Whiskey cocktails and Gold Rush vibes: Inside the new Sacramento bar built by Ace of Spades

Ace of Spades concert attendees often head to neighboring R Street Corridor bars for drinks before or after a show. Now the venue wants a slice of the action.

Good Luck Lounge is Ace of Spades’ new adjoined cocktail lounge, opened Oct. 4 at 1421 R St. The second-story bar is open to the public but has an extra perk for customers with tickets to that night’s show: direct access to the pit, no sidewalk waiting required.

Sacramento’s newest bar has emerald green walls, cerulean velvet stools and no shortage of gambling-inspired decor, from faux dice to a face card-like mural made from thousands of sparkling pennies. Its cocktail program stems from Gold Rush saloons and Jerry Thomas “the father of American mixology” in the 1850s.

Thomas is credited with inventing drinks such as the Martinez (the martini’s predecessor made with sweet vermouth), which hits Good Luck Lounge’s menu alongside long-established drinks including Corpse Revivers. The bar’s flagship cocktail is a more modern creation called a Gold Rush, a whiskey sour variation made with honey syrup instead of simple and garnished with honeycomb.

Good Luck Lounge’s cocktails were designed by Sean Kenyon, an ace mixologist with Ace of Spades’ parent company Live Nation. Kenyon co-founded Williams & Graham in Denver, named one of the World’s 50 Best Bars in 2015, as well as more casual spin-off Occidental (one of Esquire’s top 18 bars in the U.S. in 2016) and two-story whiskey bar American Bonded.

Now, he focuses on crafting Live Nation bar programs tied to a sense of place, like Good Luck Lounge.

“It’s modern-age takes on classic cocktails. Everything is either a derivative of a classic from the Gold Rush era of cocktails, or it’s actually from that era.” Kenyon said. “We were really inspired by our neighborhood, and we wanted to bring a little bit of Sacramento into that programming.”

Sacramento’s music scene ranges from intimate venues to Golden 1 Center, but there’s little in between. With a 1,000-person capacity, Ace of Spades is small for a mid-sized venue yet has thrived, in part, because it’s one of the only places around that can host medium-popular acts. It’s worth noting that Channel 24, a concert hall under construction at 24th and R streets, will have a 2,150-person capacity when it opens early next year.

All the more reason for Ace of Spades to find a new way to stand out. Good Luck Lounge is open 5 p.m.-2 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 5 p.m.-midnight Thursdays and all other nights when Ace of Spades hosts a show.

What I’m Eating

I capped one of Sacramento’s final 100-degree days of the year (hopefully) by heading to Sumer Nights, Abbas Allaftah’s Iraqi restaurant in Arden Arcade. Opened last June in an expansive Country Club Plaza space, it replaced a former Cajun seafood joint, nautical ropes and decor from which still show up on the wood-paneled walls.

I generally have a pretty big appetite. It’s what’s allowed me to down a local fast food joint’s 10x10 smashburger earlier this year, and place second out of 12 competitors in a Jimboy’s Tacos-eating competition last month.

So hear me when I say: Sumer Nights’ entrees are big enough to split among at least two people. Each comes with a luscious yellow lentil soup, a quartet of sides such as tabbouleh or baba ghanoush and khubz, a circular flatbread spilling from the basket.

Then there are the dishes themselves. The dolma plate ($35) is no cute appetizer, but hulking grape leaf wraps stuffed with rice and ground lamb, cooked in tomato broth and served with lamb ribs, spicy pickled vegetables, pomegranate molasses and more rice over khubz.

Quzi ($35), one of Iraq’s national dishes, is similarly intimidating. But the two lamb legs that tower over a rice/vermicelli/raisin/almond pilaf are so tender that they fall right off their bones with a light shake. Dyed yellow by saffron but perfectly pink inside, it was sprinkled with cumin and served with a tomato-white bean soup called fasolia.

Past pages of kebab and shawarma platters, there are smaller items — falafel wraps, chicken burgers and lamb tikka sandwiches, for example. Yet even starters such as shwandaria ($7), a salad of pickled beets julienned and sprinkled with parsley, are generously portioned. Fortunately, it’s just as good the next day, as are most mains when reheated.

Sumer Nights

Address: 2316 Watt Ave., Sacramento

Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 3-10 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday

Phone: 916-750-5088

Website: sumer-nights.com

Drinks: Tea and sodas

Vegetarian options: Falafel plates or wraps, and a few appetizers

Noise level: Quiet during the week, louder on weekend nights

Outdoor seating: Parking lot-adjacent patio spruced up with faux turf and palm trees

Openings & Closings

▪ Lucky’s Drive-In opened Oct. 3 at 2565 Franklin Blvd., the Curtis Park space formerly home to the Hideaway Bar & Grill. The old-fashioned fast food joint has served burgers, shakes, fries and more since 2015 at a sister location outside of Tacoma, Washington.

▪ Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream opened its sixth capital region store Tuesday at 8055 Madison Ave. in Citrus Heights’ southeastern corner. The Ohio-based chain was founded in 1945 and currently scoops frozen desserts at about 125 locations across 12 states, with additional area parlors in North Natomas, Folsom, Roseville, Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova.

▪ Shorebirds Brewing Co., Sacramento County’s only brewery dedicated to hard kombucha production, announced its closure on social media last Thursday. Randall Echevarria and Monte Hudock’s business will host a goodbye party Oct. 19 at 11327 Trade Center Drive, Suite 355, in Rancho Cordova’s Barrel District, and try to get another local brewery to begin brewing its kombuchas.

This story was originally published October 10, 2024 at 7:00 AM.