Sneak Peek: Billy After Dark

The basement bar under Billy Sushi opens next weekend.

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After a (not) dry run this Saturday, the new cocktail bar underneath Billy Sushi will open officially next weekend. Billy After Dark (B.A.D) is indeed dark and cavey and cool and wholly different from the upstairs sushi restaurant. 

"If you think of Billy Sushi like the last great day of fall, this downstairs bar is like that first great day of spring," Billy told me while touring the space this weekend. "Upstairs you're happy and you settle in but downstairs you get excited for what's to come."

It's really not a speakeasy, but it kind of is. It will be open from Wed-Sun only from 5:59 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. because, Billy says, "Nothing good ever happens after midnight." The way in is through the upstairs restaurant, so you'll have to post up there to get access to the lower level. They're not sure yet exactly how this will roll, you might have to ask the bartender to let you in. 

Once you are given access to the stairwell, the neon guides the way. The space is small but manages to hold different nooks and seating areas all the same. When you first walk in, to your left you'll notice a lounge area that is comprised of one running banquette. While the sound system pumps out ‘90s hip hop, the seats in that banquette have been engineered to register every beat. Much like those theater seats that let you feel every movie explosion, these seats will buzz with every beat of Snoop Dogg. 

Moving into the main room, you'll see the building's old brick walls faced with artificial trees over tables and bench seating. Look up, does that twinkling ceiling remind you of your prom limo? It's made to reflect the starlight lighting scheme of a Rolls Royce Phantom. Watch for the shooting star. 

Heading to the bathroom will, of course, provide that Instagram moment. The bathrooms are genderless, and the mirrors are also video screens. For those who remember Billy's Sushi Fix days, the sumo wrestlers are back. 

You can't miss the bar, as it anchors the room. Behind it, a framed video screen dominates the wall and will rotate images depending on mood and season. This isn't a belly up to the bar situation, there's no rail. Instead, a seating island juts out from the center of the working bar where barman Stephen Larson is running the show.

"This is a bartender's bar, so we'll be making the drinks and working the room. It's going to be fun to be able to play creatively with many spirits and make new cocktails that push some boundaries," said Larson, who has been a solid staple of North Loop bartending, having left The Hewing to come lead the drinks program for B.A.D. 

And then there's the whisky wall. A locked and lighted cabinet displaying fine and rare bottles of Japanese whisky stretches the wall near the bar. There are some very hard to find labels in there, including a complete collection of the Ichiro's Malt line of Chichibu. Billy believes there are only three complete collections of this whisky in the world: one in Japan, one in New York, and one in this basement. 

The opening of Billy After Dark will happen in three phases. First they'll open for cocktails, next they'll add in dessert. Nothing from the menu upstairs will be available down here. But the third phase will include a separate room in the back which isn't quite finished. There, they will serve steak. Big bone-in chops that are meant for a table share. 

Billy After Dark has an obvious tilt toward hedonistic celebration, and they're not hiding it. Above all, they want to deliver something different, something fun to the city. Given that Billy himself has become a local icon in full Mongolian dress courtside at Timberwolves games, and that his restaurant seems to be the spot to stop for the visiting celebrity jet-set, from Ye to Bieber to Post Malone, you can bet this bar will be both busy and fun. But only until 11:59 p.m. Watch the socials for more info.