Since publishing our first list earlier this year, we’ve discovered even more hotspots around SF that are hidden within others.
The dining scene in San Francisco changes so rapidly that it should come as no surprise that we missed a few hidden restaurants in our first roundup. As an ode to our ever-changing city, here’s a handful of bars and restaurants located within the crevices of other bars and restaurants. Restaurantception!
The Grid, upstairs in the back of Coin-Op in SOMA
The team at Coin-Op left Drake Lounge’s second kitchen unoccupied for months before finally deciding to renovate. Debuting in early June, the renovation resulted in a sleek, refreshing and Tron-inspired speakeasy that is the yin to Coin-Op’s yang.
The speakeasy has an entirely separate entrance (via Bryant Street), and you can access the bar only with a reservation. The menu is created by former Chicagoan Jason Huffman, and is inspired by Huffman’s latest forages. Get ushered to your designated table and wait for a server to take your order — my pick would be God’s Water or In the Grid — and peek from behind the two-way mirror into the chaos below. Stay for a drink or two before being enticed by some of Coin-Op’s signature arcade games or chef James Liles’s homemade bar snacks, like corn dogs and pizza.
508 4th Street, San Francisco, CA
Uji Time, inside Vampire Penguin in Berkeley
This popular Berkeley soft-serve sport recently expanded to San Francisco’s Japantown, but their original fish-shaped cone can still be found near the Cal campus in the location it shares with Vampire Penguin. Uji Time is known for their Instagram-famous taiyaki, a traditional Japanese dessert that’s shaped like a fish and takes at least 20 minutes to be served (10 minutes to cook and 10 to cool), along with their mochi and parfaits.
Inspired by Japan, owner Sharon Ku and her partners modified recipes for a year before opening in Berkeley last year. When it proved difficult to find a permanent space, Uji Time decided to drum up support as a pop-up alongside Vampire Penguin, another ice cream restaurant. It didn’t take long for them to earn cult-like status: long lines, a cap on daily taiyaki orders and an order-ahead system (now defunct) made this place an immediate hit.
2575 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley (it’s the stall to the right)
Marianne’s, lounge inside of The Cavalier at Hotel Zetta in SOMA
Dimly lit, romantic and resembling the speakeasies of yesteryear, Marianne’s is a club and private bar set behind Hotel Zetta’s The Cavalier, the three-star hotspot from the team behind Marlowe and Park Tavern.
Marianne’s is open to the public and offers private booths for parties of up to eight, or shared spaces with a time limit of an hour and a half. Bites like fried squash blossoms, fingerling potatoes with aioli and Dungeness crab are offered only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays during limited hours (so don’t expect to eat on Thursday), and craft cocktails feature unusual names like Sticky Fingers, Honey Bang Me Sloe and Indian Summer.
360 Jessie Street, San Francisco
Double Back, a quarterly pop-up at ABV in the Mission
Tucked away in the back behind the Mission’s popular craft-cocktails spot ABV, Over Proof is a yearlong aboveground supper club. Over the course of a year, four themes will be unveiled by ABV’s chef Collin Hilton. Over Proof’s second iteration is all about whiskey — Japanese whiskey.
Aptly named Double Back and inspired by food and whiskey bars from Tokyo, the 16-seat space will run through July 28, 2017. The four-course, prix fixe menu offers two seatings per night and is more “umami than Kentucky fried,” with whiskey cocktails inspired by Scotland and Japan.
Not into whiskey? Collin has another adventure up his sleeve that will be unveiled in the early fall. Stay tuned.
3174 16th Street, San Francisco (reservations required; find it in the back up the stairs)
SRO, a bar within Oddjob in SOMA
SRO, a tiny cash-only bar hidden in the corner of Mission Street’s Oddjob, makes you question your day and desires. An acronym for “standing room only,” the bar is at capacity with just 20 guests and is so small that craft-cocktail king Joey Picchi didn’t have room for menus. If there’s space when you arrive (they also don’t take reservations here), look bartender Aaron directly in the eye: whether you’re ready or not, he’ll read your face and determine your perfect cocktail for the evening. “No two cocktails can ever be re-created,” says general manager Heather Zemansky.
With two hidden entrances within Oddjob, both of which are difficult to find, it’s best to visit for the first time with a confident friend or SRO veteran. Modeled after the team’s former hotel bar, Big, SRO is outfitted with some quirky knickknacks pulled from their former jaunt’s panels and drapery, so make sure to take a look around.
1337 Mission Street, San Francisco (entrance in the alley to the left of hostess stand)
Hideout, in the back of Dalva in the Mission
Hideout is a cozy, low-ceiling bar hidden inside Mission’s Dalva. According to owner and proprietor Erik Reichborn-Kjennerud, it’s not technically a speakeasy. Rather, it’s a craft-cocktail bar inside a dive bar.
It’s not surprising that bourbon shots and vodka sodas weren’t cutting it for the Mission’s increasingly bourgey residents. So Erik and his team, who also own ABV (located across the street), took an underutilized space and created Hideout in 2010 for the craft-cocktail snob. Its ample size (it seats about 45) and rotating list of guest bartenders from Black Cat and Lolinda, all make Hideout a place to be seen. With a more extensive list of spirits and an exclusive menu of in-house originals, Hideout draws a new crowd into this Mission favorite.
3121 16th Street, San Francisco (walk to the back, or just ask for a craft cocktail)
