Dad’s Kitchen co-owner planning to open midtown cider bar this fall

Dad’s Kitchen co-owner Julio Peix is moving away from burgers and beer with Cider House, a bar with an outdoor patio he plans to open near the corner of K and 24th streets by October.

The 1,000-square-foot building’s centerpiece will be a long bar between customers and Cider House’s 20 taps, Peix said. Most taps will serve fruity beverages from companies such as Common Cider, 2 Towns Ciderhouse and Sacramento’s Two Rivers Cider Co., though beer and kombucha will flow as well.

Peix left San Francisco and Anchor Brewing Co. in 2005 but visits the Bay Area frequently and refuses to hang Kings posters among the Warriors and Giants paraphernalia decorating Dad’s Kitchen, because “that team is awful.” He figured there was an appetite to support his new bar by watching the San Francisco Cider Summit’s crowd grow over the last three years.

“Every year it got bigger and bigger, and I was like, damn, there’s a movement going on,” he said.

Peix first signed the lease at 1111 24th St. for the bottom floor of a converted dentist’s office in August 2017, he said. Construction delays kept him from installing pinball tables and large-screen TVs when he wanted, but Cider House’s sign was posted outside the building earlier this month.

The thick burgers that landed Dad’s Kitchen on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” will be replaced by soups, salads and gluten-free paninis at Cider House. Most beers on tap will also be gluten-reduced varieties like those produced at Berryessa Brewing Co., said Peix, who doesn’t eat traditional bread products.

Peix also plans to open another Dad’s Kitchen at 5610 Elvas Ave. in East Sacramento later this year. Though similar to the Land Park restaurant, it’ll have a beer garden and smoker, he said.

This story was originally published July 31, 2018 at 1:53 PM.