in 1908, as a hotel bar. It acquired a full liquor license in 1914 and at that time debuted its 100-foot-long mahogany bar. It survived Prohibition by operating as a pool hall renamed The Stage Cafe. Sarsaparilla became the house beverage but it was rumored to have also sold bootlegged beer. After Prohibition was repealed, it got an Art Deco makeover. In 2006, owner Mario Marovic changed its name to The District Lounge. It was restored and expanded in 2014, debuting its new kitchen in 2015. When it reopened it was with the name The Stag Bar + Kitchen.

GETTING THERE

The Stag Bar + Hotel is served by OCTA‘s 47 Line.

TAM O’SHANTER (1922, bar since 1950)

In 1922, Joe Montgomery, Lawrence L. Frank, Walter Van de Kamp opened Montgomery’s Country Inn. It was designed by Hollywood set designer, Harry Oliver. The name was changed, in 1923, to Montgomery’s Chanticleer Inn. It was in 1925 that it was again renamed, this time The Tam o’ Shanter Inn although back then, there was no bar.

Lawrence Frank went on to found Lawry’s Restaurant in 1938. Frank’s son, Richard N. Frank, joined the staff in 1950. It was the younger Frank who added the “ale & sandwich bar.” It was also the younger Frank who renamed the restaurant The Great Scott in 1968. It reverted to the Tam o’ Shanter in 1982.

The Tam o’ Shanter has that pre-Disney Southern California simulacra thing going and I highly recommend going there. Naturally, Disney himself was supposedly a huge fan. I’ve been there numerous times, most recently with Jared Cohee of Eat the World Los Angeles.

GETTING THERE

The Tam O’ Shanter is served by Metro‘s 180 Line.

TOM BERGIN’S (1936)

Tom Bergin was born in 1894 in Boston to immigrants from County Kerry. He was an aviator in the Naval Airforce in World War I. With a degree from Boston University, he came to Los Angeles in 1927 and worked as an entertainment lawyer. He was a fan of horse racing and a regular at the Del Mar racetrack. He obtained a liquor license on 11 February 1935 and opened Old Horseshoe Tavern & Thoroughbred Club at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax in 1936 but it quickly came to be known, popularly, as Tom Bergin’s Tavern. In 1945, with an eye on expansion, Bergin bought a property further south down Fairfax and commissioned the construction of the Tudor Revival structure into which Tom Bergin’s moved his tavern in 1949.

In 1957, regular patron Bud Wiser (apparently his real name) placed a shamrock above the bar with his name on it. Thus began a tradition. Bergin retired in 1973 and sold the tavern to Mike Mandekic and T.K. Vodrey. Bergin died on 25 October 1978, Brandon Boudet and Warner Ebbink bought in 2011 and took it upscale. It closed in 2013 and new owner, Derek Schreck re-opened it in 2014, with a members-only whiskey club called the Vestry upstairs. it closed again in 2018. It was designated an Historical Cultural Monument in 2019. It was sold again not long to Fran and Dave Castagnetti.

Una and I once saw a guy interrupt The Edge‘s dinner to hand him a business card and ask him about scoring his YouTube videos. No matter what you think of U2, the fact that he was gracious and said he’d check it out has to earn him some points with Saint Peter. Another time I popped in for a History Happy Hour and most of the Fellowship of the Ring were there having a reunion.

GETTING THERE

Tom Bergin’s is served by Metro‘s 28 and 217 lines. Wilshire/Fairfax Station is set to open along the D Line in 2023.

Support Eric Brightwell on Patreon

Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”

Brightwell has written for Angels Walk LA, Amoeblog, Boom: A Journal of California, diaCRITICS, Hidden Los Angeles, and KCET Departures. His art has been featured by the American Institute of Architects, the Architecture & Design Museum, the Craft Contemporary, Form Follows Function, Los Angeles County Store, the book Sidewalking, Skid Row Housing Trust, and 1650 Gallery. Brightwell has been featured as subject in The Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Magazine, LAist, CurbedLA, Eastsider LA, Boing Boing, Los Angeles, I’m Yours, and on Notebook on Cities and Culture. He has been a guest speaker on KCRW‘s Which Way, LA?, at Emerson College, and the University of Southern California.

Brightwell is currently writing a book about Los Angeles and you can follow him on Ameba, Duolingo, Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram, Mubi, the StoryGraph, and Twitter.

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The post Swinging Doorways — Los Angeles’s Oldest Bars – Eric Brightwell appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Join us for Tag Along, where local writers, artists, food authorities, and celebrities shine a spotlight on the best food and drinks in their favorite Bay Area neighborhoods.

Colin Winnette is a long-haired, wide-smiling, game-writing bohemian living in San Francisco. Hailing from Denton, Texas, he’s worked as a bookseller on Haight Street, a copywriter for hospitals, and a ticket-taker at a movie theater. He’s also the author of seven books, most recently Users from Soft Skull Press, which earned a glowing review in the New York Times in May and another in The Nation in August. The book is about the perils and potentials of virtual reality and was written at a handful of bars and cafes in the Mission District. “San Francisco’s got a lot of heart,” Winnette says. “It’s a beautiful city to work in with deep literary roots.”

Winnette finished a book tour in spring 2023 and, on the day we meet to traipse through the Mission, he’s en route to Dog Eared Books for a print copy of the paper. He’s glad that, after emerging from COVID lockdowns, people still felt like coming out to say hello. He’s doubly thankful for the sleeper, unsung hangouts in the Mission that allowed his book to come to fruition. Join Eater SF as we accompany Winnette on a typical day of writing, caffeinating, drinking, and eating around the Mission District.

CoffeeShop

3139 Mission Street, San Francisco

Finding CoffeeShop on Mission Street is sort of like doing a word search puzzle; it’s the kind of hidden spot one could miss by blinking. The soy latte — and maybe an everything croissant on a peckish day — gets Winnette started each day. The shop itself, though, is well-known for its Sherpa, a rendition of the Bulletproof coffee trend. The joint, which has been in business for more than a decade, also freezes its coffee into cold brew ice cubes and makes its pastries in-house.

Winnette lived around the corner from this tiny storefront while he wrote Users, taking his soy latte to the sidewalk where the cafe stocks a few literal stumps. They work as tables, or in the writer’s case, a desk, as the 49 bus flies by. There are no plugs, no “work here” culture, as Winnette describes it. He gets through his coffee, works maybe an hour or so, takes stabs at early sentences, then heads on to the next destination. “I’m better when I indulge my restlessness,” Winnette says. “Rather than saying ‘Sit! Work!’”

Atlas Cafe

3049 20th Street, San Francisco

The sunny and expansive patio at this 20th Street restaurant plays host to a big daytime crowd. Winnette became a regular thanks to rock climbing sessions at Mission Cliffs a couple of blocks away; he’d come here for a smoked trout bagel, served on bread once the bagels sell out in the afternoon. The shop serves Grand Coffee from Mission Street, and the tangy espresso and foamy cappuccinos are both affordable and delectable. It’s the laid-back nature that allows Winnette to enter the writing space. “These are uninterrupted places,” Winnette says.

The bagel or a sandwich on rosemary bread, doesn’t hurt, either. He opts for a window seat, anywhere with a plug to recoup lost battery spent at CoffeeShop. But, just like that micro cafe, Winnette doesn’t stay here longer than a few hours before moving on. He attributes his frenetic approach to an undergrad interdisciplinary arts degree, one that had students in and out of various studios as a form of inspiration. The noise from the chatter of cafe-goers is still as important as the espresso and food. “It’s chaotic enough to become like the ocean lapping on the shore,” Winnette says. “Hypnotic.”

Phone Booth

1398 South Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco

This lowkey Mission Street bar, a few blocks from decidedly not lowkey Tacos Patron, opens at 2 p.m. Or, that’s what you’d think from its posted hours — really it opens whenever it opens. Walking over isn’t too strenuous, though Winnette might hop on the 14 or 49 Muni lines to get a bit closer. The move here is a gin and tonic or a beer — nothing esoteric, just to get the wheels turning in a new direction. “This is me changing drugs,” Winnette says. “From caffeine to alcohol.”

