San Francisco is getting a new rooftop bar — a rarity in the city. Rise Over Run opens Wednesday, Nov. 2, on the 13th floor of the new Line Hotel downtown, serving tropical drinks over views of Sutro Tower, the Golden Gate Theater and City Hall.
“We’ve lost out in San Francisco because we thought it was too cold,” said general manager Antonio Flores of the city’s dearth of rooftop bars. For nights when it does get chilly, Rise Over Run has heat lamps, semicircular banquettes where a group can sit around a fire pit, and a few “fire features,” as Flores calls the larger, freestanding warmth generators.
Danny Louie, a one-time Chronicle Bar Star and the former beverage director at Mister Jiu’s and Moongate Lounge, is in charge of the cocktails throughout the Line Hotel. At Rise Over Run, he’s created a menu of colorful, tropical-inflected drinks with lots of Asian-inspired ingredients and “extravagant garnishes,” Louie said. The cocktails are designed to be Instagrammable, he said, like the rooftop itself.
The space is full of lush, botanical elements, with greenery-filled planter boxes serving as barriers and an herb garden that will provide ingredients like shiso and mint for the food and drinks. There’s also a sleek, semi-indoor “solarium,” with a glass-gabled roof and a bauble chandelier, where the minimalist white bar is located.
Food at Rise Over Run is snacky and shareable. Although most of the 185-person-capacity space is intended for drinking and light eating — with high-top tables and lounge seating — the solarium will have “more of a dinner vibe,” Flores said.
San Francisco’s location of the Line, a chain that also operates hotels in Palm Springs, Los Angeles, Austin, Texas, and Washington, DC, opened on Sept. 30 after eight years of construction. The space was a parking lot before developers began building both the 236-room hotel and 249 condominiums.
The hotel has a restaurant on the ground level, Tenderheart, whose cocktail list is also helmed by Louie. There, the drinks are designed to be more accessible and classic-leaning than on the roof. They include a riff on a martini, made with truffle oil, dill and smoked Castelvetrano olives; a negroni variation with Thai basil-infused gin, coconut-washed Campari and grapefruit; and a margarita made with corn and fennel.
Still to come is a third space, Dark Bar, currently slated for a December opening. Dark Bar will have the most experimental drink menu within the Line Hotel, Louie said. There will be strong San Francisco ties to each cocktail; Louie said he took inspiration from film director (and San Francisco-phile) Alfred Hitchcock. One drink, for example, will be a red-orange color, evoking the Golden Gate Bridge, topped with a foglike cotton candy.
For each of the 30 cocktails he will serve throughout the Line — 10 each at Rise Over Run, Tenderheart and Dark Bar — Louie has purchased a different type of glassware. In the basement of the hotel, near the fitness center, he has what he calls his “lab,” an elaborate pantry for cocktail prep. His equipment includes immersion circulators, fruit dehydrators, robot coupes and a large Z40 citrus juicer. Louie is also launching a canned cocktail line, Gamsaam, which will soon be available in the minibars of the Line’s hotel rooms.
Extending from the hotel lobby is the first Northern California location of Alfred Coffee, the trendy Los Angeles cafe. The neon “But first, coffee” sign that’s made Alfred a darling of Instagram influencers makes an appearance on a wall here — with the letters “SF” highlighted in a different color.
The team hopes that Rise Over Run will become a destination throughout the day for weekend brunch, afternoon drinks, pre-theater aperitivo and post-show nightcaps. Flores said they plan to host daytime parties with DJs at some point.
“It’s going to be an experience where you don’t want to leave this building,” Louie said.
Rise Over Run. 5:30-11 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday. On the 13th floor of the Line Hotel, 33 Turk St., San Francisco. 415-475-0000 or thelinehotel.com/san-francisco/restaurants-bars/rise-over-run/
Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicle’s senior wine critic. Email: emobley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Esther_mobley
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