Food and drink
By Davy Carren
That well-trod and well-kept western edge of Fourth Street has a new tenant: The Harlequin.
It’s the latest spiffy take on Prohibition-era cocktail lounges to open up. Yes: It seems the Roaring Twenties are back, as we currently hop along in the 2020s. Another weekend, another flapper-inspired retro-style bar swings open its ritzy stained-glass doors.
On the corner of Jessie Street, The Harlequin is slick and stylized on the inside: hanging glass chandeliers and elaborate white-petal, art-installation-esque light fixtures; maximalist florid wallpaper; exposed brick with lamppost-like sconces; and those court-jester-inspired floor tiles. Even the bar’s TV is enclosed high on the wall in an ornate silver picture frame, blending it in with the scenery.
The street side windows run from booth-top to ceiling, and give a pleasant view onto Fourth’s bustling action, adding to the open feel of the space, that easily glides from the bar area to the adjacent rooms, including the “Great Room,” “Party Corner,” and the plush settings of the more private “Aviary.”
And on the outside, the bar’s black marble facade gleams around its bulb-dotted gold and copper sign. That marble’s been around since the once-luxurious Keystone Hotel opened there in 1913. A bar has likely operated in the space ever since, but the official records are scarce until Charles Mosser bought and renovated the building in the 80s, turning it into the Mosser Hotel and naming the little bar and bistro below, Annabelle’s, after his fifth wife. I learned some history about the new space’s inspiration from its owner:
Around 2007, The Harlequin’s principal owner Phil Chen — who also runs the bars Alchemist, Woodbury, and Members Only — worked next door and would regularly eat and hang out at Annabelle’s after work. He always admired their floor tiles of elongated diamonds arranged in a lattice, like the costume of a harlequin. In 2015, the bar was remodeled into a more tavern-style look and rechristened The Keystone, in a nod to the former hotel. But the COVID lockdown shut it down for good in March of 2020. As things started picking up again last year, Phil saw an opportunity to reopen the vacated space and pay homage to its original golden-era roots, reimagining what it would’ve been like then, when prohibition reigned along with glitz and glamor, and, for some reason, cats wore pajamas.
I’ve got a seat at the marble-topped bar, my shoes resting easy on the wood foot rail below. It’s only their soft opening today, but the bartenders are already in full swing, beaming smiles while they shake and pour and put down menus and water decanters for new lookie-loo arrivals. By the time five o’clock rolls around, most of the bar seating is taken up. Not bad for a first hour’s business.
Of course, their drink menu includes the requisite Jazz Age cocktails. I feel it is my duty to sample a few. The vermilion-tinged Ube Colada, which has an ube syrup base along with a blend of both an overproof Jamaican and Puerto Rican rum, is a sweet tropical treat in highball glass.
All the vermouth- and wormwood-enhanced “Secret Society” cocktail needs is one big cube plopped in the bottom of a diamond-cut rocks glass and stirred around with some St. George Terroir gin. Bartender Lauren Fitzgerald calls it a real “zesty moment” of sipping as she expertly garnishes with the delicate finishing touch of an olive, which is skewered by a knotted bamboo cocktail pick and some lemon peel. And who doesn’t love a zesty moment now and then?
Gazing at the back bar, I notice that their silver taps offer draft wine along with a nice selection of craft beer, including a deliciously strong Saison from Standard Deviant Brewing. Seems quite the efficient system. No need to pour or re-cork; just fill up that wine glass with some vino at the tap.
The Harlequin is sure to attract that lanyard-wearing crowd from Moscone Center’s conventions, and the din of Market’s happy-hour foot traffic is already starting to bustle back to pre-lockdown levels. Soon the after-work imbibers will most likely start to take more advantage of that 4–6 p.m. window, and stop by for drink specials.
They’ve got a nice list of shareable items — bone marrow, truffle fries, Spanish octopus — and along with the usual discounted adult beverages you can get a shot of Fernet, and a glass of Kolsch for $10. They’ve even got Cherry Coke and Hi-C Pink Lemonade. A pizza oven helps round out the entree menu from salads and pastas and raw bar options (yes, do not fret, you can get Washington oysters, salmon tartar, and ahi tuna).
All cities go from boom to bust, and back again, and Chen is excited to be part of the boom that we all hope is kindling around town these days, gussying up things a bit with his revival bar, and perhaps changing the gloomy narrative of how people perceive San Francisco’s current state. As downtown hopefully begins to stutter-step its way back toward its more shimmering and robust heydays, it could very well be bright spots like The Harlequin that will engender hope and lend an air of nostalgia-tinged class to whatever the upcoming era’s prospects turn out to be.
Davy Carren is an Oakland-based writer.
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