Expect upscale vibe, craft drinks at new cocktail lounge opening in downtown Modesto
After a subdued last two years due to the pandemic, downtown Modesto’s bar and club scene is starting to rev back up.
That includes the upcoming opening of its latest addition, Spotlight Ultra Lounge on 10th Street. The newest venture from longtime Modesto club owner Rudy Baca and partners has renovated the former space of a short-lived pizzeria into a sleek, modern nightspot.
Baca has owned the downtown Modesto nightlife mainstay Palladium, which sits across the street from Spotlight, for more than 20 years. During that time he also has run various other now-closed spots in town from Club Suave to Modesto Sports Bar & Grill. Joining him in the new downtown business are partners Fernando Gomez and Reggie White.
Their newest spot stands out with its focus on craft cocktails and its intentionally upscale vibe, said head bartender and longtime Baca collaborator Noah Tamez. So you can expect bottle service and other luxuries at the new club, which has been completely renovated since its days as a pizza parlor and, before that, a Mexican restaurant.
“We wanted something high-end and different. We want you to walk into this space and think you’re in a metropolitan downtown,” he said.
The interior now has black and gold and blue accents, with pops of pink neon and different textures for dramatic effect. The space, which can fit about 75, has a mix of booths, couches and high-top tables, as well as bar seating.
In addition to regular well drinks and beer, the bar menu includes about a dozen specialty, from-scratch and/or old-school options. Many of the bar’s syrups are made in-house, and fresh fruit and other ingredients will be muddled to order.
So while you can still order a whiskey sour, the Spotlight version is made with egg whites and bitters instead of a premade mix. They also have margaritas, but with in-house made hibiscus syrup or watermelon. Their specialty cocktails will run $10 to $15.
After two years of staying closer to home, the ownership is betting on people wanting to treat themselves. Tamez said he thinks people are gravitating toward craft cocktails and more high-end offerings right now. Other local places like Lo-Fi, which debuted downtown in 2019, and Modesto’s newly opened Memo’s Cocina & Tequila Bar also offer scratch-made craft drinks.
Martha Jauregui, a consultant on the project, said Baca chose a higher-end bar for his next nightspot to add diversity to the area’s nightlife. Spotlight joins a small handful of bars and nightspots to open downtown since the pandemic, including Retro Bar in the former Blades & Bottles space, and the just-opened Casa Maestros Cocina & Tequila Bar down the street on 10th.
Jauregui said they hope the new places will help bring back downtown’s mid-2000s feel when the area was known for lively nightlife and bar hopping.
“We want to help bring that vibe back, where people can stay local, stay here and visit different kinds of bars and clubs in one place,” she said.
But Spotlight won’t just be a place for drinks. The restaurant has retained the large pizza oven from the building’s previous tenant, Stuart’s Pizza. They plan to serve whole pies and by the slice, as well as a variety of small plates and other deep-fried bar favorites.
To entertain you while you eat and drink, Spotlight will bring in guest DJs. Eventually they plan to add karaoke and other entertainment as well. They have a staff of about 10, including Tamez’s father, who is their head chef.
The lounge is almost ready to open, and could debut by next weekend if it passes its final inspections. Otherwise, expect it to launch before the end of the month. They will start with limited hours and days, staying open 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays before expanding to the rest of the week.
“During the pandemic a lot of people stopped coming downtown and don’t realize what’s here now. We just want people to have a great time,” Tamez said. “It’s a good time to come back downtown.”
For more information on Spotlight Ultra Lounge call 209-522-8899 or visit them at www.facebook.com/TheSpotlightLoungeModesto or www.instagram.com/spotlightmodesto.
This story was originally published March 14, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
