Szechuan Spice Restaurant

Photos: Storied Mission Cocktail Bar Dalva Reopens with New Design and Menu | Eater SF

"I've always loved this Mission hangout, and after a nearly two-year closure it reopens Friday, January 7, following a full “gut job” by longtime owner Erik Reichborn-Kjennerud and partner Eric Ochoa that preserves the bar’s feel while giving it more style and warmth. They replaced the octagonal front window with a rectangular one that opens, swapped two heavy wooden doors for a single glass door, removed exterior metal in favor of blue-and-white tiles that flow into an interior archway, preserved and elevated the Art Deco back bar 20 inches (now painted a moody blue with the original wooden inlay showing through), and installed a lighter white-oak counter while moving the beer taps to the back to make it easier to chat with your bartender. A wooden arch drops into a bench to define a lounge away from the bathrooms, a wavy orange mural by Schuyler Beecroft radiates overhead, and seating ranges from four stools at the front window for people-watching to eight bar seats, high tables along the right side, and low tables in the back — the old dark bar is now warm and glowing. They plan a parklet in the next month, and the Hideout (the back bar-within-a-bar) and upstairs will reopen later in the spring with only modest changes promised for the Hideout. Ochoa led a new cocktail menu of about a dozen cocktails and a few highballs, including the labor-intensive Friend of the Devil (a clarified milk punch with rye, chocolate stout, and cherry served over an engraved ice cube), the Garibaldi Sunrise (tequila, Campari, fresh orange juice with aerated fluff and an orange wedge dusted with Tajin), the New Wave Fix (Italian gin, French wine, pineapple, and coconut chartreuse), and La Mala Vida (mezcal with cucumber shrub and Sichuan pepper syrup). The bar also offers local craft beer, cider, Artemis Botanical vermouth served “Spanish style” on the rocks with a big olive, orange and sparkling natural wines, a nonalcoholic negroni with charred grapefruit tonic, a curated agave selection available in one- and two-ounce pours, and a squirreled-away stash of whiskey. There’s no full kitchen but rotating snacks from chef friends to start — Mister Jiu’s spicy peanuts, Lolo chips and salsa, and Aurora Alimentari pork pate — and Dalva will be open daily from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m." - Becky Duffett