Dalva’s Not-So-Secret Back Bar the Hideout Sneaks Back Open For the First Time in Years

Eight months after well-loved Mission bar Dalva swung back open with a fresh look and a slew of new cocktails, there’s more good news for fans of the storied watering hole: Longtime owner Erik Reichborn-Kjennerud and newer partner Eric Ochoa are ready to reopen the Hideout, that bar-within-a-bar burrowed in the back of the space. The duo’s been busy working on updating the Hideout — but before anyone starts wringing their hands about the changes, know the owners insist customers won’t even realize they tweaked anything. “It’s going to look basically the same,” Reichborn-Kjennerud says simply.

In fact, the biggest change will be the menu, which now encompasses a dozen classic cocktails ranging from an icy gin martini to a whiskey-laced Gold Rush along with a tempting list of spirits. As fans will remember, back before the pandemic the Hideout served as a more inventive counterbalance to Dalva itself, which served pleasingly divey vibes. But now that the front bar sports a groovy orange mural and that sexy light oak bartop — plus its own menu of a dozen full-on craft cocktails — the owners say they’ve basically inverted the two. That means the Hideout is where you’ll be able to find the dark and moody dive bar energy, and the owners hope it’ll be a place where industry folks hang after work, sipping “classic cocktails done with really good booze,” Reichborn-Kjennerud describes.

While the front bar offers table service and an expansive menu, back in the Hideout bartenders will work with a more limited number of spirits and modifiers. It’s not exactly a small space — there are some 40 seats between the down and upstairs including six stools at the bar itself — but customers will be getting up to fetch their own drinks. “It’s going to be hot and sweaty and crowded, hopefully, and more casual,” Reichborn-Kjennerud says. The space will also be available for private parties and other events; there are already some plans for a fun pop-up in the works, so stay tuned for more on that soon.

And in case you’re planning on scrutinizing the space to try to determine what adjustments the owners made, the months of renovations were centered around wanting to make the bar work better for the staff, they say; the kind of behind-the-scenes infrastructure updates that aren’t even worth mentioning to customers since they won’t be noticeable from their side of the stick. “From what we saw, people want to come to the Hideout just for the space,” Reichborn-Kjennerud says. And hopefully they still will.

The Hideout reopens on Friday, August 19 and will be open on Fridays and Saturdays from 8 p.m. to close.

Nicola Parisi

Nicola Parisi

Nicola Parisi

Nicola Parisi