Welcome to your neighborhood bar

Nearly five years after opening the Vinyl Room nightclub, two friends from college are embarking on their next business venture together in Burlingame after converting the old banquet hall at Yayas on California Drive into a new bar called the Barrel House.

Although the bar doesn’t officially have its grand opening until Saturday, it has already seen a steady stream of patrons from the after-work crowd fill the space tucked between the Steelhead Brewery and Straits Restaurant and right across the street from the Burlingame Caltrain station.

Jose Natividad and Juan Loredo’s Vinyl Room is a lounge and nightclub that enforces a strict dress code on weekends before its customers can come in and dance the night away.

The Barrel House, on the other hand, will be a "neighborhood bar,” Loredo said.

The Vinyl Room caters to the 20s to 30s crowd, Loredo said, while the Barrel House is expected to draw the 30s to 50s crowd.

"The bar scene for the 30 to 50 crowd is lacking in Burlingame,” Loredo said.

The two were considering opening their second bar in San Francisco before realizing Burlingame could indeed support a neighborhood bar.

To make the Barrel House unique, the two hired Geremia Design to create a bar like no other in the area. All the interior elements are custom designed, from the stools to a massive block of torched wood displayed on the wall. Thousands of pennies adorn the bar.

The bar has teamed with the Straits Restaurant next door to create an appetizer menu with beef and chicken satays, pork sliders, small pizzas and chicken lollipops.

What customers will probably come back for though will be the bar’s mix of classic cocktails and mixology and sprawling outdoor patio in the back where a second bar will be set up.

Its signature drinks for now are the cucumber gimlet, coconut mojito and house Manhattan, Loredo said.

The bar is also creating a barrel-aged sangria and Manhattan that will age for four to five weeks, Loredo said.

"We’re going to have about 12 specialty cocktails,” Loredo said.

Thursday, the two friends who met at San Jose State University were busy prepping for this Saturday’s grand opening. Although the bar is open now, the final details still need to be completed.

But they’ve been through it before. The two used to bar back together while in college before both becoming bartenders.

"If you are going to do something your whole life you should enjoy what you do,” Loredo said.

The Barrel House’s grand opening celebration is Saturday night and is located at 305 California Drive, Burlingame.

Bill Silverfarb can be reached by email: silverfarb@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.