Walking into the Ninth Life cocktail bar is like walking into beverage mastermind Daniel Paez’s fun house.
Fun is the operative word at the bar that opened in Uptown Oakland in November. The decor, the beverages, the glittery tabletops and the ambiance all have a playful undertone. It’s darkly colorful, eclectic and, Paez says, still evolving. You may notice new additions to the clock wall on return visits, the ‘80s and ‘90s music videos and commercials flashing on the large screen, and more “weird stuff” Paez believes adds to the grotto-like atmosphere. It feels like being inside a neon lava lamp, in a good way.
Ninth Life and its sister restaurant Good Luck Gato, which opened in September, occupy what was formerly Hopscotch and its annex/event space. At both the new bar and Good Luck Gato, billed as an “izakaya cantina,” Paez pays homage to Hopscotch (where he previously worked for four years).
Ninth Life: Open Wednesday to Sunday 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.; 1911 San Pablo Ave. (near 20th Street), Oakland; www.ninthlifebar.com
Hopscotch the restaurant was helmed by Kyle Itani, and, after he converted the business to catering only, he partnered with Paez and Matthew Meyer (who are also co-owners of Low Bar) on the two new concepts to fill the vacated spaces. Good Luck Gato’s decor is an homage to “classic and spaghetti Westerns, the golden age of Japanese cinema, and the Californian/Mexican landscape,” while the menu blends Japanese and Mexican ingredients and techniques.
At Good Luck Gato and Ninth Life, Paez demonstrates his passion and inventiveness in both beverage programs. There’s a story behind every element here, told with great enthusiasm.
He describes the difference between the Ninth Life and the restaurant as “dawn and dusk,” with the bar representing an after-sunset atmosphere. The return to the San Pablo site feels like a “lovely homecoming,” Paez said.
Ninth Life does not serve food, so it works well for either a cocktail while you wait for a table next door or a post-dinner libation. The space is intimate, with some high tables and a few seats at the bar. The lights projected on the ceiling and walls are mesmerizing, with their shades of blue and purple.
Paez is happy to share how he crafted the space from the bathrooms to the bar stools (including the interior and graphic designs) with a lot of hard work and the help of “YouTube University.” Paez learned the hard way that wallpapering can be a fiddly, frustrating, heartbreaking experience. But he figured out how to mount an old telephone to the wall, and he hopes to somehow get recorded voices to respond when someone picks up the handset. Or maybe he’ll simply mount more phones. He also expects to add more “good stuff from his mom’s house.”
Children of the ‘80s and ‘90s will have fun deciphering the cultural references on the Ninth Life cocktail menu. El Duderino is a layered drink that Paez describes as an “homage to the Dude’s favorite cocktail,” which The Big Lebowski fans will know as the White Russian. Paez makes his version with a reposado tequila base infused with fresh ground, decaf coffee, bitter orange and vanilla with Pedro Ximenez sherry and Averna Amaro. It is finished with horchata syrup, spices and oat milk.
“This drink really ties the room together,” Paez quipped.
There is also a “riff on a French 75” called Sparkle Motion (with housemade hibiscus/ginger liqueur, gin, Lo-Fi Amaro, a dash of bitters, topped with sparkling rose and dusted with gold dust) named after Donnie Darko’s sister’s dance troupe. You could make a trivia game from the references embedded in the cocktail names, including nods to Good Will Hunting and “The Next Episode.”
There are two alcohol-free cocktails available at Ninth Life: L-A-T-E-R That Week (passion fruit, ancho chile, lime, soda, mint and optional bitters) and Sup’ Doc? (carrot, pineapple, habanero shrub, orange, lemon, ginger beer and optional bitters).
For the hard stuff, we tried the 93 ‘til — Rittenhouse rye, Torros 10 (Spanish brandy), Gustoso aged rum, Cynar (an Italian amaro made from 13 herbs and plants, predominantly artichoke), brown sugar, orange and angostura bitters, with a touch of Swisher Sweet tincture brushed on the outside of the glass—imparting the aroma of a toasted cigar without any contact with actual tobacco. It’s a heady concoction, with a combination of spirits that, as Paez notes, “rarely meet in a glass.” But it’s a drink that lives up to the promise of tasting “rich, warm and leathery,” surprisingly smooth with an appeal to the senses. Imagine holding this drink in a brandy snifter, seated in front of a warm fire on a chilly evening, while someone somewhere is smoking a pleasantly fragrant cigar.
We also tried the Them Apples, green apple-infused vodka, Batiste Silver Rhum, Barbadillo Fino sherry, green apple juice, Brucato Chaparral (a locally produced amaro made from wild herbs and spices native to the chaparral region of California), lemon and bitters. Garnished with a slice of green apple, this drink is designed to have “funky herbaceous tones” that capture the essence of autumn. Sip it slowly and enjoy the feeling. If Paez is nearby, he may not be able to resist asking how you like it.
Ninth Life is a bar unlike any other: it’s a celebration of the ‘80s, ‘90s and early ‘00s, infused with a creative spirit and an abiding sense of fun.