To some, this decades-old bar is the perfect dive. Its pool tables and dimly-lit ambiance let Winnette unwind a bit, though he stays focused on the writing. He and an old pal, a high school teacher who lives a double life as a Jeopardy! whiz, would sip whiskey and read each other old poetry for fun. “There’s a great writing community in San Francisco,” Winnette says. “Even though the city has priced out a lot of great artists.”

Front Porch and Rock Bar

65 29th Street, San Francisco and 80 29th Street, San Francisco

A shot of whiskey with a pony boy Miller High Life is how the author ends the day. Rock Bar is one of those haunts that serves familiar faces day in and day out — and has now celebrated the birthdays of four neighborhood dogs over the years — on an otherwise unremarkable corner. Across the street, before hitting the pub, Winnette might grab dinner to take to the bar. Southern restaurant and bar Front Porch is happy to oblige; Winnette loves the veggie burger while his wife opts for the beignets, and, for company, they order a pitcher of signature cocktail Porch Swing.

The fried okra also goes hard, and Winnette says the grits — best with a fried egg on top — might be the finest in the city alongside the fare at Brenda’s. These are the meals that keep him ready for a swim with the Dolphin Club or pondering artificial intelligence civil rights (something Winnette thinks is just over the horizon). As he winds down at Front Porch or Rock Bar, he reads the paper, trying to be a human being after being a writer, he says. Sometimes his books’ reviews appear in those papers. But, most of the time, he’s just drinking a pickle back and eating fried okra after sifting through the white noise of San Francisco for eight hours or so. The author says these bars and restaurants remind him of Denton, in that they’re ubiquitous and unpretentious. “They have a thread of home,” Winnette says.

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The post Tour San Francisco Writer Colin Winnette’s Favourite Mission District Cafes and Bars appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Needless to say, it wasn’t long before the authorities began monitoring what was going on at Fe-Be’s. Beginning in 1967, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) held several meetings about the activities of staff and guests at Fe-Be’s. In 1969, the ABC accused the bar of “conduct contrary to public morals,” including close physical contact between men below the waist. At another hearing, when Geist was accused of having sex toys on the premises, he claimed (somewhat hilariously) that they were simply being used as novelty drink stirrers.

When the bar closed for a year in 1970, the community Geist and Kissinger had so lovingly built gathered around Fe-Be’s, with other venues holding fundraisers and offering vocal support. The bar revived in December 1971 and continued until 1986. Ultimately, it wasn’t the legal review that brought Fe-Be’s down; It was the toll the AIDS epidemic had on the San Francisco gay community. Kissinger died in 1988, Geist in 1998.

Fe-Be’s life lives on today through the Leather David. When Geist and Kissinger first opened the bar, they commissioned artist Mike Caffee to create a version of Michaelangelo’s famous sculpture transformed into a gay biker. Caffee’s vision later adorned a range of merchandise items. When Fe-Be’s closed and the Paradise Lounge moved in, Leather David stayed behind. Versions of Caffee’s cheesy masterpiece can now be found in bars as far away as Melbourne, Australia.

Black Cat Cafe

A brochure from the Black Cat Cafe, a historic bar at 710 Montgomery that existed between 1933 and 1963. (Leah Millis/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

Once described by Allen Ginsberg as “America’s largest gay bar,” Black Cat Café began life as a bohemian hangout in 1933, just steps from what is now the Transamerica Pyramid.

In the early 40’s, when the venue was taken over by Sol Stouman, the Black Cat began fearlessly devoting themselves to all things gay. Stouman was a straight man, but having survived the Holocaust, he knew the importance of safe spaces. It was something the already subversive crowd in the bar wholeheartedly welcomed. Ginsberg once commented, “It was completely open… Everybody went there, straight and homosexual… All the gay scream queens came, the straight dudes in gray flannel suits, longshoremen.” All the poets went there.”

No one was under any illusions about the ethos of the Black Cat and its visitors. Legendary LGBTQ+ rights activist José Sarria performed regularly there as a drag coach when he was young, after starting out as a black cat waiter. Sarria loved interpreting “God Save the Queen” with revised lyrics – instead he sang “God save us nellie queens”. He also performed a version of the opera “Carmen” in which he ran away from the pursuing police officers.

Like the Silver Rail, the Black Cat underwent extensive legal scrutiny from the late 1940s and was deemed “messy”. When Stouman had his liquor license suspended indefinitely in 1949 because “individuals with known homosexual tendencies frequented these premises and used these premises as a meeting place,” Stouman fought back — all the way to the California Supreme Court. And in 1951 he won.

The court concluded:

Several people were arrested [at the Black Cat], some for vagrancy and others for “enacting homosexual acts,” but there was no evidence that any of those arrested had been convicted. There was no evidence of illegal or immoral conduct on the premises… Visiting a public restaurant and bar by homosexuals…without evidence of committing illegal or immoral acts on the premises…is not sufficient to establish a violation.

The Black Cat Café continued to operate for another decade, although harassment from local police remained a problem for the venue for the remainder of its days.

The gangway

If there was ever a gay bar that should have existed forever, it’s Gangway, first established in 1910. San Francisco’s oldest continuously operating gay bar, as of 2018, had weathered Prohibition, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and the AIDS crisis — an amazing run that ended with a simple liquor license transfer.

The post Wonderful San Francisco Homosexual Bars From Historical past appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

The view of the Bay Bridge and Mount Tamalpais is better with cocktails

San Francisco’s iconic skyline has a new twist: rooftop bars. Bring a jacket and high expectations as these spaces can be very cozy with the right heating technique, which we detail below. New hotels have made it a point to create social rooftop terraces with views, but other bars and restaurants have made it a real trend. Grab a drink and maybe a blanket and enjoy the spectacular views these rooftop bars offer.

Do you want the best seat in the house? Sit at one of the individual fire pits.

Charmaines

Charmaines Rooftop bar and lounge

More than 100 feet above Market Street on the San Francisco Proper sits the excellent Charmaine’s, a bar that captures the full potential of a rooftop lounge. This indoor-outdoor spot has a European terrace vibe with plenty of space, though reservations are essential. The best spot in the house is next to one of the individual fire pits, which will keep you warm while enjoying the views of San Francisco. Cocktails are available from BV Hospitality, best known for the award-winning Trick Dog. And while everything on chef Jason Fox’s menu is worthwhile, the standout dish is the bar’s Sunday paella celebration.

The wraparound bar lets you see San Francisco from every angle

KAIYŌ

KAIYŌ On the roof

Located on the 12th floor of the Hyatt Place hotel is KAIYŌ Rooftop, a SoMa bar that blends Japanese culinary practices with Peruvian culture. Lots of plants and jungle-green decor create a tropical vibe, and while heat lamps help with that, dress for cooler weather anyway. The wraparound shape of the bar means San Francisco is visible from every angle. And with a cocktail menu full of clever use of Japanese whiskeys and Peruvian piscos, repeat visits are almost guaranteed.

Ascend via Run

LINE SF not only brought new accommodations to San Francisco, but also the rooftop bar Rise Over Run. On the 13th floor of this tenderloin hotel, guests are treated to incredible views of downtown San Francisco and cocktails from bartender Dannie Louie of Mister Jius fame. Fire pits and heat lamps keep the cold out, while a glass greenhouse means you can experience all that this special place has to offer indoors, regardless of the weather.

The Good Good Culture Club offers some outdoor seating

PATRICIA CHANG

Good, good culture club

From the team that brought Liholiho Yacht Club to San Francisco comes Good Good Culture Club, a restaurant on the mission that serves cuisine from across Asia. Though the restaurant is primarily an indoor experience, it offers limited outdoor seating on the rooftop terrace, which is decorated with vibrant greenery, colorful stalls, and essential heat lamps. While not guaranteed, the best way to secure one of these coveted seats is to request outdoor seating when making your reservation. Luckily, the playful cocktail selection can be enjoyed anywhere in the restaurant.

