When the James Beard Foundation revealed the semifinalists for its annual awards this week, the list included some of San Francisco’s most storied restaurants, bars, and chefs. But in addition to perennial boldface names like Acquerello and Benu, the “Oscars of the food world” showed some love to an unlikely contender: the Halfway Club, a kitschy tavern with dad’s-basement-bar vibes on Geneva Avenue in the city’s outlying Crocker-Amazon neighborhood.
The year-old spot was among 20 honorees in the newly created category of Best New Bar. Notably, it was one of only two semifinalists in California, and the only one in the Bay Area. (The other was Roma Norte in San Diego.)
Considering that San Francisco is better known for $20 cocktails crafted from rarefied spirits than for the selection of $11 boilermakers offered at the Halfway Club, the owners were caught off guard — or “absolutely floored,” as a post on the bar’s Instagram put it.
“It came out of left field,” co-owner Ethan Terry said, adding that he and co-owner Greg Quinn thought it had to be a mistake.
When it comes to handing out awards, the James Beard Foundation keeps its cards close to its chest. Comprising 600 culinary professionals (including Standard deputy food editor Lauren Saria, who chairs the Restaurant and Chef Award committee), the group bestows 23 awards each year, covering all facets of restaurant service.
Though the Halfway Club hasn’t gotten the national recognition of other honorees on this year’s list, it’s easy to see why its pitch-perfect mix of drinks and atmosphere would put it on the judges’ radar.
Opened last year in the space that formerly housed the whiskey-soaked dive the Broken Record, the Halfway Club has won fans for its affordable menu of $14 drinks, including a Wisconsin-style old-fashioned (made with brandy in lieu of whiskey) and the Bobby Burns (a bewitching, if obscure, combination of Scotch whisky, sweet vermouth, and Bénédictine). Others, like the mulled sangria and ginger toddy, are the very definition of approachable winter warmers.
Though it has “club” in the name, it’s first and foremost a bar. But there’s a full kitchen that cranks out a great Chicago-style hot dog, buried under mustard, onions, tomatoes, and a bun-length pickle spear. “We hear a lot of people say, ‘Is someone from Chicago?’” said Terry, who in fact hails from a small town two hours west of the Windy City.
Still, Terry and Quinn went for a light touch on the Midwestern references, as they didn’t want the Halfway Club to feel too “theme-y.” They pour plenty of beer from Enterprise, San Francisco’s brewery of the moment. And some of the most popular cocktails, like margaritas and palomas, have nothing to do with Illinois and everything to do with the people — mostly neighborhood locals — who hang out and drink.
“Only once in a while does somebody come down from the other side of town to see what we’re up to,” Terry said.
The owners are wary of promoting the big news. Being named a James Beard semifinalist “doesn’t matter so much to the people who love us,” Terry said. They’ll learn in April if the Halfway Club is a finalist, and the awards will be presented in June at a ceremony in, naturally, Chicago.
The Halfway Club’s self-effacing quality — another Midwestern trait, you might say — extends to its layout. With its outdoor patio, checkered linoleum floors, and rambling, multiroom layout, it feels like an upscale dive. But Terry is reluctant to embrace the term, at least for now. “I don’t think you can just open a dive bar. I think that comes from years of patina,” he said. “We aspire to be a dive bar when we grow up!”
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