WILMINGTON — A new bar located in the Cargo District East will open Friday after undergoing three months of renovations.
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The Rift, located at 2144 Wrightsville Ave., was opened by Justin and Bekah Smith, woodwork artist Corey James Kovach, as well as Britt West, and Sam and Katie Lewis and Aaron Belcher. The Smiths are partners in Anne Bonny’s and Prost as well and decided to team up with people who have helped with design when opening other businesses and even worked with at Husk and YoSake before the Smiths sold it last year.
Tagged as “a break from the ordinary,” The Rift was designed to highlight portals — places of escape and when people think they’re entering one dimension, they’re actually going elsewhere. Upon entering the bar, it appears guests have arrived in a kitchen dining area, but when opening the refrigerator door or pushing through a mirror, a bar and baryard is on the other side.
In essence, The Rift is functional but also fun and experiential. Funky elements speckle the space, packed with art — such as automated works channeling through Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” into Andrew Wyeth’s “Christina’s World” — varied colored lights, handmade octagons on the ceiling, with plants hanging from them designed by Dagmar Cooley Landscapes, or Slinky spirals drooping in other places.
A pool table welcomes players, flanked by lounge-y couches and chairs — one in front of a fake fire place that roars with mounted taxidermy above, another with a cassette-tape-engineereid coffee table just beckoning for board games like Sorry and Scrabble to be played.
Four bathrooms have various themes, some with flashing lights and panels daring users to “push my buttons,” others with neon signs illuminating “Down the Rabbit Hole.”
The pink backlit bar scales up the wall and onto the ceiling, bottle and tchotchkes suspended above the bartenders’ heads. During Wednesday’s family and friends opening, they hustled to give a first taste of The Rift’s craft cocktail menu, showcasing drink names representative of Wilmington area neighborhoods — the Country Club (reposado, orange liquor, pineapple, club soda), Brookdale (Woodford, Shanky’s Whip, Aperol, orange bitters) and Chestnut Heights (Makers Mark, mint, lemon juice, simple syrup and soda water).
“We hope to become a mainstay and a place for people who live nearby,” Smith said, who also resides near Forest Hills (also a drink on the menu: tangueray, Campari and sweet Vermouth). “We need a good bar in this area.”
Not only is The Rift a bar, but in three months, a pizzeria will be added to the back where a garage currently acts as storage. The permitting process is just beginning and Smith said The Rift Bar Yard and Pizzeria will serve slices, personal pies and larger sizes, plus a few salads and appetizers.
“Whatever can be cooked in a pizza oven,” he said, noting it will be simple and streamlined. Whether the pizza will be New York, Chicago, Detroit or all of the above has yet to be determined.
The pizzeria will face the bar yard — 11,000 square feet of outdoor space accessible through garage doors. It features varied pockets of seating, from picnic tables to cozier lounging with outdoor screens to catch games. One corner features modern rockers and benches, as bar stools align the fenced-in perimeter, and picnic tables and retro metal chair rockers are spaced throughout.
But the centerpiece outdoors is the 40-foot-by-20-foot stage. It has putting greens on it for people to play when not in use, in addition to bean bag chairs and LED light-up saucer seating.
Pillars flanked on either side of the stage are ready to host a pull-down screen for movie nights and the first bands will be playing on Saturday for The Rift’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration. Ethan Hanson, Dram Jam Band, Christian Brinkley and Regulation Larry will be featured, with music starting at 1 p.m. Food trucks will also be on site.
The stage is also big enough to eventually host outdoor theater productions, though Smith is unsure when that may be: “We are still working that out.”
More events will be coming to the bar yard as well, including arts markets; guests can keep up to date here.
Below are more photos for a first look:
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