Prizefighter Bar Opens Wednesday and Comes Out Swinging

​There's a new cocktail heavyweight on the Emeryville card with Prizefighter Bar, opening tomorrow in the old Kitty's location. The team behind the new watering hole are veterans of the San Francisco bar scene: Jon Santer (Bourbon & Branch, Beretta, Range), Dylan O'Brien (Bloodhound, Churchill), and Polly Hancock.

Santer explained, "Prizefighter is an American bar in the classic sense of the term--fun and friendly with delicious cocktails, beer, wine and spirits."

The cocktail menu works well for groups and solo, from heavyweight cocktails to featherweight non-alcoholic house made sodas ($4).

Large parties can enjoy pitchers of beer ($15-$16), sangria (white or red with choice of spirit, $40), punches (relax, the drinking kind, for six to eight $50), and pitchers of lower alcohol "patio" cocktails ($24-$35) like a spritzes and Bloody Marys. "We designed the bar to be a comfortable place to come have a beverage and some laughs with friends," said Santer. "Maybe play a game of shuffle board, or hang out on the patio in the sun."

​The individual cocktail route has the most options with all drinks (except for punches) available by the glass. Cocktails ($9) range mostly in the classic or classical style, with standards like a Margarita (tequila, lime, with choice of agave nectar or orange liqueur), Bee's Knees (gin, lemon, honey), and Daiquiri (rum, lime, cane syrup). An impressive selection of sixteen different mezcals will be available by the glass along with a "Oaxacan standoff" option ($6)--a half-shot of mezcal served with sangrita and a small beer.

The tale of the tape is one of the most impressive in the East Bay with Carlos Yturria (Absinthe, Range), Patrick Brennan (Prospect, Range), Lucia Gonzales (Flora, Luka's Taproom) all joining Santer and O'Brien behind the bar full-time. There's a new face as well--Dylan Reeves who spent the last nine years as a California Smokejumper with over 150 jumps, a.k.a. those lunatics who skydive directly into forest fires and extinguish them a.k.a. the reason there won't be 180-person brawls there anymore.

Food trucks will make appearances as often as possible, along with brunch hours on the weekends in the spring. There's a bike rack in the patio so you can ride in and enjoy a few rounds.

Prizefighter, 6702 Hollis (at 67th), Emeryville
Open seven days a week, 5 p.m.-2 a.m., starting Wednesday, November 23
More info on Facebook