The new owners of Café du Nord announced Monday that the popular Upper Market concert venue, which closed in January 2014, will reopen on June 17 as a cocktail bar, restaurant and, yes, a place to hear music.
But the former underground rock club (literally underground — you walk down several steps to enter it) where locals could catch groups like Thee Oh Sees, Sic Alps and Frightwig before it shuttered, won’t be hosting loud punk bands.
According to a press release published Monday, the kind of groups that patrons might catch in the cafe’s 30-table, newly-christened “Viking Room” will be local artists that are a “complement to guests’ drinking and dining experiences.” In other words, the repertoire will focus on jazz, blues and cocktail piano.
For those following the sale and redevelopment of the cafe, this is not news.
The new owners, restaurateurs the Bon Vivants and Ne Timeas Restaurant Group, have been clear about their intentions to make Café du Nord more about the food since September of last year.