![\"Encore:](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Count-Basie-Orchestra_Web.jpg\" "\\"Count")
<\/a>Back in the \u201980s and \u201990s, I went to probably more than my fair share of concerts. In 1984 at Loverboy and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts in Dayton, Ohio, my teen friends and I were subject to sweltering heat and pressing crowds due to \u201cfestival seating\u201d inside Hara Arena (even though the Who concert tragedy had happened just a few years earlier down the road in Cincinnati, the lesson clearly hadn\u2019t been learned). In 1990 I was at a rainy Elton John show in Indianapolis that resulted in mudslides and bedlam. More recently in May 2008, I missed half of Elvis Costello\u2019s set waiting in disorganized traffic outside Cricket Amphitheatre in South Bay.<\/p>\nMy concert history hasn\u2019t been all bad, but as I\u2019ve gotten older I\u2019ve found myself buying fewer tickets. The fun just isn\u2019t worth the hassle, my 40-plus-year-old sensibility has been telling me.<\/p>\n
And then I visited Anthology in Little Italy.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople come here because they want a different experience,\u201d said Michael Miller, Anthology\u2019s director of operations. \u201cWe want them to say, \u2018Wow, this doesn\u2019t feel like San Diego, it feels like we\u2019ve been transformed.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019m no pushover\u2014like most journalists, my pen leans toward pessimism rather than cheerleading\u2014but Miller got his \u201cwow\u201d out of my companion and me during a recent visit to Anthology. From entry to exit, we agreed the atmosphere was relaxing and refined without being stuffy. I found myself picturing Sinatra and his cronies in one of the white leather booths, clinking cocktails and twirling cigarettes.<\/p>\n
That image is no coincidence. Founded three years ago by local real estate magnet Howard Berkson and his wife, Marsha, Anthology is equal parts concert hall and fine-dining restaurant. Howard Berkson devised the combination, Miller said, as he remembered the clubs and music from his native Chicago. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe really are a traditional supper club,\u201d Miller said about the 300-seat facility. \u201cWhen they first came around, supper clubs were a live music\/fine dining venue. Unfortunately the economy eventually made it so you could either go to a restaurant or to a live music venue, but not both.\u201d<\/p>\n
While \u201csupper club\u201d might conjure sleepy jazz acts and sub-par food, Anthology possesses neither. Miller said about half the acts \u2013 Anthology is typically booked three to five nights per week \u2013 are jazz with the rest falling into a range of categories from pop to Latin to R&B. A recent week\u2019s lineup included Tomasz Stanko Quintet (jazz), Muldoon (British singer\/songwriter), Colin Hay (formerly of Men at Work) and Brandon Saller (heavy metal\/acoustic). <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you just trust us and come in, you\u2019re going to have a good time because all the artists we bring in are world class,\u201d Miller said. \u201cThe goal of this place is that the artists, guests and sound or music all share the same respect. Musicians aren\u2019t really treated with respect at some of the venues they\u2019re forced to play in with a shallow hall and sound that\u2019s not great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similarly, those seeking to enjoy a concert have also been disregarded, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople come here because they don\u2019t want to sit on plastic folding chairs, sit on someone\u2019s lawn or sit in a casino. They want to feel the connection between them and their favorite artist,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Making that link isn\u2019t difficult at Anthology. The first floor includes dining tables and booths plus a bar with seating behind it. A mezzanine level \u2013 the club\u2019s premier seating \u2013 offers several crescent-shaped booths. Up on the top floor, concertgoers can choose from seats along a rail that include tables for dining or pub tables and booths with a limited view. But other than those limited view areas, the venue\u2019s clever design allows for rather remarkable acoustics and sight.<\/p>\n
During my visit I enjoyed a first-floor dining table just feet from the stage. Although the band was playing at full volume, I could still talk to the server without screaming, and the elevated stage provided a good sightline even as servers milled around the room. The cream leather booths and chairs were comfortable, and the service was top-notch, even after the concert started. (See at right for more about the food.)<\/p>\n
\u201cNatalie Cole was here and played a few feet away from the audience and then went to the Hollywood Bowl the next night and was 100 yards away from the nearest person,\u201d Miller said. \u201cAs she said, there\u2019s no lying to your audience if they\u2019re four feet away. You have to bring the whole show all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
He acknowledged, however, that the various pricing plans and seating areas can be confusing to first-timers.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to choreograph your experience,\u201d he said. \u201cWe offer our Tuesday fresh vibe with a $5 cover so people can get familiar with the venue and see how they want to use us. We let our guests choose how they want to do that and what price they want to pay. If this is [an artist] you\u2019re passionate about, invest in a table. If it\u2019s someone you\u2019re not familiar with, buy something more value-oriented.\u201d<\/p>\n
General admission tickets, which are deeply discounted and do not include the $15 food and beverage minimum as other tickets do, don\u2019t offer a guaranteed stage view. For those without a view, several monitors provide a glimpse of what\u2019s going on below. Also on the third level: a large outdoor balcony with comfy lounge furniture and bay views, available to all ticket-holders. Although each show is different, pricing can range from $7 per person for general admission to more than $40 per person for a mezzanine booth.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeneral admission can become standing but we want to avoid that,\u201d Assistant General Manager Rick Kulander said. \u201cThis is a sit-down kind of place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seating is first-come, first-serve, and booths require a four-person minimum. During my visit, people seemed to trickle in beginning at 5:30 p.m. but by the show\u2019s start at 7:30 p.m. most had ordered food and\/or drinks. Still, servers didn\u2019t disappear and water refills were plentiful\u2014even some stand-alone restaurants don\u2019t achieve that.