Angela Cao really likes dogs. She was born in Shanghai but grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she was surrounded by animals — cats, horses, birds, and dogs. Now she lives in SoMa and owns a Pomeranian named Merlin and a golden retriever named Chicken. Next month, she’s opening a cafe and bar in their honor. “I thought it would be cute,” Cao says.
Stray Dog opens July 1 at 2545 24th St., in the former home of the Junior cocktail bar. The name is a not-so-subtle nod to Cao’s first bar, Lost Cat Bar & Bites (opens in new tab), on Post Street near Union Square. With the sophomore effort, Cao is taking inspiration from Shanghainese all-day cafes — and from Merlin for the logo, a black-and-white drawing of a fluffy, smiling pooch.
San Francisco-based Ritual Coffee Roasters (opens in new tab) will provide the coffee, which will be available throughout the day. There’ll be a classic espresso menu, with Asian influence in the form of pandan, ube, and lots of citrus in the signature drinks, such as coconut water topped with espresso foam and a riff on cold brew and orange juice. Those beverages come from Cao’s business partner, Nathan Angelo Depante, who cut his teeth at Home Coffee Roasters (opens in new tab) and Kona Street Market (opens in new tab), sister bar to the Pacific Cocktail Haven (opens in new tab). He also works at Lost Cat but will take on a larger role at Stray Dog.
Cao plans to find bagel and pastry partners before opening.
The bar offerings will include 10 to 14 cocktails, plus beer and wine. The cocktails will lean pan-Asian and splashy, similar to the menu at Lost Cat, which features a Thai tea milk punch and lychee-tini. Prices will be similar to those at Lost Cat, in the $17 or $18 range. There’ll be no food at night, but throughout the week, there’ll be events; neighbors have come by to let her know that Junior’s closing created a severe lack of bingo and trivia nights in the area. She hopes this new venture stokes an Asian nightlife community in this part of the city.
Cao says the feel and vibe from Junior, which opened in 2017 from the team behind Hayes Valley cocktail hang Brass Tacks (opens in new tab), is more or less the same outside of some small touches. That means some of the most memorable design elements have been left in place: Local artist Nicole Hayden painted the former tenant’s ceiling with colorful triangles. Another local artist Velia De Iuliis painted a 16-foot-long mural behind the bar. Cao came upon the building online and bought the whole thing.
The bar pro opened her first business on the outskirts of Nob Hill in 2022. Her family owns restaurants back in Tulsa, including the diner Brownie’s Hamburger Stand, one of the city’s oldest burger joints. After college in the Bay, Cao got into the restaurant industry at Burlingame’s Barrel House. Then she got bitten by the bartending bug. Stray Dog, she hopes, will add another destination to San Francisco’s already top-notch cocktail scene.
此内容由惯性聚合(RSS阅读器)自动聚合整理，仅供阅读参考。 原文来自 — 版权归原作者所有。