I’ve long dreamed of 1930s-40s-era supperclubs returning. I know they won’t: who can afford a large restaurant/bar space with a dance floor, for starters, much less nightly musicians? Even as pre-Prohibition-style bars trended a good 20 years ago in San Francisco and NYC — plus specific-era gems, like SF’s Stookey’s Club Moderne straight out of the 1930s — supperclubs are still not a thing, despite a former LA pop-up with big bands and dancing on weekends, attempting the larger supper club experience. My classic film-loving self still dreams of going out in a gown and vintage fur, sipping martinis or Champagne in coupes, watching big bands, dancers, singers, occasionally going out “for a spin” on the dance floor myself, with a gentleman in a tuxedo, of course.
Lyon & Swan (L&S) is not that kind of supper club. But this North Beach newcomer (opened November 10, 2022) is a special entertainment while dining and drinking experience. Hidden downstairs from the new Sonoma-based Eco Terreno Urban Tasting Room on Columbus Avenue, there’s a small wine production facility and aging tank upstairs and wine tasting room and bites on the main floor. L&S is much smaller than the grand supperclubs of the 1940s, but its intimacy is more like sleek jazz bars of the 1950s-60s, albeit way roomier than cramped legends like the NYC’s Village Vanguard. They offer live entertainment, heavy on musicians but also including drag queens, cabaret singers and comedians.
Most exciting is the three-story building’s history as entertainment clubs since Barbary Coast days. From 1918 to 1922, L&S was the Jupiter, a “black and tan” club welcoming black and white patrons together. When I read that it was opened by Jelly Roll Morton himself, my jazz baby heart longs to time travel. Then in the 1930s, the space was home to Mona’s, purportedly the first lesbian bar in the city, maybe even the West Coast. But the space is most famous for its long run from the 1950s through 2012 as the Purple Onion. First a beatnik mainstay, it was Mrs. Maisel-style comedy central for the likes of Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, the Smothers Brothers, Phyllis Diller, even Maya Angelou, alongside best-of-their-day musicians like Andy Williams, The Irish Rovers and the Kingston Trio.
I feel the history and genius that passed through these walls over the past century as Dan, “The Renaissance Man,” and I walk down the stairs after being greeted by gracious hospitality director Dawn Agnew and team. The space is slick enough to feel like a night on the town, but relaxed. Tables buzz with conversation while a solo musician, Daniel Berkman, opens the night with Mellotron and a Gravikord (an electric version of the Kora, a 21-stringed West African harp). The headliner was Jeovani Abenoja, crooning Christmas tunes to jazz standards with classic ease, alongside gifted pianist, Ken Muir. It was part jazz club, part chill serenade as you dine and sip.
The space was gutted and designed by StudioHEIMAT, with exposed concrete giving it a modern-industrial look, contrasted by soothing tones of gray, green, orange and brown; a gorgeous onyx bar under futuristic chandeliers and a fireplace. Leather banquettes feel especially supperclub-y, allowing for a romantic date or cozy conversation.
L&S was opened by Mark Lyon, owner of nearby biodynamic, organic Eco Terreno Wines and Vineyards in Alexander Valley, which he launched post-retirement as longtime winemaker of pioneering Sebastiani Vineyards. In 2018, Lyon bought the striking North Beach building with Eco Terreno CEO Rob Izzo. As Lyon is one of the first openly-gay leaders in the California wine industry, the space’s history not only resonated but matched their values.
Chef Joe Ball’s (former longtime chef de cuisine at legendary La Folie) menu runs global, though they’re calling it Cal-French cuisine. The food was far better than I expected from an entertainment venue where food and drink are often afterthought. To begin with, I’m a sucker for crudo and his fennel-crusted kampachi crudo dotted with yuzu kosho, mandarin oranges, pink grapefruits and baby radish slivers was as bright and silky as I hoped. A yin to the crudo’s cool yang, cauliflower soup is nicely contrasted by sweet macerated raisins, subtle hit of chili oil and bright red pepper-tomato-garlic-nuttiness of romesco sauce.
Gulf shrimp remoulade was maybe my favorite dish. I’m a longtime devotee of the classic New Orleans dish, but here chef Ball smartly makes it diced shrimp, plump and cool in remoulade and wasabi root aioli with slivers of jicama for crunch and pickled cherry peppers for acidic sweetness. Flanked by gem lettuce and slivers of Haas avocado, I wish I could have this salad on the regular. Salads abound: roasted heirloom beets, persimmon, red quinoa and mustard greens salad in buttermilk curd and sherry vinaigrette; or a warm artichoke salad graced with herbs, soft boiled egg and sauce gribiche.
Slices of Spanish octopus are warmly nurturing over Italian butter beans, lively with salsa verde and black garlic. Tender pork belly pastrami was maybe my other top dish, with Germanic feels (with a touch of Alsace: French Germanic) over warm cabbage salad, punctuated with pickled mustard seeds and apple slivers.
French vibes were present (with Italian influence) in dissolve-in-your-mouth ricotta and herb gnudi, wild mushrooms and nantes carrots in brown butter bisque. Two pieces of McFarland Springs rainbow trout with appropriately crispy skin were stacked over braised fennel and sunchokes, dotted with bacon, juniper oil and foamy grapefruit sabayon. By this point, we had no room for dessert, but appreciated the savory dishes over a comfortable couple hours of live music.
Beverage director Matteo Villano hails from Italy and I was delighted to find has assembled a strong wine list. Chatting with him, I was delighted that he included some of my beloved under-the-radar wine regions I’ve traveled to/written about over the years, like Galicia, Spain, a tight sparkling wine/Champagne section (including welcome half bottles, like Domaine Mann Crémant d’Alsace or Lebeau-Batiste Champagne Brut Tradition) and orange wine treasures like a 2021 Croci Valtolla Bianco Malvasia Aromatica from another favorite region: Emilia Romagna, Italy.
On the cocktail side, a Purple Onion Gibson is the right nod to the Purple Onion in name and to Mona’s 1930s-era with classic martini variation: a Gibson. Here, Empress 1908 Gin makes sense with Martini Bianco vermouth, lemon essence and the Gibson’s signature pearl onion garnish. Other plays off classics show up, like a Pink Lady (Bishop’s Eden Apple Brandy, Ford’s Gin, lemon syrup, egg white, cinnamon dusting) or a Oaxaca Negroni. Mona’s Song was more interesting and balanced than I anticipated (again for a live music venue), combining Pueblo Viejo Tequila, Aperol, Giffard Rhubarb liqueur, the drink’s mineral-tart-bitterness gaining further intrigue from a mist of rose water and garnish of pink peppercorns.
All in all, the quality for a live entertainment venue is surprisingly high, serving comforting food done with skill and a wine list wine geeks can appreciate. There often can be two dinner seatings when performers have multiple sets or there are multiple entertainers in one night, so make reservations as the space fills up quickly at roughly 55 seats.
It may not be the grand 1940s supper club I’ve dreamed of sauntering into since my classic movie-filled childhood, but L&S is a big win for SF where we have special intimate spots for jazz beyond the grand dame jazz hall, SF Jazz: the ultimate Club Deluxe and Royal Cuckoo Organ Lounge, but also Black Cat, Mr. Tipple’s and newcomers like Keys Jazz Bistro (which I have still yet to visit). Lyon & Swan, besides being beyond jazz, has managed quality in food and drink better than I’ve seen any live music venue accomplish in my two decades here — or in any other city, for that matter.
// 140 Columbus Avenue, www.lyonandswan.com