Cavaña’s rooftop bar is 17 floors up and exudes tropical vibes

Cavana

Cavana

Mission Bay’s newest hotel, LUMA, is already garnering accolades: Tripadvisor named it the hottest new hotel in the country. Part of its appeal is the rooftop Bar Cavaña, a Latin-inspired lounge on the 17th floor. It has a tropical vibe, stunning views of the San Francisco skyline, and a cocktail menu featuring ingredients from Central and South America. Heat lamps keep the outside area warm, but guests can enjoy the inside as well.

Ceiling

As one of the original pioneers of San Francisco’s rooftop bars, El Techo remains a mainstay. Located atop sister restaurant Lolinda in Mission, El Techo is a destination in itself, with outstanding cocktails, Latin American bites, and a retractable roof that adjusts to the weather. The view is great but the vibe is impeccable.

Don’t miss Rooftop 25 for frozen drinks, wood-fired pizza and caviar

25 Lusk

roof terrace 25

This SoMa retreat is an extension of 25 Lusk below, a more casual counterpart that makes it a great place to relax. The specialty cocktail menu at Rooftop 25 is also designed for relaxation, especially the frozen drinks area. There’s a wide variety of food options, including wood-fired pizza and a selection of caviar, and there’s plenty of seating available to make the most of your time outside in San Francisco.

It’s technically in Marin County, but this new Marriott property made our list anyway

Mariott

Over the Fifth (San Rafael)

While not technically San Francisco, it’s clear that restaurateurs across the Bay Area are finally taking advantage of rooftop lounges — Marin County is getting one of their first lounges. This summer, Above Fifth opens a new Marriott property in San Rafael, the AC Hotel, where guests and visitors can enjoy Marin’s glorious weather. Clever cocktails go hand-in-hand with the bar’s views of nearby Mount Tamalpais.

The secret of great cocktails? Find out in The Spill.

The post These Are San Francisco’s 8 Finest Rooftop Bars Proper Now appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

This is a list of the Bay Area’s most notable restaurant and bar openings, with new updates published once a week. Did we miss something great? Please, drop us a line.

March 28

FISHERMAN’S WHARF — If a three-story alter to sugar sounds like your thing, then be glad to hear popular candy brand It’Sugar is opening a flagship store at 145 Jefferson Street, San Francisco Business Times reports. Expect 30,000 square feet of sweets in the former Rainforest Cafe and Lefty O’Douls space. There will also be a “San Francisco-themed Lollipop Garden” and a section devoted to specialty Asian candies like Pocky, Hi-Chew, and … Top Ramen. The store is set to open at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, March 31.

SUNSET — Say ‘ahoy!’ to Bearing West, a new bar and restaurant in the Sunset. Located at 2325 Taraval Street, the recently opened spot is nautically themed, with a seafood menu offering a mix of raw bar items such as an $89 Sutro Tower with a mix of oysters, clams, and prawns, plus cioppino, fish and chips, and clam chowder. On the drinks side, the bar offers a mix of beer, wine, and sake, as well as six specialty cocktails.

CIVIC CENTER — The Asian Art Museum finally has a new operator for its cafe since Sundays at the Museum closed in late July after four years. Asian Box, the local mini-chain offering dishes such as six-spice chicken and yellow coconut curry over rice, is set to open inside the cafe space on Friday, March 31, the San Francisco Standard reports.

BERKELEY — The long-awaited bagel factory from Boichik Bagels is finally open, about 18 months after owner Emily Winston first announced plans for the 18,000-square-foot space. The menu will be practically identical to other Boichik Bagel locations but will feature windows to catch an up-close look at the bagel robot in action, along with indoor and outdoor seating for customers to enjoy their bagels and coffee.

BERKELEY — Homeroom, the restaurant dedicated to all things mac and cheese, opened its newest location in the Gilman District of North Berkeley. The new outpost is at 1313 Ninth Street, Suite 130, located in the small food complex next door to Thai restaurant Funky Elephant and Philz Coffee.

EMERYVILLE — Oakland’s Arthur Mac’s Tap and Snack is opening an Emeryville outpost, this one named Arthur Mac’s Little Snack, the E’ville Eye reports. There will be pizza by the slice (or whole), along with hot wings, french fries, and root beer floats, the Mercury News further reports. Local craft beers are on tap, as well as ciders, wine, and cocktails.

Coho

MILL VALLEY — Coho is the newest restaurant in Mill Valley, a sustainable seafood spot from the family behind Piazza D’Angelo in Mill Valley, and Healdsburg’s Spoonbar and Dry Creek Kitchen. The kitchen is helmed by chef David Kornell, who’s worked in New York at Xaviars on Piermont, Cafe Gray, and Blue Ribbon Restaurant group. The new restaurant, located at 106 Throckmorton Avenue, also received an interior update from design studio Roy.

NAPA — Wine Girl Napa Valley is a new wine bar dropping in — you guessed it — Napa, with “delightfully chic interiors with Instagram-worthy backdrops,” according to a press release. This is the first Bay Area location for the wine bar, which first launched in Scottsdale, Arizona. Located at 1321 First Street, Suite A, in Napa, the new bar will offer wine and Champagne by the glass and bottle, as well as bites and pizza.

WOODSIDE — The Mountain House, that roadside restaurant nestled amongst the redwoods in Woodside, is finally back open, the Daily Journal reports. The 100-year-old space is now run by chef and partner Dmitry Elperin and chef Will Roberts, serving what Roberts calls “country coastal cuisine” with game, venison, quail, and sustainable trout on the menu.

March 21

MISSION — If you’re looking for a different style of sourdough bread, Fox and Lion is more than ready to oblige. The long-running bread operation serves French-style sourdough made with a pre-ferment levain that’s already gained baker Xan Devoss a devoted following. Now, she’s moving the bakery into its first permanent location at 3350 18th Street, opening on Wednesday, March 29.

LOWER PAC HEIGHTS — Mattina, the casual cafe from SPQR’s Matt Accarrino, is (partially) open as of this last weekend and already serving breakfast items to the public. There are plans to expand hours at its official April 1 opening — it is an all-day cafe, after all — but in the meantime, locals can snag an early sample of the breakfast offerings by following the cafe on Instagram for the latest morning hours.

EMBARCADERO — La Mar Cocina Peruana is set to relaunch La Mar Bar with an updated new look. Reopening Thursday, March 23, visitors can expect to sip on a wide variety of pisco while listening to live music, and snacking on shareable plates in the newly renovated space.

INNER RICHMOND — Fresh pasta fanatics will find their kindred spirits shopping at Pasta Supply Co., the retail shop-slash-restaurant from chef Anthony Strong, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The shop side of the operation will open as of March 25, selling all manners of pasta and sauce in its deli case. The restaurant side, however, is expected to launch in mid-April.

SACRAMENTO — Brunch lovers near the Capitol might want to take note: breakfast and lunch spot Kitchen15 opened at 1630 K Street with breakfast tacos, omelets, and (of course) mimosas, the Sacramento Bee reports.

March 14

SOMA — Dragon Horse is betting big on San Francisco’s late-night scene, opening March 8 with plans to serve food and drinks until the early (or, er, late) hour of 1 a.m. six days a week. It’s the latest project from the rapidly growing Mins Group, also behind Korean fine dining restaurant Suragan and the twin coffee and wine bars Dento. Dragon Horse takes over the former Izakaya Hon space and the cocktail list favors Asian flavors and ingredients such as a hot pot cordial, yuzu, and coconut oolong tea. The food leans Japanese; think gyoza, ramen, and sushi.

MARINA — As of late February, there’s a new option for breakfast burritos by day and Yucatan-style, sour orange-scented cochinita pibil by night. Las Mestizas opened at 2280 Chestnut Street, near the corner of Scott and Chestnut, after relocating from the Mission. Owner Fausto May says he’s excited to serve both Marina residents and the Yucateco people who work in the neighborhood.

MARINA — Come and get your fancy salads: As of March 14, Sweetgreen is open at 2040 Chestnut Street in the Marina. The fast-casual restaurant’s menu offers warm bowls, salads, and plates with proteins including either blackened or roasted chicken.

