It may be hard to remember a time when sake was an obscure beverage, difficult to find outside of specialty Asian grocers. <\/p>\n
But Alex Bernardo helped shepherd the popularity of rice wine, stocking bottles of junmai and nigori when few other retailers would. His long-running Millbrae store, Vineyard Gate, was for a long time, the Bay Area\u2019s sole proprietor of natural wine<\/a><\/u>, jump-starting a transformative (if somewhat polarizing<\/a><\/u>) shift in taste.<\/p>\n Now, several months after Vineyard Gate\u2019s closure, Bernardo is looking to extend his trend-spotting streak with Kissakeko (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/u>, a 400-square-foot vinyl listening bar on a quiet block of Nob Hill. <\/p>\n Kissakeko opened on Saturday with a day-long matcha pop-up with spinning records and pours of sake, a debut meant to appeal to discerning connoisseurs of 20th century music and fermented beverages alike.<\/p>\n \u201cI travel to Japan every year and have a lot of friends there,\u201d Bernardo said. \u201cThey inspired me to do this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Although he may throw on the occasional blues or contemporary pop record from time to time, it\u2019s otherwise going to be nearly all jazz, all the time. And, he insisted: \u201cWe will never stream music.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Kissakeko is a No Spotify Zone because Bernardo envisions it as a proper \u201cjazz kissa,\u201d an intimate Japanese-style cafe with quiet, almost ceremonial vibes and a highly curated record collection. <\/p>\n Conversation is minimal, and the music is typically played without interruption. Jazz kissas hold a certain pride of place \u2014\u00a0even novelist Haruki Murakami owns one. A wave of these vinyl listening bars (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/u> swept over San Francisco a few years ago, but even by their stripped-down standards, Kissakeko is a minimalist operation, with seating for only six or eight audiophiles.\u00a0<\/p>\n Strictly speaking, Kissakeko \u2014 a portmanteau of \u201ckissa\u201d and \u201csake\u201d \u2014 is not new. Bernardo quietly opened it in July, offering nonalcoholic drinks during restricted hours, but the liquor license application was only recently approved, and winding down operations at Vineyard Gate took longer than he hoped. He is, by his admission, very tired.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Consequently, there is a coy mystique to Kissakeko. There is no website and no set food menu. Its Instagram page has more poetic meditations on the beauty of snow falling on birches (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/u> and deep dives (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/u> into the soundsystem\u2019s technical specs than details on which sakes will be poured. They tend toward the higher end, such as the limited-production Jikon (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/u> or the ultra-premium Juyondai (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n Simplicity will be the guiding principle. Bernardo plans to serve a few Japanese beers, but otherwise it\u2019s going to be mostly about hanging out and enjoying greats like Herbie Hancock and the Bill Evans Trio. <\/p>\n \u201cAll we\u2019re doing in that space is play jazz and serve artisanal sake,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>