Sunny, Laid-Back Vibes Have Landed in Lower Nob Hill From a Team of Prolific Restaurateurs

A light-filled bar with a bit of Oaxacan flavor has opened in Lower Nob Hill. Called Peacekeeper, it’s an effort from the team behind Polk Street cocktail bar Harper & Rye.

Harper & Rye owners Nate Valentine (Tipsy Pig, Mamacita) and Jamal Blake-Williams and business partner Rob Kashian had their sights (and a lease) set on 925 Bush Street three years ago. Formerly the home of Irish bar Bacchus Kirk, the team had the space, but no concept. The idea for Peacekeeper came, as many ideas do, while drinking at a bar in Oaxaca.

Britt Hull of Tide Design Co. (also behind August Hall, the Snug, and others) brought light into the dark room with a retractable glass skylight that opens when the weather is nice (and Karl the fog stays away).

Along with contractors Diego Brothers, Hull added a cozy fireplace to the room, plus a large number of plants to line the walls, bar shelves, and any open surface. “We just have to figure out how to water them all now,” laughs Valentine.

Drinkers can grab a wooden stool at the bar or one of the padded benches; or they can stake a claim at the pool table in the back.

Despite the bar’s origin story, the cocktails do not focus solely on agave spirits, with drinks featuring gin, vodka, bourbon, and more, in addition to tequila and mezcal.

Blake-Williams created the list of cocktails, all of which are named loosely for friends and family. The goddaughter (a nod to Valentine and Blake-Williams’s newly minted statuses as godfathers), combines tequila, a berry shrub, citrus, and egg white.

As far as snacks go, there’s one option: chips and habanero salsa from Lomalita — a local hot sauce company. That’s fine with Valentine though, whose one-year-old music venue and restaurant, August Hall, is just blocks away.

“It’s a nod to our version of a neighborhood San Francisco bar, with a hint towards the agave spirits,” says Valentine.

Peacekeeper is now open Monday through Friday from 3 p.m.- 2 a.m., and Saturday from 12 p.m - 2 a.m.