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur biggest challenge is executing that on a daily basis,\u201d Kulander said. \u201cThere are not too many places where you can have really good food and service and then watch a band play instead of just having background music.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the stage is empty Anthology offers other ways to please the senses. A compelling sculpture with John Lennon\u2019s \u201cImagine\u201d lyrics occupies a first-floor wall while paintings of jazz artists grace larger spaces, all complemented by low lighting and a doorway curtain that keeps outdoor light at bay and adds to the interior\u2019s mystique. A chandelier composed of metallic strings of beads and cylinder lights plus a two-story glass wall housing wine bottles dominates the main bar. Hard cement floors work to casualize the cream and chrome theme. It all comes together to offer the kind of elegance that can absorb people in jeans or those out for a more dressy evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is so beautiful,\u201d said Lisa Jenson, a first-timer who said she had driven down from Escondido just to see that night\u2019s act, The Church. \u201cI can listen to music I loved in college and drink my martini \u2013 it just feels so good here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her partner, Eugene Wilkie, put it another way: \u201cLet the \u2018kids\u2019 have the slam dance; we\u2019ll take this.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s what stuck with me about Anthology. As someone who has shied away from the concert experience, I was frankly enchanted with the idea that I could go to a concert sans traffic, parking issues, restroom lines and screaming idiots. Even though the performers were not on my personal top 10, the passionate rapport the true fans had with the band due to the venue\u2019s intimacy was engaging. <\/p>\n
When the band went on break, ads for upcoming events at Anthology flashed on the screens. I noticed a singer I admire is coming to Anthology in May\u2014so my friend and I began plotting whom we could invite to join us and where we should sit. That reaction is just what Michael Miller and his staff hope to produce.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they\u2019re leaving [Anthology] with a calendar looking at the next time they get to come back, that would be the coolest thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve already ordered tickets for another show so I guess that means I\u2019m still cool\u2014even if I do refuse to fight traffic or sit in a plastic chair to see a concert.<\/p>\n
Menu makes its own music The choices felt more luxury resort than nightclub nosh. And that makes sense: Bauer\u2019s cooking pedigree includes numerous stops in the Four Seasons hotel chain plus a stint at a five-star Vegas property.<\/p>\n \u201cEric\u2019s at the Little Italy farmers market every Saturday. He likes keeping everything right from the market,\u201d Michael Miller said.<\/p>\n The result is a seasonal list that could serve light eaters \u2014a \u201cto be shared\u201d section of the menu offers snacks such as Medjool dates ($7), tuna crudo tacos ($11) and veal sweetbreads ($10)\u2014or compel a multicourse extravaganza. <\/p>\n I started with the soup of the day ($9), which was a white bean puree topped with a surprising bit of chopped apple. The sign of a good chef is a good soup, and this one fit the bill. It was served hot, which is a feat in itself for cream soup, and wasn\u2019t overly salty, a typical mistake for amateur soup makers. My friend\u2019s salad with the Crows Pass arugula and burrata cheese ($12) included market strawberries and a golden balsamic vinegar that offered the same savory\/sweet contrast I enjoyed in my soup. Delicious warm bread and butter sprinkled with artisan salt were served alongside our starters.<\/p>\n Entr\u00e9es touch on every protein and more, from steak frites to prawns to vegetarian options such as squash linguini. I chose the New Zealand Bluenose Sea Bass ($26), served with fennel, chickpeas and house-dried tomatoes in a bouillabaisse, and my companion had the chicken roulade ($26) with asparagus and roasted potatoes. While we agreed that our side dishes and the overall presentation were terrific, the fish was slightly overcooked. But judging from the precision on the soup and salad, I\u2019m guessing that was an isolated glitch.<\/p>\n Dessert is another way to \u201ceat\u201d Anthology\u2019s $15 minimum. The vanilla bean and pistachio souffl\u00e9 ($13) was enough for two but I\u2019m still kicking myself for not ordering the trio of profiteroles ($8), one of my favorite desserts. I also liked the idea of \u201ccoffee and cookies,\u201d a smaller sweet treat at just $6.<\/p>\n Even if you don\u2019t eat, there are plenty of tempting liquids. Specialty cocktails ($11 each) are led by the Robinson\u2019s Affair, a twist on a Cosmo but with the addition of honey. The full-bar menu focuses on distinctive bourbons, scotches, ports and cognacs.<\/p>\n I was pleased to see most of the wines by the glass\u2014a full wine list is available\u2014were intriguing boutique labels, such as Hoopla chardonnay ($11) and Malm Cellars syrah ($12). Beers were a bit of a disappointment when 11 choices yielded only two locals\u2014a Karl Strauss and a Lost Abbey. Since San Diego is a hotbed for craft beer, that selection seemed to be an oversight in an otherwise thoughtful array of alcoholic beverages. <\/p>\n Eating and drinking at Anthology are not inexpensive, but the quality fits the price.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Christy Scannell SDUN Editor Back in the \u201980s and \u201990s, I went to probably more than my fair share of concerts. In 1984 at Loverboy and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts in Dayton, Ohio, my teen friends and I were subject to sweltering heat and pressing crowds due to \u201cfestival seating\u201d inside Hara Arena […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1287,"featured_media":243355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Encore: Anthology\u2019s collection of concerts and cuisine is just the ticket","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1287"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nI knew Anthology didn\u2019t serve popcorn and hot dogs, but I\u2019ll admit I was expecting something along the lines of wood-fired pizza and shrimp cocktail for dinner. So imagine my surprise when I opened Chef Eric Bauer\u2019s menu to find locally sourced foodie options such as a salad with Crows Pass Farms arugula and house-pickled red onion and a roulade of Shelton Farms chicken with morels and Meyer lemon sauce. <\/p>\n