Verbena

Active Verb

Beef Hearts, Carrot Towers and Navy-Strength Gin

None 5 Photos Verbena
Deafening silence. Exact estimate. Vegan charcuterie.

The guys behind Berkeley’s Gather somehow made that last oxymoron... not an oxymoron anymore.

And now for their next trick...

Meet Verbena, a game changer of a neighborhood spot full of beef hearts, vegetation and sturdy cocktails, opening tomorrow on Polk for these two scenarios:

Scenario 1: You’re on a date.
Ignore the bar (stay with us here) and move to your dimly lit table by the window. The tables are tightly packed here, but it’s more intimate that way. Soon: there will be beef ribs. There will be beef tongue. There will be shaved beef heart. And that’s all just one dish. Also, if you think a tower of roasted carrots sounds absurd, well, you’re not wrong. But try the tower of roasted carrots. Laugh about it. It’ll bring you closer together. Carrot towers can do that.

Scenario 2: You’re not on a date.
To the bar you go, under the skylight, the brick, the pendant lights and the pickling jars. Good things are happening here, like the Siren’s Ration (which includes Jamaican rum, gentiane and bitters) and the Leviathan Cocktail (Navy-strength gin, blood-orange liqueur, anisette, bitters). Expect a lively, attractive crowd, and if you suddenly find yourself on a date...

See Scenario 1 above.

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