When midtown Sacramento’s Hyatt House opened Thursday morning, it wasn’t just the debut of a sleek new hotel in a 95-year-old building.

It was the unveiling of the first restaurant and bar looking into another city landmark: Sutter’s Fort.

Star Lounge, the hotel’s third-story restaurant and bar, peers down from 2719 K St. beyond the colonial walls of the state historic park across the street. There’s history inside the new business, too.

The Hyatt House’s building first opened in 1928 as the Eastern Star Hall, a Masonic women’s meeting place. That history is incorporated throughout developer Roger Hume’s 128-room hotel, which uses the original front doors, tables and plaster and a repurposed pulpit as the host’s stand.

It’s through the original windows, too, that Star Lounge customers will peer down at Sutter’s Fort while they nibble on prosciutto-chèvre flatbreads ($16) or butternut squash hummus with pomegranate seeds and candied walnuts ($14).

Chef Graham Forbes, formerly the chef de cuisine at the Kimpton Sawyer Hotel, will make everything from family-style rib-eye dinners for two ($80) to $16 smashburgers with preserved tomato, housemade pickles and Modesto-based Fiscalini Farmstead cheddar.

Advanced sommelier Clifford Burr helped curate the wine list, which leans French. Cocktails will vary by the season; a bourbon/lemon/berry preserve/ginger beer drink currently pays tribute to recently-deceased The Red Rabbit Kitchen & Bar co-founder Matt Nurge.

Food and beverage director Ryan Seng, the former head bartender at Grange Restaurant & Bar and founder of Can Can Cocktails, is particularly fond of the $7 happy hour menu. That price includes select drinks (seasonal margaritas, a vodka cocktail called the “Spring Buck”) as well as bites such as short rib tacos or truffle Parmesan fries.

“We’re pushing hard to do a fun beverage and fun food program up here, and we hope that more and more people come to see it and come look at the space,” Seng said.

Opening hours are 3-10 p.m. every day except Friday and Saturday, when Star Lounge will stay open until 11. Lunch and brunch will be offered down the road.

This story was originally published January 12, 2023 at 7:00 AM.