What is it? As the adjoining bar to its Michelin-starred (superb) parent restaurant Nisei, Bar Iris is its own destination for inspired modern Japanese food and culinary, unique cocktails.
Why we love it: The bar is intimate, subtle, sleek and ever-packed, but friendly, unpretentious and a standout restaurant and cocktail bar in its own right. Brilliant Nisei chef-owner David Yoshimura gives Bar Iris its own love with expert-but-more-casual dishes like miso cream cheese-stuffed shishito peppers, shrimp shiso tempura and meticulous handrolls (temaki).
Bar manager Timofei Osipenko wows with a unique 12 cocktail book outlining flavor profiles, balanced with a food lover’s palate and drink geek precision: Think a frothy Kumquat Sour featuring a house kumquat kosho instead of traditional yuzu kosho. The kosho’s lively fermented chili, salt and kumquat peel is shaken with Nikka gin, Iichiko Saiten shochu, Aixa bianco vermouth, Leopold Bros. orange blossom liqueur, lemon and egg white, worthy of brunch yet ushering you brightly into the night.
The Uni cocktail is a spendy, creamy anomaly at $37 given its use of costly sea urchin. Served in a little round ceramic cup, it’s dessert for savory umami lovers. Sauternes wine from Bordeaux plays with slightly bitter-sweet, citrus-laden Alma Quinquina en Rama, yuzu sake, banana, egg yolk and just a touch of Laphroaig Quarter Cask Scotch whisky—a whole egg flip cocktail that goes umami, slightly smoky and hints of the sea. Yes, these are drinks worthy of Iris’ Michelin-starred grand dame next door.
Time Out tip: Iris’s $60 or $65 omakase menu is a steal offering a peek at the Nisei chefs’ skills. You get a starting Nisei bite, tsukemono, omurice, Nisei dessert and choice of oyako-don or kaisen-don rice bowls loaded with chicken or changing seafood.
Address: 2310 Polk St, San Francisco, 94109
Opening hours: Fri, Sat 3pm–midnight; Sun, Wed–Thu 5–11pm
Expect to pay: Average cocktail is $19–$20; dishes $7–$30