CASTRO — Los Amigos on Castro has taken over the high-profile former Castro Republic space at 2295 Market Street, near the intersection of Noe and 16 Streets, Hoodline reports. It’s a second outpost for the Mission District restaurant of the same name and serves brunch, lunch, and dinner, according to photos taken by Hoodline. The menus span everything from pupusas and cheeseburgers to chilaquiles and Greek salad.

EMERYVILLE — Shake Shack continues its takeover of the Bay Area burger scene with its 11th location in the area, at Bay Street in Emeryville. The new restaurant opens Thursday, March 16 and will serve the familiar menu of burgers, sandwiches, hot dogs, shakes, and fries.

BERKELEY — The long-awaited Pizzeria da Laura, the first restaurant from Tony’s Pizzeria alum Laura Meyer, opens on March 23. As Eater SF shared, the menu will encompass four different styles of pie: Sicilian, Detroit, and grandma pan-style pizzas, plus floppy New York-style pies. Diners will be able to mix and match toppings including soppressata, arugula, prosciutto, and shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano with their preferred style of pie, so it’s a build-your-own kind of dining experience.

BURLINGAME — Peninsula diners have a new vegan dining option in Twelvemonth, which comes from owner Bob Trahan, a former AL’s Place prep cook and Prairie line cook, the Chronicle reports. The restaurant’s menu spans global cuisines with options ranging from mushroom chawanmushi to paella with roasted brassicas.

BELMONT — Jiro Cafe opened earlier this year in Belmont, bringing a menu of Japanese sweets to 1094 Alameda de las Pulgas. Per the Chronicle, the menu offers both sweet — anpan, a sweet roll stuffed with red bean paste, and loaves of milk bread — and savory — a tonkatsu sandwich and beef curry over rice – options.

CUPERTINO — The creamy pork-infused broth that regularly draws long lines in San Francisco’s Japantown has arrived in Silicon Valley. As of March 9, popular ramen shop Marufuku Ramen is open in Cupertino (19772 Stevens Creek Boulevard) serving Hakata-style tonkostsu ramen, rice bowls, small bites, and more.

MOUNTAIN VIEW — The Bay Area’s hand roll boom continues with the debut of Temaki Nori at 124 Castro Street in Mountain View. The Chronicle spotted the new restaurant in the city’s downtown and reports a menu that includes temaki filled with “miso scallops, fatty tuna belly or butter-poached lobster with black garlic aioli.”

March 7

NORTH BEACH — Much-loved grocery store Luke’s Local will open its newest location on Friday, March 10. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. followed by a day of raffle giveaways and free coffee.

POLK GULCH — Signal Coffee opened inside the Batter Bakery space on Pine Street on March 1. The East Bay roaster is stepping into San Francisco for the first time, upping the coffee game in the neighborhood, though Batter’s Jen Musty will still serve her famous treats at the location.

MISSION — La Ventana, Sunset Roaster’s pop-up window inside Mission District restaurant Donaji, will host its grand opening on Saturday, March 11. Owners Phillip and Sara Roliz have been in the cafe game for a minute, and at the welcome party for this newest venture they’ll offer free goodies and host a mariachi band starting at 11 a.m.

OUTER MISSION — Ina Jungin Lee’s latest addition to her Korean cuisine empire is the Korner Store Vibes and Bites, open in the former Hwaro location in the Excelsior. This marks the reopening of her Valencia Street spot for soju and house beats.

EMBARCADERO — Xica, an indulgent Mexican restaurant from chef Maria Elena Esquivel and husband Ignacio Perez, opened in Levi’s Plaza on March 6. The restaurant is a return for Esquivel who once ran her pop-up Chica out of a takeout window in the area back in 2015.

LAUREL HEIGHTS — From sibling entrepreneurs with international cooking careers comes Geary Boulevard’s new Prik Hom. The San Francisco Standard reports one-half of the business partners, chef Jim Suwanpanya, cooked at Michelin-rated Bangkok restaurants before opening this Thai restaurant in the former Derm space.

OAKLAND — Mega popular vegan Puerto Rican restaurant Casa Borinqueña is open for dinner in North Oakland. Though owner Lourdes Nau, also known as Chef Lulu, isn’t operating at the full staffing she’d like to see just yet, pasteles, mofongo, and many of her typical items are already on the menu.

OAKLAND — San Leandro’s Zocalo Coffee opened a second location at Oakland waterfront’s Brooklyn Gulch on February 13. The San Francisco Chronicle reports the typical suite of espresso drinks are on the menu alongside a robust food menu.

OAKLAND — Desta Ethiopian Cafe is taking its farmers market setup to the former Chica space at 303A Oakland Avenue. The San Francisco Chronicle writes chef and owner Sirgout Aga Badana’s earned a fanbase thanks to Desta’s sambusas, lentils, injera, and more.

OAKLAND — Rico Rico Vegano is the new spin-off business from the Rico Rico Taco team. The San Francisco Chronicle writes the new location at 677 Rand Avenue offers hibiscus flower burritos, flautas, and soy-based carne asada amongst its plant-based fare.

WALNUT CREEK — The 10th Shake Shack location in the Bay Area opened to much fanfare on March 5. According to KRON 4, a line wound around the block to get a bit of that shake lifestyle, and $1 of every sandwich sold went to food access nonprofit White Pony Express.

PALO ALTO — Jimmy’s Cafe, a Turkish and Mediterranean restaurant opened in a former Subway location, debuted in November. The Peninsula Foodist writes the restaurant comes from father-and-son duo Cevdet and Mehmet Yanas.

February 28

CASTRO — New restaurant Castro Indian Restaurant and Bar takes a “contemporary fusion approach to Indian cuisine,” according to the business website. Located at 468 Castro Street, the restaurant also brews its own beer — a blond ale, per an email from owner Ajay Khadka.

ALAMEDA — La Cocina alum Constanza Ortiz, who’s run Latin American catering business Maite Catering for more than a decade, opened Macondo Colombian Fusion earlier this year, East Bay Nosh spotted. There are both traditional and fusion dishes on the menu such as banh mi and quesabirria arepas.

BERKELEY — Partners Viviana Wang and Aaron Trimble opened Mind Coffee at 1816 Euclid Avenue in Berkeley on February 7, the San Francisco Standard reports. The coffee shop aims to “build mental health awareness and change the narrative around mental health” through things like mugs with mindfulness prompts and drinks with ingredients like coconut oil, which “some say reduces depression and promotes memory.”

BERKELEY — Hammerling Wines has moved into the former Windchaser space at 1375 4th Street in Berkeley. The winery’s new tasting room is open Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. and from 4 to 7 p.m. on Sundays. Look for food from a rotating list of culinary partners including Bolita Masa, Tacos Everywhere, Xulo, Edith’s Pie, and more.

MOUNTAIN VIEW — Ube-centric Cafe 86 burst into the Bay Area with its location in Union City last year, and now it’s expanded to Mountain View (738 Villa Street) bringing with it a menu starring items such as “ube truffles, ube butter bars, [and] ube leche flan cupcakes,” Palo Alto Online reports. A Daly City location is also in the works, per the outlet.

SEBASTOPOL — As of February 23, the Redwood is pouring natural wines and serving “produce-driven, shareable” cuisine in Sonoma County. Located at 234 South Main Street, it’s a wine bar by day and a full-service restaurant by night being run by longtime partners Ryan Miller and Geneva Melby. In an effort to be an approachable wine bar, they’re stocking about 100 bottles “from lesser known, smaller producers starting at $38,” an email says, and the menu includes dishes like hummus and baba ganoush, chicory salad, and scallop crudo.

SAN MATEO — 112 South B Street in San Mateo has become the destination of a ramen pilgrimage thanks to the opening of California’s first outpost of Kajiken, a Japan-based restaurant specializing in “abura soba, a brothless ramen style,” the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The restaurant brings the hard-to-find style of ramen to the Peninsula, plus appetizers and drinks. There are nine bowls on the menu to start, each starring thick wheat noodles topped with ingredients such as “spicy minced pork and raw egg yolk, or lightly seared beef with crispy onions.”

