Modern Japanese Bar Iris serves some of the most ambitious cocktails around
After a tragic loss, Bar Iris honors its past while stepping boldly into the future — and San Francisco’s cocktail scene is better for it.
By Virginia Miller
Since Michelin-starred Nisei opened in August 2021 and its neighboring Bar Iris in October the same year, the modern Japanese duo has faced both acclaim and tragedy. Beloved Iris bar manager Ilya Romanov died tragically at the end of 2022, leaving a void in the team. As Nisei evolved, so too has Bar Iris risen from heartbreak, thanks to its strong team and visionary talent of current bar manager Timofei Osipenko.
Osipenko has quietly transformed the bar with a new 20-page menu that features some of the most ambitious cocktails in San Francisco, if not the U.S. While I miss the deep hospitality of Romanov, the current team is friendly, sharp and precise. Osipenko’s iteration of Iris delves deeper into its Japanese roots, expanding its spirits selection with Japanese gins, rums, and other diverse offerings.
Food
At Iris, Nisei chef David Yoshimura and team’s more casual but still perfected Japanese food is draw enough. A $55 or 65 omakase gives you their oyako-don or kaisen-don rice bowls with bites and dessert. But a la carte makes it easy to pop in for a bite and drink as it is to fill up on a rice bowl.
House tsukemono — seasonal pickles from Nisei’s fermentation project — showcases three Japanese fermentation styles: shiozuke (salt pickling), misozuke (miso pickling) and nukazuke (rice bran pickling). The changing veggies are an ideal palate cleanser or bar snack, providing lively, pickled contrast to comfort dishes like a jidori egg salad tomago sandwich on housemade shokupan milk bread.
Miso cream cheese-stuffed shishito peppers are topped with shaved bonito with an elevated Japanese jalapeno poppers vibe. Grilled agebitashi eggplant soaks up much flavor from its dashi marination as it does from the umami of the dried fish flakes.
Appetizers shine, from shrimp shiso tempura to ever-beloved Japanese fried chicken karaage. But temaki (sushi hand-rolls) and those hearty rice bowls make a gratifying and rather superb meal. Still, chef Yoshimura’s perfectly tender, marinated chicken in the oyako-don is what you wish all chicken rice bowls could be. Ditto the kaisen-don, loaded with changing seafood and roe over sashimi rice with fresh, real wasabi.
Cocktails
After trying eight of Osipenko’s twelve cocktails, it’s clear his drinks are gunning for some of the most artful, thoughtful drinks possible. Thankfully, they’re generally delicious, too. Behind the scenes processes and ingredients are detailed, even fussy, but the combination is seamless and balanced in the glass.
Starting on the lighter end of the book of a menu, Shiso & Tonic is cut above the countless shiso (Japanese mint) and tonic drinks I’ve tasted over the years. Its silky base is Roku Gin, the fruity, unpasteurized pop of Heiwa namasake and shiso-infused shochu. Then, shiso, tonic and, unexpectedly, tomato. Instead of the clean tomato water cocktails I’ve loved by the dozens around the world, this is a subtle whisper of tomato, imparting a vegetal sweet tone to the crushable soda drink.
On the sour side, Kumquat Sour takes a cue from traditional yuzu kosho with house kumquat kosho. The fermented chili, salt and citrus peel paste is made with kumquats instead of the traditional yuzu. It’s then shaken in the frothy drink with Nikka gin, Iichiko Saiten shochu, Aixa bianco vermouth, Leopold Bros. orange blossom liqueur, lemon and egg white. It’s foamy, tart, invigorating and slightly savory-spicy, the ultimate brunch cocktail.
Romanov’s purple Okinawan rum and yam cocktail is the OG drink that stays on the enu, amped up with Osipenko’s blend of Kiyomi Japanese rum, Haitian AK Zanj 8 year rum and Jougo Kakuto shochu, mixed to creamy, purple effect with Okinawan yams, calamansi lime and oat milk, with li hing mui salted Chinese plum dusted over crushed ice. One of the most interesting spirituous cocktails on menus now is Akadama, a complex mix of Hibiki Japanese whisky, a triple vermouth blend (BCN Mut, Fred Jerbis, Elena), Kopke LBV 2018 port and fascinating whispers of hazelnut and tropical pandan leaf.
Tsukemono Martini blends gin, shochu and sake with sake lees brine from SF’s own Sequoia sake brewery, garnished with cauliflower tsukemono, in the family of a classic martini or Gibson cocktail. “Not A Martini” is a welcome Mexican-inspired yin to the martini yang. The cocktail is a clean, layered mix of Siete Misterios mezcal, sotol, raicilla, Jougo Kakuto shochu and Mukada nigori sake. It goes vegetal with mastic resin liqueur, Lu Mare botanical spirit, Kapriol Dell’Alpe alpine liqueur, sunchokes and an “olive” that is actually snap pea in sphere form at the bottom of the martini glass. The cocktail’s herbaceous, vegetal, garden-fresh goodness is ideal with food.
But the buzz-worthy drink is Uni, a creamy drink for $37 precisely because it features always-costly, quality sea urchin. Served in a little round ceramic cup, the mix of fruity-sweet Château les Justices Sauternes wine from Bordeaux, Alma Quinquina en Rama for bittersweet, citrus-y, silky yuzu sake, banana and egg yolk are classic flip cocktail. The umami hit of uni and smoky hint of Laphroaig Quarter Cask Scotch are subtle but present. It’s the ideal savory dessert.
Iris’ hexagonal graphic for each drink on the menu helps explain the flavor profile — spirit, umami, acid, fruit, bitter, sweet — while photos of each cocktail also aid in decision-making. Their sake selection is also excellent, a touch of the range on offer at Nisei, including rarities like red rice Mukai Shuzo “Ine Mankai.”
Off menu house favorites, like an elevated take on “junk food” cocktail, a Midori Sour, take the often nasty neon drink further than you thought could go. Icelandic aquavit, togarashi spice mix, lemon and egg white make the Sour foamy, sour and sweet with a touch of Midori cantaloupe.
At Bar Iris, Osipenko and team are having fun but also going full cocktail geek, a bar worthy of the Michelin-starred pedigree at its parent restaurant next door.
// 2310 Polk Street, www.bar-iris.com
Virginia Miller is a San Francisco-based food & drink writer.
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