Many a happy night was spent at Broken Record over a decade ago with my friends and family, playing pool, sipping a dram from their affordable whiskey list, and filling up on excellent bar food. After closing in September 2022, I couldn’t have predicted that friends Ethan Terry and Greg Quinn would end up taking over the space and opening The Halfway Club, their dream long in the making. Read more →
San Francisco has long been rife with world’s best cocktail bars: it was one of three cities, alongside New York and New Orleans, that introduced the world to cocktails in the 1800s, after all. Then SF and NYC led the cocktail renaissance of the past three decades.
Many of these bars also serve killer food. While bars like True Laurel and The Snug are shining examples of this combo, there’s a recent wave of new bars where food and drink shine together, but the vibe is fully bar versus restaurant. Three of the most interesting newcomers? Movida, Bar Gemini, and Stoa. Read more →
Restaurants/bars reviewed:
— Cozy Italian Comfort: Che Fico Alimentari
— Georgian Food Rarity: Georgian Cheese Boat, North Beach
— Fillmore Seafood House Gets a Remodel: Woodhouse Fish Co., Pacific Heights
— Tiny Thai Hit: Prik Hom, Laurel Heights
— SJ Cocktail Pioneer: Paper Plane, San Jose
Food Recommends:
— Jack and Remi Chef-Crafted Ice Cream
— Van Van Vietnamese Ingredients Read more →
Yokai is an ode to jazz with quality 1970s JBL Pro Series studio speakers and sound-proofing, making music the soul of the lofty space that was home to Salt House for years. The steel, brick and wood-lined bar and restaurant on Mission Street opened just last month, adding a feather in the caps of Marc Zimmerman, Ben Jorgensen and team behind Gozu, one of the great modern Japanese restaurants in the nation since 2019: Read more →
One of two of my city bar guides in Gin Magazine, Summer 2023 edition. My Bar Guide to 8 top bars in London now:
Bars featured: Soma Soho, Seed Library, Duke’s, The Mezcaleria at KOL, Rovi, Punch Room at the London Edition, 8 at the Londoner, Tayer + Elementary Read more →
These newcomers or new menus cover the gamut, from upscale Indian to casual Mexican food. Alongside this month’s full restaurant reviews, these seven are also worth visiting, with last month’s standouts here:
—Better-Than-Nola Muffalettas at Sandy’s, Haight-Ashbury
—Non-Alcoholic Pairing with Fine Dining Creativity: Sons & Daughters
—Fab Mexican Food & Cocktails with a View: Barrio
—1940’s Supperclub Live Jazz Dream: Dawn Club
—Unexpected Modern Indian Tasting Menu: Blue Mermaid Restaurant
—Low-Gluten Pizza Alternative from Rome: Pinsa Rossa
—Hearty Mexican Food 7 Days a Week: Tacos del Barrio Read more →
From one of the key cities that birthed cocktails to the world in the 1800s, San Francisco has no end of hundreds of stellar bars with stellar food. We welcome a new one from a beloved industry bartender and standout new menus at two bars we already love, all three with quality food, too. Read more →
From May 8–11, 2023, our own Kevin Diedrich, owner of PCH (Pacific Cocktail Haven) and Kona’s Street Market — named American Bartender of the Year and PCH the Best American Cocktail Bar at Tales of the Cocktail in 2020 — quietly and quickly launched the inaugural SF AAPI Cocktail Week, an event that will be bigger next year with more… Read more →
These new spots or new menus cover the gamut, from Filipino-Mexican to Peruvian. Alongside my full restaurant reviews this month, these eight (and a bonus 9th bar) are well worth visiting. Last month’s standouts are here (as always, I’ve personally vetted, visited or ordered from each place reviewed): Read more →
I won’t forget my first visit to Palette soon after opening in 2019 when chef Peter Hemsley grilled up rare, local coonstripe shrimp just caught that morning, buttery-fresh and revelatory; like eating our divine local spot prawns for the first time. Midwest-born Hemsley’s hand with seafood was evident from those early days. So maybe it’s little surprise that as Palette closed, Hemsley and team just opened Aphotic in the same space on March 21, 2023, as a sleek tribute to… you guessed it: seafood. Read more →