February 23

FIDI – Nearly five years after announcing plans to open at the Salesforce Transit Center, Per Diem has finally started serving Cal-Italian classics including wild mushroom pasta and roasted chicken. The FiDi restaurant’s second outpost takes over a 3,050-square-foot ground floor space at 41 Minna Street. There’s a full bar and lounge, a warm private dining space dubbed the Library, and an outdoor patio. Reservations can be made for lunch or dinner on the Per Diem website.

CIVIC CENTER — Rai Littlejohn’s Deathless Coffee started as a pop-up during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic but these days it’s operating out of a permanent space at 1825 Market Street. Though the business is still getting up and running — and has yet to formalize its hours — Littlejohn is serving espresso drinks and filter coffee in a space designed for the community.

JAPANTOWN — At long last, chef Srijith Gopinathan (formerly Compton Place, Ettan) is bringing the cuisine of his home state of Kerala, a state on the southwestern tip of India, to the Bay Area. Copra, a bi-level tropical oasis, opened in February on the corner of Fillmore and Post streets. Designed by his partner and co-owner Ayesha Thapar, the restaurant serves small bites including kola urundai, fried meatballs made with Mamu mushroom protein; a chutney palette; and Konkan crab curry, a specialty of Southern India made with caramelized dried coconut, tamarind, and shallots.

MID-MARKET — SAMS American Eatery at 1220 Market Street reopened to serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner from Tuesday to Sunday. The menu focuses on Californian cuisine with Korean flare including dishes like kimchi fried rice, loco moco, and a soft shell crab sandwich.

MARINA – Tablehopper brings word of a new oyster and seafood spot opening the week of February 27 on Chestnut Street in the Marina. Popi’s Oysterette has less than two dozen seats inside and about the same outside and comes from chef Melissa Perfit, formerly executive chef at Sister in Oakland. On the menu: oysters, crudo, caviar, fish and chips, and, of course, cioppino.

OAKLAND — Popular French restaurant mini-chain Left Bank Brasserie has sailed into Jack London Square with a new outpost at 5 Webster Street in Oakland. Head to the chic Parisian bistro-inspired spot for seafood platters, French onion soup, and moule frites.

OAKLAND — The former Thai Corner Express Gai space in Uptown Oakland now houses a new restaurant: Noi Street Food. East Bay Nosh reports the small spot serves “steamed and marinated chicken and rice, curries, fried rice, noodle dishes and soups.”

LIVERMORE — St. John’s Soul Food is a new family-run soul food restaurant now open at 1524 North Vasco Road in Livermore. The menu spans gumbo, oxtails, fried chicken, and fried fish, offered with sides including mac and cheese, greens, and black-eyed peas, per the Mercury News.

SUNNYVALE — There’s a new destination on the Peninsula for gin lovers. Palo Alto Online reports the aptly named Gin Bar is open every day from 5 to 11 p.m. and offers “more than 150 bottles of the spirit that focuses on unique small-batch producers from around the state and world.” The bar is located inside the new AC Hotel Sunnyvale Moffett Park.

ROSEVILLE — According to the Sacramento Bee, Folsom residents have loved Julian’s Patisserie and Cafe for its cinnamon rolls, fruit tarts, and cream puffs. Now the bakery has expanded with a sister location called Pastry Nouveau in Roseville, at Eureka Ridge Plaza. Unlike the original location, there will be no sandwiches and salads, but expect fresh pastries and coffee from Kingdom Coffee Roasters in Folsom.

February 14

SOMA — Hi Felicia owner and chef Imana introduced a new natural wine bar called Sluts on February 3. First operating as a pop-up out of her Oakland restaurant, now Sluts is slinging natural wine and convenience store food favorites at 1116 Folsom Street, in a space complete with naked garden statues, blue light chandeliers, and a stripper pole.

SOMA — Fans of Richmond dim sum spot Hong Kong Lounge II were saddened when the restaurant burned down following a gas line explosion in 2019. Now owner Annie Ho has opened a new restaurant in SoMa dubbed HK Lounge Bistro, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The new spot opened Friday, February 10 at 1136 Folsom Street, serving Cantonese lunch and dinner with a “similar menu” to the original restaurant, the newspaper reports.

POLK GULCH — Coffee purveyor Saint Frank is branching out into food with its recently opened Polk Street bakery, Juniper. It’s led by a team of fine-dining pastry chefs and serves a choux-focused menu meant to pair with Saint Frank’s top-notch coffees. Expect sweet and savory pastry options, breakfast sandwiches, and more; there are also plans to expand to brunch and offer sparkling wine and made-in-house ice cream at the 1401 Polk Street spot.

COW HOLLOW — The minds behind Il Casaro, Barbara Pinseria and Cocktail Bar, and California Fish Market Restaurant have expanded with the new Casaro Osteria open at 2136 Union Street, Tablehopper reports. Expect new and favorite Neapolitan-style pizzas (similar to Il Casaro’s pies), antipasti, a crudo bar, and a homemade pasta menu. The restaurant is open starting Wednesday, February 15.

EMERYVILLE — Mini golf enthusiasts might enjoy some time at the new Tipsy Putt at Emeryville’s Bay Street shopping center. The new venue features a Bay Area-themed, nine-hole mini golf area and board games, along with 40 drinks on tap and an upscale “speakeasy” bar.

BERKELEY — If burgers and chopped cheese sound like a pairing made in heaven, then Berserk Burger in Berkeley might be the place for you. SFGATE has the story on the new University Avenue spot and the East Coast specialty dish.

OAKLAND — San Francisco’s United Dumplings is expanding across the bridge with a third location in Rockridge at 6247 College Avenue, Hoodline reports. Expect United Dumplings’s unique mix of traditional and not-so-traditional dumplings to lead the menu.

MOUNTAIN VIEW — Vida Tapas is the latest restaurant from the owner of San Francisco’s Doppio Zero, landing in Mountain View and serving Spanish tapas, paellas, pulpo, and Basque cheesecake. There’s also a robust cocktail menu that focuses on mezcal and gin.

ROSEVILLE — A new restaurant has cropped up in downtown Roseville, giving guests the full “speakeasy” experience — think a hidden entrance, password, and a dress code, the Sacramento Bee reports. Daniellos is the new 5,000-square-foot space from chef Michael McDermott featuring “whimsical dishes” and a tasting menu that changes monthly.

February 7

UNION SQUARE — Mr. Charlie’s, the vegan anti-fast food restaurant from Los Angeles, opened on Market Street on January 21. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the outlet for Not Chicken nuggets is right across the street from a McDonald’s location on Sutter Street.

INNER SUNSET — Third Culture Bakery opened its newest bakery on Irving Street. The grand opening party is both Saturday, February 11 and Sunday, February 12, complete with strawberry lychee mimosas and lion dancers on Saturday morning. The mochi empire takes over a former ghost kitchen space next door to wine bar Red Tail at 549 Irving Street.

MISSION BAY — Mission Bay Wine Bar opened across the street from Chase Center inside the larger Thrive City complex. An extension of Mission Bay Wine & Cheese at 114 Channel Street, the shop will serve as an outlet for wine, yes, but also beer, sake, charcuterie board goodies, and more.

MISSION BAY — Ballast Point Brewing Co. is opening its newest taproom in San Francisco. The craft beer giant is prepping for the official grand opening of its sixth location, and first in Northern California, at the base of Mission Bay’s Icona:Labs building on Owens Street. The roughly 12,000-square-foot taproom and kitchen will open to the public on Tuesday, February 21 with a pre-grand opening “Raise the Mast” party during SF Beer Week on Thursday, February 16th, from 4 to 10 p.m.

SAN MATEO — A Peninsula go-to for seafood and steaks, Porterhouse has reopened in a 1924 bank vault. The restaurant, opened in 2007 by Hamdi “Bruno” Ugur, moved to its new location at 164 South B Street after a brief January closure. The San Mateo Daily Journal reports Mayor Amourence Lee welcomed the restaurant to the historic building in hopes it will revitalize the space.

SAN MATEO — Kaijikin, a go-to for abura ramen lovers throughout Japan, is opening its first location in the United States on Wednesday, February 8. The San Francisco Chronicle reports the brothless ramen style is less common than most, and the new restaurant at 112 South B Street will be the Bay’s only shop dedicated to abura.

