Located on a corner of Market Street that abuts several different neighborhoods, the Orbit Room has been a place for folks to wet their whistles and grab some bar bites since the early '90s. Founded by the late Jay Johnson, who also ran Haight Street's Club Deluxe, it recently changed ownership: Nic Di Lillo (Tempest, Hi Dive) and his business partner Courtney Ross (Bloodhound) took over about a year ago, in October 2015.
The new owners are still pumping out the craft cocktails for which the Orbit Room is known, and have breathed some new life into the food program. We stopped by the other day to chat with Di Lillo about his tenure as a bartender in San Francisco, the bar's long history, and more.
Where are you from and how did you get here?
I'm from Orange County. I moved up here because I had taken a trip to Europe, and had sold my car to do that. When I moved back, my parents had moved to L.A., and I did not want to have to purchase another vehicle, because it seemed like a waste of money to me at that point.
I really liked Europe and European cities, and enjoyed using public transportation and walking and things like that. So I moved up here with a friend of mine who was moving here for a girl. He said he had a room for me, and being in the service industry, I knew I could find a job pretty quickly. That was about 12 years ago.
Tell us about your history with bars in San Francisco.
I got started at the Hi Dive with John Caine, and I learned the craft of bartending and using speed and efficiency behind the bar. Since it's right next to the ballpark, you get quite a few game fans, obviously. That's where I cut my teeth.
After that, I went to Tempest with the Poor Guys crew—that's the company that also owns Louie's and the Connecticut Yankee. Hi Dive was a "high-end dive bar," but Tempest was a true dive bar. I got up to managing it, and got valuable experience running a new business—Tempest was the first bar Poor Guys got. But I always had a passion for cocktails, and while it was fun working there, I always wanted to branch out and get a little bit more creative.
Tell us a little bit about the history of the Orbit Room.
It was opened in 1993 by a gentleman named Jay Johnson, who also owned Club Deluxe. He opened this place as a cafe and was able to get a liquor license, and it's now been around for over 20 years. Before that, it was a place called Old Uncle Gaylord's Ice Cream Parlor, and before that—from what I've heard—it was a bar, but I can't find anything about that ... I haven't had the time to do do anymore research or anything.
It's got a lot of history. It was one of the first places where [craft] cocktails were actually being made, and this was in the mid-'90s, when dive bars were the thing. So it's always kind of had that heart to it, but I feel like it's a neighborhood place, and I really enjoy it.
What sort of changes have you made since you and your partner took over?
[Before buying it], a lot of what we read online about this place is that it took a while to get a drink and that there was inconsistency with the serving of the food. Apparently, a lot of times people would stop working here, but a replacement wouldn't be hired right away, which made the food really inconsistent. So we looked at that and worked to correct it.
We knew the place itself had a unique vibe, so we didn't have to change too much of the decor. We did some painting and some cleaning, and we have some ideas of what we're going to do in the future. We eventually want to put in a table and lounge booth in the back.
What's your cocktail philosophy?
Basically, that everything's been done before. Classics are always great and will always do well. I like having a balanced menu that's seasonal, with classic drinks that people know and some that are more out-there. I like using seasonal ingredients and flavors that people associate with wintertime or spring and summer. Just kind of keeping things fresh and enjoying myself, having fun.
Also, I'm always on the lookout for new products, things that come out because of this whole cocktail revolution. Really interesting amaros and liqueurs can really bring something new to the table.
What's special about running a bar in this location?
The characters! We're kind of in this weird intersection of five different neighborhoods, and what I love about that is that we get all these different groups of people from all these different walks of life. We get people from Dolores and the Mission, along with people from Hayes Valley and Lower Haight, as well as people that come on down from the Castro.
It's this neighborhood bar that's in this out-of-the-way location, and I really like that. We get this great, unique vibe of people in here, which I think constitutes a good party. You always meet new and interesting people from a different walk of life, and that's what makes it fun.
For more Tapping In with local bartenders, get to know Patrick Connolly of The Independent, Giday and Nebiat of Waziema, Michael Wieck of Bar 821, Caleb McGehee of Nopa, Chris Libby of Madrone, Jared Schmidt of Absinthe, Racquel of The Page, Remy Nelson of Mojo, Andy Mott of Royal Exchange, Martin Kraenkel of Molotov's, Brendan Heath of Whiskey Thieves, Pete Spanier of Hemlock Tavern, Meaghan Johnson of Fly Bar, Tim Gapchenko of Cafe Terminus, Johnny Davis of Emperor Norton's Boozeland, Kundan Baidwan of Zam Zam, John Pringle of Doc Rickett's, Harmony Fraga of The Social Study, Chris O'Brien of Outerlands, Daniel Kutch of Maven, Ben Mansell of 540 Club, Arnold Prien of Final Final, and Sean O'Donovan of Nickie's Bar.
