Spend an hour in the Funk Zone and you’re bound to hear a gaggle of tourists in festival wear wondering aloud how the neighborhood got its name. And you can’t blame them — while the current iteration of the Funk Zone is well stocked with twee tasting rooms, upscale boutiques, and Eater-endorsed restaurants, it seems to be suffering from a conspicuous deficiency of funk.
In such moments, you may wish to direct curious visitors to the less traveled northern end of Helena Avenue. There, just around the corner from a strip club and an adult bookstore, the Seven Bar and Kitchen is helping to maintain the last vestige of the area’s eponymous funk.
Set on a distinctively grimy and relatively underdeveloped block of the Funk Zone’s outer limits, Seven serves up stiff drinks, live music, good food, and great times to customers in the know. And this year, Seven celebrates its seventh anniversary. That’s no small feat in a town where the lifespan of such establishments is typically measured in months.
