It was another humid, sweltering year at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans, the world’s biggest cocktail event, drawing thousands of global attendees for a relentless week of tastings, seminars and parties in the great queen of the South. Any reason to be in Nola is a good one and with the city overrun with some of the… Read more →
16th Street between Valencia and Guerrero is packed with good food and longtime dive bars. As classic cocktail dens and mixology menus are the norm rather than the exception in this town, it’s easy to forget that some of our great ‘tenders continue to serve the quality drinks we crave without fuss. On this stretch of 16th, there’s two in… Read more →
Off Menu Joys: New Cocktail Bars Don’t Need Menus When first visiting LA’s Library Bar at the beginning of 2011 (where I’ve returned a few times now), I wished for a closet-sized, farmers market bar such as that with no menu and ultra-talented bartenders. There’s the grandaddy of the speakeasy resurgence, New York’s Milk & Honey, which has been doing… Read more →
Seasoned doesn’t mean old. In fact, what impresses about these five is that their knowledge consistently marries youthful love for their subject and customers. Whether in years of bartending or expertise in classic cocktails and customer service, these five have long encapsulated what made San Francisco a leader in the Cocktail Renaissance of the past decade plus, not a recent… Read more →
From Berkeley to Sausalito, new restaurants to old, here are a handful of drinks to put on your warm weather, spring radar – and accompanying bites to go with. COMAL, Berkeley (2020 Shattuck Ave., between Addison & University, Berkeley, 510-926-6300) Downtown Berkeley (as opposed to the rest of Berkeley) has never overwhelmed on excellent dining options, much as I’ve combed… Read more →
I’m constantly asked what my favorite restaurant is. It’s an impossible question. Inquire about my favorite taqueria, German, tea house, French bistro, and I’m ready to talk. There’s a favorite for every style and mood in a metropolitan, dense city such as ours. My current home is on the cusp of Haight-Ashbury and Cole Valley, which, like every neighborhood in… Read more →
Spring imparts new life and lush green after Winter rains. It also ushers in a glut of Spring cocktail menus emphasizing the best produce of the season and new trends. Bottled Cocktail Line-up Bottled cocktails are sprouting up everywhere, including just-opened (on April 12), 1950’s era speakeasy, Local Edition, from the Bourbon & Branch crew. There is no carbonation here,… Read more →
LOCAL EDITION, Downtown (691 Market St. at 3rd, 415-795-1375) Bourbon & Branch, Wilson & Wilson, Rickhouse… I’ve frequented (and written about) each since they opened. Though some tire of the speakeasy concept, Bourbon & Branch led that trend, remaining one of the more transporting places to drink anywhere. I value Future Bars (Destination Bars) emphasis on setting and will always… Read more →
HEAVEN’S DOG, 1148 Mission Street (between 7th & 8th Streets), 415-863-6008 Heaven’s Dog has been a haven for superb cocktails since it opened, with excellent bartenders like Erik Ellestad (Savoy Stomp) and pre-Prohibition era cocktails ($10 each) from Charles H. Baker’s The Gentleman’s Companion (aka Jigger, Beaker & Glass). The bar still serves Baker classics, and with new bar manager… Read more →
MAVEN, Lower Fillmore (598 Haight St. at Steiner, 415-829-7982) Enter through a corner door to a restaurant lined with high communal tables, upstairs seating area, and a redwood bar backed by a stone wall overflowing with plant life. Formerly RNM, Maven is a sleek, new cocktail haven in Lower Haight. I knew the cocktails would be good, but I was pleasantly… Read more →