Two of San Diego's top bartenders have teamed up to take over StreetCar Merchants of Fried Chicken in San Diego's North Park for a new bar & restaurant concept dubbed Happy Medium.
Founded by Ron Suel and RaVae Smith, Streetcar Merchants Of Fried Chicken launched in North Park in 2014 and opened a La Jolla location in December 2016 that closed in less than a year. In early 2018, Suel and Smith launched Suckerfree Southern Plates & Bar in the Gaslamp Quarter, which has been "temporarily closed" since late summer 2022. The duo also took over a quaint space in the Lincoln Park area of San Diego and opened a fast-casual restaurant called Shotcaller Street Soul Food. The StreetCar crew also was in the process of leasing the long dormant downtown space last occupied by RA Sushi but eventually backed out of the deal due to the onset of the pandemic.
StreetCar Merchants Chicken Bar will shutter at an unknown future date and the North Park space will be taken over by longtime San Diego bar experts Christian Siglin and Eric Johnson for the opening of a new cocktail-driven bar & restaurant currently named Happy Medium. Siglin is considered one of the top bartenders in town, maybe in the country, and has experience working at many area bars, including La Jolla's Hyatt Regency, The Pearl Hotel, Noble Experiment, Craft & Commerce, Sycamore Den, Bankers Hill, Bracero Cocina de Raiz, and is a partner at Fernside in South Park. Eric Johnson is another master mixologist and has worked to develop cocktail programs at San Diego hotspots like Sycamore Den, The Smoking Gun, Juniper & Ivy, Home & Away, Waverly, and Camino Riviera.
Happy Medium is anticipated to open at some point in the first half of 2023 at 4002 30th Street in San Diego's North Park. For more information, follow Happy Medium on Instagram.
