Last week I threw a few things up here a/b the Tenderloin and this week posting about Hayes Valley. Other areas to come soon, but wanted to throw out some lounges.
It's fun to go down the street to the local pub. Or to just enjoy a quick bite somewhere. But, sometimes you want more. Maybe you just scored a bonus at work. Maybe you've got a hot date. Whatever it is, you're looking for something a little bit more upscale.
So here's some lounges or chill bars to check out:
bourbon & branch - tenderloin - yeah, sugardoll, speakeasies are back
wish - soma - chilled vibe pre-club - see review next week
redwood room - union square - in the clift (bring the tourists visiting you)
anu - downtown - on 6th near Market...go after a show at the Warfield
15 romolo - north beach - hidden away, completely different than other spots in NB
tony nik's - north beach - small, intimate, and it's mao's favorite bar
and my favorite wine bars:
hotel biron - hayes valley - full review this friday
the hidden vine - tenderloin - like drinking wine in someone's living room
perhaps you crave some food with your loungey drinks:
foreign cinema - mission - laszlo for drinks and decent food, i like the courtyard especially
bambuddha lounge - tenderloin - in the phoenix (sundays pool party)
bacar - soma - go for the pork chop and a flight of pinot noir - see review next week
frisson - jackson square - great food and inventive cocktails
xyz - soma - after the sfmoma come here for a drink, and ponder the meaning of the eggs
the big four - nob hill - classic old bar (check out the men's room map of chinatown)
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Friday, October 27, 2006
Bourbon & Branch
After you pick your way through an extremely sketchy part of the Tenderloin, you arrive in front of a fairly nondescript door, ring the doorbell and are buzzed in. You may have to wait a few minutes, like we did but then again we arrived 10 minutes early. (You have to make reservations, which makes sense as it's a small place and they want everyone to be able to sit down).
While waiting, we took it all in. Red velvet walls, with a brick wall behind the classic bar. From the ceiling, a hand-blown-glass chandelier hangs. Alongside one wall are a set of dark booths big enough for 2 or 3 people. Candles flicker everywhere. Old jazz tunes. It's well designed and decorated, plus warm, cozy, inviting.
We were taken to our booth, handed the bar menu. The menu is very well-thought out and it clearly shows that these people really care about their drinks. All the juice they use is freshly squeezed. There are ingredients and liquers they use I've never heard before. The choices for gin and bourbon are phenomenal. Tequila and rum are also well-represented but the vodka list is very tiny. They have a smattering of beers (mainly Belgian) and wines.
Given the above, we stuck mainly with gin and bourbon drinks. In reverse order of our favorites.
Old Cuban - not much more than a mojito really
Gin-Ger Spritz - refreshing, bit too much ginger
The Something with an L (ok, it was getting late and this was my last drink)
Elderflower gin drink - refreshing
Elderflower champagne cocktail - champagne kicked up a notch
but the hands-down best-tasting drink of the night - the Cucumber Gimlet.
The crowd has not really formed yet, in my opinion. Most people were there to try it out for the first time. Seemed mainly in their 30's.
So, just keep in mind that Bourbon & Branch is a bar. It's not a lounge, not a club, not a restaurant that also serves drinks. A bar. If you're looking for a wild, crazy time this is not the place. If you're looking for a classic bar that knows how to make drinks, then definitely go.
While waiting, we took it all in. Red velvet walls, with a brick wall behind the classic bar. From the ceiling, a hand-blown-glass chandelier hangs. Alongside one wall are a set of dark booths big enough for 2 or 3 people. Candles flicker everywhere. Old jazz tunes. It's well designed and decorated, plus warm, cozy, inviting.
We were taken to our booth, handed the bar menu. The menu is very well-thought out and it clearly shows that these people really care about their drinks. All the juice they use is freshly squeezed. There are ingredients and liquers they use I've never heard before. The choices for gin and bourbon are phenomenal. Tequila and rum are also well-represented but the vodka list is very tiny. They have a smattering of beers (mainly Belgian) and wines.
Given the above, we stuck mainly with gin and bourbon drinks. In reverse order of our favorites.
Old Cuban - not much more than a mojito really
Gin-Ger Spritz - refreshing, bit too much ginger
The Something with an L (ok, it was getting late and this was my last drink)
Elderflower gin drink - refreshing
Elderflower champagne cocktail - champagne kicked up a notch
but the hands-down best-tasting drink of the night - the Cucumber Gimlet.
