Openings

First Look at Trick Dog, Opening Tonight in the Mission [Updated]

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At long last, the Bon Vivants team of Josh Harris and Scott Baird (who also own Rio Grande downtown) are opening their dream bar, and it’s called Trick Dog. The project has been two years in the making, and is opening in a former industrial space next door to Central Kitchen and Salumeria at 3010 20th Street, and both the decor and cocktail menu represent a culmination of years of the partners’ work together — in mixology, design, and estate-sale treasure hunting. The name, in fact, comes from an antique cast-iron piggy bank, featured in the bar’s logo, that was a gift from Harris’s dad when he was a kid.

Design has been so central to the project that the boys have actually launched a Bon Vivants Design-Build arm, with partners Nick Roberto and Colby Thompson, to work on future projects. The bar is composed of one-hundred-year-old white and grey marble accented by banister posts and cast-iron plates reclaimed from the staircase of the Warfield Building in downtown S.F. The back-bar features a first-of-its-kind, custom-made, multi-layered shelf system on a track and bearing system that allows the shelves to slide back and forth in front of each other. And throughout the space they’ve used industrial materials like iron and wire glass, and reclaimed steel-framed lights overhead from the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.

Each of the drinks, some of which you can see here, will take its name from a color on the Pantone Color Guide, such as Alligator Alley (olive oil-infused Broker’s gin, Imbue vermouth, Tempus Fugit Quinquina and green chartreuse); the Polar Bear (Pierde Almas mezcal, Dolin Blanc, crème de menthe, and angelica tincture); and the Vintage Photo (Denizen white rum, Amaro Averna, pineapple, coconut vinegar, and allspice). There will also be a wide range of non-alcoholic cocktail options, and large-format punch bowls as well.

And there’s food! We didn’t realize they’d be serving food, but there will be a bar-snack menu available nightly until 2 a.m., featuring a Scotch Egg (a soft-boiled egg wrapped in salt-cod brandade and fried); fried sweetbreads with peach and apricot sweet-and-sour sauce; and Fernet mint chip ice cream.

A full and complete look at the space won’t be available until the middle of the week, as construction has been ongoing down to the wire. It’s unclear what hour they may be open today, but the plan is to be open at 3 p.m. daily.

Here’s a sneak peek, and we’ll amend this slideshow later this week when the space is more complete. Update: We’ve updated the slideshow with more wide shots of the finished space.

Trick Dog - 3010 20th Street between Harrison and Florida - 415.471.2999 - Open daily from 3 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Related: 31 New Restaurants and Bars to Look Forward to This Winter and Spring

The aforementioned sliding bar shelves, which conceal another layer of booze behind.
The steel trimming was reclaimed from the Warfield Building.
Gray marble stair treads from the Warfield Building, complete with vintage chips, became the side bar.
Tabletops are still to come. Harris is particularly proud of the salvaged Steelcase chairs, all found for less than $20 in various parts of the Bay (some came from a school, some from a government building in Sacramento). These chairs regularly show up in Valencia vintage stores for $200.
New stools were upholstered in vinyl to resemble the vintage Steelcase chairs.
The piggy bank that started it all.
Photos from the “Animals That Saw Me” series by photographer Ed Panar.
First Look at Trick Dog, Opening Tonight in the Mission [Updated]