Wooden Nickel: The Best New Neighborhood Bar in The Mission

This is what a bar looks like.

Last Friday Wooden Nickel quietly opened its doors to an already devoted clientele. How is this possible considering there were no announcements that the bar was opening? Because the three women behind it, Nancy Chung, Shannon Lynn and Cassy Fritzen, have a combined 41 years bartending in the Mission. From Zeitgeist to The Homestead, to Southern Pacific Brewing, the ladies of Wooden Nickel have earned their bones at nearly every imaginable kind of bar in the neighborhood.

I want my own stained glass thingy!

I went by last night to check out the space. I live nearby so I was excited to have another great bar to go to near my apartment. Wooden Nickel occupies the space previously inhabited by Truck. As Nancy worked there for a year before Truck closed she was able hop on the opportunity, get Shannon and Cassy involved, and finally get a bar of their own. The Mission is glad she did.

The view from the front door

While it seems that every new bar in San Francisco is fancier than the previous one, Wooden Nickel completely bucks that trend. It says “fuck pretension, let’s drink”.  Decorated with old beer signs, pinball machine displays, and a couple cat and dog drawings, the bar makes you feel like you’ve been there before, even when it’s your first time. Going down the checklist of what makes a great neighborhood bar, Wooden Nickel also has a pool table and an actual jukebox that plays CDs. Internet jukeboxes were created by the devil.

To top it all off the food is being done by the excellent Fogcutter team who ran Dear Mom’s kitchen for a number of years and got voted best caterer in SF by San Francisco Magazine.

The opening menu

So I guess my question is, are you as excited about this as I am?

Wooden Nickel
1900 Folsom St. @ 15th St.
[The Mission]