In Swig City, our new weekly nightlife column, we’ll point you toward don’t-miss bars, restaurants and clubs in the city. Cheers!
A couple Sundays ago, inspired to tackle the new Crosstown Trail hike, ominously called the Double Cross, my friends and I found ourselves panting around mile 14 in North Beach. After cresting Twin Peaks and Tank Hill, dipping through valleys and passing some drag queens (it was Pride, after all), our calves were aching, our throats dry. So we set our map to get an icy beverage at April Jean. We did not regret it.
The newest watering hole in town is located in a historic 100-year-old space, which last housed the Grant & Green saloon for 17 years. What used to be known as the “Cheers of Green Street” is now bright and airy and downright feminine—all curvacious pistachio-green painted tambour trim overlaying a warm redwood back bar, ferns interspersed between top-shelf booze. More Gwyneth, less Norm. The most dude-ish thing I encountered was an imposing man sitting in the big open front window, cradling a very small, fluffy white dog in his massive tattooed bicep.
Ironically, the bar was opened in June by three guys—unashamed mama’s boys Nate Valentine, Jamal Blake-Wiliams and Joe Poz, veterans of August Hall, Peacekeeper, Harper & Rye between them. The threesome devised a bar that is a literal toast to their maternal figures. The name April Jean is a combination of two of their mother’s names and every cocktail is a tribute to some familial female force.
I will not attempt to psychoanalyze the above, but I do feel confident in saying the drinks are all pretty, delicious—and affordable. I had the Bitter Louise ($13), which Poz says he “feels terrible about” because Louise, his grandmother and a rhubarb pie baker, was not a bitter person. It’s named so because of the mix of ingredients: gin, rhubarb bitters, licorice-y absinthe and lemon. (I only figured out how strong it was when I briefly pitched forward going down the steep stairs descending from Coit Tower, our next stop.)
On the lighter side was a Watermelon, Mama! ($13), a salty-sweet summery refresher with lime juice, tequila, ginger and splash of Campari, all poured over crushed ice and garnished with salted watermelon. The punctuated name goes back to Poz’s mom, an educator and a stickler for commas.
My favorite drink—the Sweet Pea ($13)—required a bigger leap from concept to cocktail. Made with a snap pea and shiso cordial, plus Amaro Alpino, lemon and sparkling water, it was a true pleasure: mildly sweet, anise-y and a little vegetal. Pretty sure it was even hydrating. The inspiration, Poz, says, was his mother’s split pea soup. Considering that dish is typically made from dried peas and ham and turns into a sludge of army green, I’m glad the word pea is where this mom-spiration ended.
April Jean, 1371 Grant Ave, North Beach