Here’s Your Ticket to the Most Exclusive Bar in San Diego

By Traci Sitz On Oct 29, 2021

[ad_1]

CH Projects has created a veritable food and drink complex on the corner of 8th and G in the East Village with the redesign of Neighborhood, the reopening of Noble Experiment, and the unveiling of Young Blood, the group’s new hidden whisper pub, which opened this week without a fixed cocktail menu.

Young Blood is entered through an artificial refrigerator door and is located directly behind a tiled anteroom. Young Blood is a warmly lit, rosy fantasy with high ceilings of about 30 velvet seats, each priced at $ 65 on an all-inclusive ticket. Young Blood’s nightly schedule includes a welcome glass of sparkling wine plus three cocktails over a one-hour and 30-minute session, but unlike other prix fixe bars, the menu here isn’t fixed at all; Supervised by a team of two bartenders, guests are guided through progressive courses according to their personal preferences. In addition to their prepaid courses, guests can also add bonus drinks, from some award-winning Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon to Vintage Amaro.

For a hospitality group that at times worked like their own or the Autobahn (see: the stubborn refusal to serve ketchup in the neighborhood), their team now seems ready to do whatever it takes to cater to each and every experience at Young Blood enter into. CH beverage director Anthony Schmidt tells Eater that Young Blood is opening their latest purchase for some of the bars the group may open at the Lafayette Hotel, with an adventurous style of beverage making that is more democratic than the discontinued menu model.

And while everything is pretty and pink, Young Blood wouldn’t be a CH Projects house without something provocative or disrespectful, from the shots of bad Yelp reviews played in the Craft & Commerce bathroom to the rude sayings that the toilet seats make at Born & Erziehed. It’s best to see it in person, but suffice it to say that the eye-catcher of this room is under your feet. Take a good look after you’ve had two drinks.

When it opened 10 years ago, Noble Experiment was at the forefront of the cocktail revival scene, thanks in no small part to Sam Ross, who hailed from New York City where he ran the bar at legendary Milk & Honey to train its dynamism Group of local bartenders many of whom have opened their own prestigious eateries. When Schmidt and CH co-founder Arsalun Tafazoli planned to open Young Blood in an adjoining room to Noble Experiment, they invited Ross to discuss the new project and bring the vaunted bar into the next decade.

The latest version is a little more laid-back, with lighter surfaces and space for larger groups, but the biggest change is that – just like Ross’ acclaimed NYC bar Attaboy – there’s no menu. Equipped with a mental drinks library, bartenders prepare cocktails according to the customer’s mood. And while there is still only seating available, some of the tables are now set aside for those waiting to dine in the neighborhood or for the Young Blood experience.

The group set up a kind of cocktail university where they can develop a new generation of bartenders whose staff learn the basics at Neighborhood before advancing to Noble and eventually graduating from Young Blood to major leagues. As a guest bartender trainer, Ross helps CH Projects focus back on the original bar side focus while teaching the basics of beverage making, sharing recipes for originals like penicillin and paper plane, and introducing new modern classics.

The hidden entrance to Young Bloog