CAMPBELL – Humphrey Slocombe, the San Francisco ice cream favorite that just secured a massive new production space, will open its newest scoop shop in the Pruneyard Shopping Center on Tuesday, February 28. From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. there’ll be free ice cream with suggested donations going to food security nonprofit Project Open Hand.

January 31

SOMA — Boochmania arrived in SoMa from the same team behind Berkeley’s Boochman Kombucha. It’s a small cafe serving lentil miso burgers and hummus, plus a range of fermented beverages including kombucha, of course.

EAST CUT — Downtown residents can get high-end wines from France and Napa Valley at the new Mili Wine Bar, located on the ground floor of the Mira luxury apartment building near the Embarcadero. The Chronicle reports owner Shubhra Sarkar is a first-time bar owner who fell in love with wine during her global travels. Mili’s wine list includes pricey pours like a $75 glass of Chablis and a $90 glass of Vine Hill Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley.

MISSION BAY — Backed by a team of San Francisco bar and restaurant industry pros, Cavaña touches down atop the 17-story Luma Hotel in Mission Bay on February 2. The rooftop bar offers cocktails and food inspired by Latin America — think cocktails made with Venezuelan rum and coconut, Peruvian pisco acholado and papaya, and flaky Brazilian pastels.

MISSION — Piglet & Co, the long-awaited restaurant from chef Chris Yang and partner Marcelle Gonzales Yang, quietly opened its doors in the Mission. For now, there’s a tight menu — as previewed by the San Francisco Chronicle — of non-traditional Taiwanese street food-inspired plates and non-alcoholic beverages. The restaurant begins brunch service on Sunday, February 12 and currently serves dinner Wednesday through Saturday.

INNER SUNSET — Third Culture Bakery has officially arrived in the Inner Sunset and will celebrate the grand opening of its latest outpost at 549 Irving Street on Saturday, February 11 and Sunday, February 12. Look forward to matcha drinks and mochi muffins.

BERKELEY — Mind Coffee, a “specialty coffee shop dedicated to spreading mental health awareness,” according to the business website, opens on February 7 at 1816 Euclid Avenue in Berkeley.

OAKLAND — Self-taught bagel master Reesa Kashuk will open the first permanent home for her business Poppy Bagels on Thursday, February 2, the Chronicle reports. Located at 5004 Telegraph Avenue, the shop will serve not only loose bagels, but also sandwiches stacked with ingredients like local honey, Nova lox, and whitefish salad.

OAKLAND — Dave’s Hot Chicken, the ever-growing hot chicken chain backed in part by Canadian rapper and actor Drake, opened a new restaurant in Oakland, East Bay Nosh reports. Head to 2228 Broadway at Grand Avenue for chicken so hot it’ll make your eyes water.

FOLSOM — Tao’s Hotpot and Shabu owner Taobo He didn’t plan to open an all-you-can-eat hot pot restaurant when he immigrated to the U.S. from China. But the Sacramento Bee reports he found his passion for cooking while studying mechanical engineering at Sacramento State. His new restaurant at 510 Natoma Station Drive serves lunch and dinner seven days a week.

January 24

EMBARCADERO — After nine years as a catering outfit, La Cocina incubator program graduate Peaches Patties opened its first-ever storefront at the Ferry Building. Owner Shani Jones is serving three types of patties, as well as jerk chicken with plantains, beans, and rice, and Rastafarian Stew, a vegetarian option with black beans, chickpeas, and diced tomatoes.

MARINA and SOMA — Mins Group is expanding yet again with the addition of, not one, but two new sake and wine bars, Dento Union and Dento Coffee & Wine. Dento Union opened in mid-January on Union Street with a lengthy list of sake and wine, along with a bites menu and plans to expand into brunch. Meanwhile, Dento Coffee & Wine opened across town in SoMa on Folsom Street with coffee to start, before adding on a food menu to accompany the sake and Champagne bar that will start up in the evenings on February 1.

UNION SQUARE — A Thailand-based restaurateur brings her style of Thai khao gaeng-style food to Union Square with her new restaurant Hed. Expect Isaan and Northern Thailand dishes at this new spot located at 88 Hardie Place.

MISSION — Mission bar Buddy now has a new friend in sister space, House of Seiko, an art gallery just two doors down from the bar favorite. Opened by Buddy founder and beverage director, Nick Torres, and co-owned by Cole Solinger, House of Seiko will feature six- to seven-week exhibitions of artists and group shows.

MISSION — It’s not quite an opening, but Mission restaurant Luna recently overhauled its menu with the help of new executive chef Michelle Mathews. Luna debuted its new menu January 20, kicking the brasserie concept to the curb and reimagining itself as a restaurant for the neighborhood.

MISSION — Dumpling Club gained a reputation for its unique style of small-batch dumplings stuffed with seasonal, not-so-traditional fillings. The business recently expanded to a Mission storefront, which open January 20, and acts as a multi-functional space for customers to pre-order and pick up frozen dumplings, take cooking classes, or purchase food- and dumpling-related items such as sauces, cookbooks, and ceramics.

MISSION BAY — An excited Eater SF tipster shared the news that Somisomi — the dessert shop known for its fish-shaped waffle cones called taiyaki filled with soft serve ice cream — has made its way to the city. Get your ah-boong fix in Mission Bay on 4th Street.

DOGPATCH — San Francisco bakery Butter& opened the doors to its new space in Dogpatch on January 21, with new offerings on the menu. Along with serving as a pickup spot for pre-ordered cakes, the bakery is also offering single-serving cakes and a new “breakfast cake,” a round frittata filled with vegetables, bacon, and topped with piped mashed potatoes.

OAKLAND — New “contemporary Colombian” restaurant Parche opened on Broadway in Oakland on January 13. The menu centers around small plates and shareable items, such as build-your-own ceviches, arepas, and stuffed yuca fritters.

ORINDA — The owners of Anya’s Deli in Berkeley opened another restaurant, this time in Orinda, the Mercury News reports. Anya’s Kitchen debuted in late December, serving items such as lamb and seafood biryanis, chicken vindaloo, and extensive vegetarian options like paneer tikka masala.

SAN RAFAEL — The new SANkorean Cafe in San Rafael is Monica Chang’s expansion of her wholesale food business into a restaurant, the Marin Independent Journal reports. The cafe will be open for breakfast and lunch, serving banh mi, rice bowls, bi bim bap, and cheese and scallion breakfast burritos.

MENLO PARK — The Springline development will see an influx of restaurants open this coming year, but chef Greg Kuzia-Carmel will be the first to open with his restaurant Canteen. The San Francisco Chronicle reports Canteen will throw open its doors on January 25, focusing on shareable snacks inspired by coastal European cities including San Sebastian and Lisbon.

ELK GROVE — Indian fast-casual restaurant Curry Up Now is set to open its latest location on January 28 in Elk Grove, nestled inside the Ridge Shopping Center. And yes, the “Sexy Fries” and “Naughty Naan” will be on the menu.

January 17

BERKELEY — East Bay diners welcomed the latest outpost of Curry Pizza House on January 18, when the restaurant celebrated its grand opening at 2380 Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. The restaurant, which also has locations across the South Bay, serves pizza, appetizers, and sides with Indian influences. Think curry chicken masala pizza and chicken wings marinated in tikka spices.

SANTA CLARA — Palo Alto Online reports a second location of Shawarmaji is now open in Santa Clara. The restaurant serves “Jordan-style street food” including chicken shawarma wraps, vegan falafel, and sides including tabouleh and tahini salads.

ELK GROVE — Chef Willie Ng’s Palette Group officially opened the doors to its latest outpost of dim sum destination Dragon Beaux at Sky River Casino in Elk Grove, just south of Sacramento. Known for its legendary dim sum, the restaurant joins Palette Group’s Koi Palace, a fast-casual dining option inside the casino’s food court.

SACRAMENTO — Hand rolls continue to proliferate across the Bay Area with the opening of Kinjo Hand Roll Bar in midtown Sacramento. The Bee reports the restaurant opened on January 10 and comes from owner Dennis Ng, who also owns a sushi restaurant in the area.

ROSEVILLE — Also from the Bee comes news of Moksa Barrel House, a collaboration between the teams behind East Sacramento restaurant Hawks and Moksa Brewing Co. in Rocklin. Star menu items include a $9 burger and $7 chicken tenders.

January 10

UNION SQUARE — Beacon Lounge in the Beacon Grand Hotel in Union Square added breakfast and dinner to go alongside the powerful fireside drinks it’s been serving since opening. In mid-December, the lounge began offering new American fare by night and eggs Benedict by morning.

INNER SUNSET — Inle Burmese Cuisine, a Church Street favorite, opened the doors on its second location the first week of January to much fanfare. The restaurant took over the longtime defunct Patxi’s location at 822 Irving Street, though what will become of the outdoor parklet remains to be seen.

INNER SUNSET — Kothai Republic opened on 9th Avenue and Judah Street in the first week of January, too. The San Francisco Standard reports friends and owners Sung Park and Gof Sanguanwong ran Spork and Stix before opening their new Korean and Thai restaurant in the Inner Sunset.

OUTER SUNSET — Gao Viet Kitchen, the popular San Mateo Vietnamese restaurant, just opened its first San Francisco location in December. The Instagram famous destination for Phozilla took over the corner of 20th and Irving Streets with its second outpost.

OAKLAND — Kitava opened its Temescal location on January 9 at 375 40th Street in Oakland. Fans can expect a similar menu to its Mission District location, though this new outpost also features 22 beverage taps with gluten-free beer, cider, kombucha, and low-intervention wine options.

MILLBRAE — Miyuki and Koji Murakami’s much-anticipated kaiseki restaurant Hana Izumi will open on January 17 at 293 El Camino Real. The Mercury News reports chef Koji spent two decades as executive chef and general manager at San Francisco’s Sanraku.

PALO ALTO — Graduate, the restored Hotel President at 488 University Avenue, just opened on January 9. The hotel plays host to two restaurants: Lou & Herbert’s, a lobby level all-day cafe, that’s already open, and rooftop bar President’s Terrace, which will open later in January.

EL CERRITO — Antojitos Guatemaltecos opened in December, bringing traditional Guatemalan dishes including estofada de res and Pollo Campero-esque fried chicken. KQED reports the owners, the Aguilar family, have built quite the fanbase by selling tamales in the Richmond area.

SAN RAFAEL — Café Villa just opened at 1602 Lincoln Avenue from the same owners as the Villa Inn. The Marin Independent Journal reports the restaurant’s chef de cuisine, David Sypnicki, cut his teeth at popular Portland restaurant Caffe Mingo.

SANTA CLARA — Mendocino Farms will open on Tuesday, January 17 in Santa Clara. At the grand opening, customers will have a chance to win a catered lunch for their office, and half of the proceeds will benefit No Kid Hungry. Another location of the sprawling business will open in Walnut Creek later in 2023.

January 3

CASTRO — Hoodline reports that Mr. Hen Chicken Rice & Noodles will open at 4039 18th Street in the Castro on January 4. The restaurant takes over the space most recently occupied by Rooster & Rice, which closed in late December. According to Hoodline, the newcomer comes from the owners of Hungry Hub, a pop-up Thai restaurant which has been running out of the space since March 2022. Mr. Hen will not serve Thai food, a representative tells Hoodline, just chicken and rice.

BERKELEY — The south Berkeley space at 2969 Shattuck Avenue, which was previously home to Sesame, a Tiny Bakery, has reopened as the first Berkeley outpost of rapidly expanding chain Mochinut. Look for the standard menu of mochi doughnuts, boba, and Korean corn dogs, according to East Bay Nosh.

SAN MATEO — There’s a new destination for Argentine alfajores, savory empanadas, and other baked goods as of December 18. Lolita Artisinal Bakery-Cafe opened its doors at 3790 South El Camino Real, Suite 101, joining a much-smaller existing location in the Hillsdale Shopping Center. At 1,500 square feet, this new bakery has its own production space and seating, the San Mateo Daily Journal reports.

REDWOOD CITY — State of Mind Public House and Pizzeria debuted its third location in Redwood City’s Marsh Manor shopping center in late December. Palo Alto Online reports the new outpost is most similar to the restaurant in Los Altos, offering pinball machines and a menu of pizzas, salads, wings, and appetizers.

SACRAMENTO — The northeastern Sacramento suburb of Orangevale has a new beer spot: Mode Brewing opened in December at 9110 Greenback Lane, the Bee reports. It’s from the owners of Pasta a la Mode, which is now the in-house food truck. Pair pizzas and fusion pastas like a carnitas-topped fettucini with a coffee porter, cream ale, or IPA.

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The post Right here Are New Eating places and Bars To Attempt in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and the Bay Space appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Tika Hall was at a music show in San Francisco’s Mission District in February when around 10 p.m. someone shouted, “Anybody got narcan?”

Hall, who is an artist, musician, and longtime San Francisco resident, understood that this meant someone had overdosed and that their survival might depend on finding Narcan, a naloxone nasal spray that reverses opioid overdoses.

Hall and a friend ran to the nearest bar, one of the few places still open that might carry it.

“When I go into crisis mode, I get a lizard brain, and I was like, ‘What we have to do is get this thing,'” Hall said.

When the first bar didn’t have Narcan, they tried the next one, The Eagle, which did. The bartender gave them the medicine without asking, and the narcan was used to revive the person who overdosed.

On April 11, 2023, a damage reduction box designed by Josh Yule hangs on the wall at the Mothership Bar in San Francisco. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

“If that happened somewhere where there wasn’t a bar selling Narcan nearby, or if that happened during the day when a bar wasn’t open, I don’t know what would have happened,” Hall said.

Now Hall carries Narcan with him everywhere, and the incident underscores the importance of making the antidote available to the public in places like bars. Two hundred people fatally overdosed in San Francisco in the first three months of this year (PDF), and nationwide there has been a steep rise in accidental overdoses as other illicit drugs — such as cocaine and methamphetamines — have been increasingly laced with fentanyl.

Bay Area bar owners, employees and advocates are taking the initiative to ensure the safety of guests and the community. The nonprofit FentCheck brings Narcan and fentanyl test strips to bars and other common areas, and bars stock the life-saving drugs and host administration training sessions. Those campaigning for nightlife harm reduction say the effort has also opened a needed conversation about the risks and realities of drug use.

Harm reduction boxes provide ‘a beacon for conversation’

This drive to reduce stigma and save lives is why Josh Yule has been building harm reduction boxes and has been shipping them to bars since December. The light, medicinal-white boxes contain Narcan; a neon pink three-step administration guide; and fentanyl test strips.

Yule, a former bartender at The Knockout who still books shows there, makes the boxes at a friend’s wood shop in San Leandro. To date, nine San Francisco facilities are hosting the boxes, including The Knockout, The Phone Booth, The Make Out Room and Mothership.

Josh Yule shows a group of bar employees gathered for a Narcan training session the harm reduction boxes he plans to distribute to other bars in the Bay Area on December 15, 2022 at The Knockout in San Francisco. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

Each box is dedicated to Yule’s mother, Roberta Damron, who fatally overdosed on fentanyl in 2021. He signs the inside doors of the boxes “For Mom”.

“It’s there to save lives. First and foremost, it does,” Yule said. “But it’s also there so people can talk to each other. People can feel safe knowing it’s there.”

Yule said his mother’s death at the age of 66 came as a shock. His mother was religious, straight forward and hilarious.

“She was great,” Yule said.

He recalled how, when he was in middle school, his mother tore down a poster in his room of Sid Vicious, the Sex Pistols bassist who died of a drug overdose.

“She would be really embarrassed that she died like that. I just know that. And I think about it a lot,” Yule said. “I never really understood what was going on. Maybe I didn’t really want to understand. I’ll find out.”

Yule had studied graphic design at the California College of the Arts when he decided to put his energies into work focused on destigmatizing opioid use disorders.

Josh Yule looks at the few photos he has of his mother at his home in San Francisco on April 21, 2023. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

He designed posters and stickers, but also wanted to create something physical that could become a “beacon of conversation.” The harm reduction boxes became his thesis project.

Before his mother’s death, Yule had also lost two friends to fatal overdoses.

“We should destigmatize this disorder. It’s the only way to get anywhere. We’re just taking baby steps,” Yule said. “I wish there was something that would entice me to talk to my friend or something that I would have seen. Maybe he would still be there. Maybe I would have put two and two together with my mother.”

Bar staff train and prepare for emergencies

Then, last winter, bar staff and parishioners were urged into action after a string of near-fatal overdoses at bars in the Mission District. Anita Ellis, a bartender at The Phone Booth and Pop’s Bar, organized a training session for all interested bartenders to learn more about Narcan and fentanyl test strips.

At least 50 people turned out for The Knockout’s December practice, many more than a similar practice Ellis had organized years earlier.

“I felt a lot of community spirit, that ‘let’s take care of each other’ feeling,” Ellis said. “The idea of ​​someone losing their life because they want to take a little smack in the bathroom because it’s their birthday or whatever or no occasion at all, that’s ridiculous to me. That should not happen.”

A group of bar employees listen to Josh Yule talk about the harm reduction boxes he has created during a Narcan training session at The Knockout in San Francisco on December 15, 2022. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

Yule spoke about the harm reduction boxes during the event, and about 20 people signed up for it. He’s still working through that list, and more people have signed up since then. He also wants to expand into restaurants and hopes to gain enough traction for the city or state to take over to continue the effort.

Joanna Lioce, Human Resources Manager at Vesuvio Cafe in North Beach, picked up one of the harm reduction boxes during this training session. Years ago, in response to overdoses in the alley outside the bar, Vesuvio employees were trained to administer Narcan. Lioce was able to undo an overdose in the alley with Narcan.

“It’s like anything — if you see someone fall into a pool and you can get out and save them, you will,” Lioce said.

She says Narcan is essential for bars in the age of fentanyl, like carrying a fire extinguisher.

Yule’s boxes warn guests that Narcan is available in case of emergencies.

Josh Yule shows local bar employee Joanna Lioce a harm reduction box he developed to prevent fentanyl overdoses after a Narcan training session at The Knockout in San Francisco December 15, 2022. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

“We all kind of sound like grannies now. At least my friends and I say, ‘In my day you could buy cocaine in the Tenderloin and you didn’t even have to bother with it.’ Now it’s like, ‘No, you can’t do that,'” Lioce said.

But there are still barriers to accessing Narcan for free, and Yule said one of the biggest challenges in completing his project was figuring out where to get Narcan. Now he goes to the city’s Community Behavioral Health Services pharmacy where the public can get Narcan for free.

A potential political solution and supply barriers

A bill by Member of Parliament Matt Haney, Assembly Bill 24, could require libraries, gas stations, residential hotels and bars in areas hit hardest by drug overdoses to carry Narcan or face a $100 fine.

“There is enough Narcan to put in all of these facilities and also to get into the hands of organizations that work directly with people who use drugs. They really need to be in both places,” Haney said in an interview. “And we must stop doing this if we are going to save lives.”

The post ‘There to Save a Life’: San Francisco Bars Combat Fentanyl Overdoses With Narcan appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Second chances don’t come along all that often, but the pandemic-related disruption in the restaurant and bar industry has had at least one good thing: an opportunity for some to regroup and reinvent themselves.

Over the past nine months, both popular favorites and promising newer establishments have been revived, many with updated menus, renovated interiors and a fresh take on equity and sustainability. From the historic 117-year-old North Beach Bar Savoy Tivoli to the Hawaiian-inspired force of nature Liholiho Yacht Club, these bars and restaurants are back and better than ever.

Atelier Crenn

(John Troxell)

Sourdough and Dutch crispbread at Atelier Crenn.

This month, legendary chef Dominique Crenn’s original restaurant reopens with a whole new look and menu. Ethan Tobman, who Crenn recently collaborated with on the satirical horror film The Menu, is leading the dining room’s renovation, while Crenn himself has curated a deeply personal selection of novel dishes that highlight California’s culture and geography. The pescetarian concept features plenty of local seafood and produce from Crenns Bleu Belle Farm.

// 3127 Fillmore St. (Cow Hollow), ateliercrenn.com

Liholiho Yacht Club

One of the city’s most popular newer restaurants is back in business after a long hiatus. Chef Ravi Kapur’s Hawaiian-inspired Liholiho Yacht Club reopened in late November at its original TenderNob location with a new interior design by Boor Projects. The menu still features some of the restaurant’s original dishes, as well as new dishes and cocktails with Chinese, Indian, and Pacific Island influences (think swordfish katsu, poppy seed buns with homemade spam, and toasted coconut-washed whiskey soda). . Like Kapur’s popular Good Good Culture Club, the new and improved Liholiho is guided by equity, diversity, inclusion and empowerment, an approach that eschews tipping in favor of a 20 percent fee that benefits all restaurant staff, not just its waiters.

// 871 Sutter St. (Nob Hill), lycsf.com

Pacific cocktail port

(Courtesy of @pch_sf)

Shortly after its original location was destroyed in a fire in 2021, the award-winning Pacific Cocktail Haven found a new home, not on the other side of town but on the exact same block it was previously on. The bar is a bit larger now and has the added bonus of an enclosed outdoor patio, but the cocktail recipes, which often emphasize Asian ingredients, are still the kind that caught PCH’s eye in the first place. Look for creations like Sunnyside (tequila, strega, strawberry, lychee, li-hing mui, citrus, macrut, lime, and soda) or stop by before 7 p.m. daily for drinks like Alameda (absinthe, root beer, and lemon).

// 550 Sutter St. (Union Square), pacificcocktailsf.com

The Stork Club

(Courtesy of @izzythegent)

Thee Stork Club has been a mainstay in Oakland’s live music scene for decades. When it closed in early 2021, former patrons and artists Marc Ribak and Billy Joe Agan set out to rescue it from oblivion. They’ve reinvigorated the space, mixing a bit of ’70s camp inspired by SLO’s Madonna Inn with a DIY garage rock aesthetic. Live music is back, too, along with occasional dance and karaoke nights. This month, keep an eye out for Owl (Feb 17), Brontez Purnell (Feb 24), and Hot Laundry (Feb 25).

// 2330 Telegraph Ave. (Oakland), theestorkclub.com

Marlene

(Courtesy of Marlena)

In a Victorian building on the edge of Bernal’s Precita Park, husband and wife team David Fisher and Serena Chow Fisher are once again preparing the imaginative four-course meals that earned Marlena his first Michelin star in 2021. The hyper-seasonal restaurant reopened in fall 2020 with a revamped new interior by design studio AMLGM. For the current fixed price ($75/person), you can enjoy dishes like seaweed risotto with phytoplankton yogurt and black truffle mushrooms; fried chicken breast with boudin blanc, stone-ground grits and koji cauliflower; and Chocolate Sesame Ginger Brownie.

// 300 Precita Ave. (Bernal Heights), marlenarestaurant.com

House Nico

(Courtesy of @maison_nico)

Maison Nico, itself a low-key reboot of Michelin-starred Nico, returned to the Financial District for the summer along with its charming French pastries and terrines. Nico’s seasonal menus include dishes rarely found outside of France, such as Aspic de Homard en Bouillabaisse (with lobster, mussels, snapper, potatoes, peppers and fennel) and Entenpithivier (duck breast and liver, pork and duck sausage, garlic, Grand marnier). , port, chard and herbs) alongside better-known favorites such as Niçoise salad and a selection of croissants. Give them a try over the holidays when they always have something as lovely as delicious on deck.

// 710 Montgomery St. (Financial District), maisonnico.com

Savoy Tivoli

(Courtesy of @savoytivolisf)

At 117, North Beach Bar Savoy Tivoli proves you’re never too old for a second chance. The pub reopened in November with a subtle, history-steeped redesign by Craige Walters and a host of new cocktails. The bar’s stage, which has hosted everyone from beat poets to the Ramones, is also back in business with a new line-up expected to include comedy shows, eclectic musicians and more.