The crowd has not really formed yet, in my opinion. Most people were there to try it out for the first time. Seemed mainly in their 30's.
So, just keep in mind that Bourbon & Branch is a bar. It's not a lounge, not a club, not a restaurant that also serves drinks. A bar. If you're looking for a wild, crazy time this is not the place. If you're looking for a classic bar that knows how to make drinks, then definitely go.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Indonesian food on Post
Born in Holland, you grow up on Indonesian rijsttafel ("rice table") a big meal that has about 20 dishes arrayed around the table - everything from satay to atjar to beans with peanut sauce to nasi goreng to krupuk, and countless other dishes. There's definitely a Dutch twist to this Indonesian food - the spices are not as hot and the food leans more towards sweet than keeping the sourt/salty/sweet/spicy in balance.
It wasn't until I had a chance to travel around Indonesia that I found out how varied Indonesian food is. Sampling dishes in Yogyakarta, Solo, Bali, and Jakarta, you really get a sense of the flavors and ingredients that make up the different types of food.
In San Francisco, there are not a lot of Indonesian restaurants. However, there's a few in the Tenderloin and one in the Inner Richmond. Two are located nearly next door to each other on Post Street (near Jones).
Borobudur is at 700 Post Street and is named after the Buddhist temple near Yogyakarta. See my earlier post from a few years ago about traveling around Java to find out more about this temple. You'll find all your favorites here and some interesting dishes you might not have seen before.
Indonesian food is all about sharing. So first have some krupuk (fried prawn chips) and lumpia (Indonesia's version of an egg roll). You could then take your pick of satays - chicken, pork, or beef. Most of these are served with ketjap (a thicker, sweeter soy sauce) and the ubiquitous peanut sauce. Add the otak-otak (fried fish cake). As you move towards the bigger dishes, note that the beef rendang is done really well here. You can also try some of their chicken (ayam) dishes. For your noodles or rice, look for the mie (noodles) or nasi (rice) sections. I particularly like nasi goreng (fried rice). Make sure to ask for some serundeng (a peanut-coconut mix) and sambal ulek (really spicy chili sauce) to add to your dishes.
Most of all, be willing to experiment!
It wasn't until I had a chance to travel around Indonesia that I found out how varied Indonesian food is. Sampling dishes in Yogyakarta, Solo, Bali, and Jakarta, you really get a sense of the flavors and ingredients that make up the different types of food.
In San Francisco, there are not a lot of Indonesian restaurants. However, there's a few in the Tenderloin and one in the Inner Richmond. Two are located nearly next door to each other on Post Street (near Jones).
Borobudur is at 700 Post Street and is named after the Buddhist temple near Yogyakarta. See my earlier post from a few years ago about traveling around Java to find out more about this temple. You'll find all your favorites here and some interesting dishes you might not have seen before.
Indonesian food is all about sharing. So first have some krupuk (fried prawn chips) and lumpia (Indonesia's version of an egg roll). You could then take your pick of satays - chicken, pork, or beef. Most of these are served with ketjap (a thicker, sweeter soy sauce) and the ubiquitous peanut sauce. Add the otak-otak (fried fish cake). As you move towards the bigger dishes, note that the beef rendang is done really well here. You can also try some of their chicken (ayam) dishes. For your noodles or rice, look for the mie (noodles) or nasi (rice) sections. I particularly like nasi goreng (fried rice). Make sure to ask for some serundeng (a peanut-coconut mix) and sambal ulek (really spicy chili sauce) to add to your dishes.
Most of all, be willing to experiment!
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Saigon Sandwich versus Baguette Express
With this post, I'm going to try and set up what will be this blog's pattern: pick some neighborhood in San Francisco and then give you reviews of a lunch spot (Wednesday), dinner (Thursday), and drinks (Friday). I'll work in posts about other activities as well throughout the week.
This week, everyone's favorite crackhead hangout: the Tenderloin.
Besides the Tenderloin's varied places to get a great dinner (and score some heroin!), the Tenderloin has two Vietnamese sandwich places. I prefer one over the other. They are both located on Larkin near Eddy, about a block apart. Saigon Sandwich is at 560 Larkin while Baguette Express is at 668 Larkin.
So, what the hell's a Vietnamese sandwich? It combines a buttery French baguette with meat (usually barbecued), cilantro, pickled carrots, some spicy peppers, and sometimes mayonaisse. In other words, it combines the best of France with the SouthEast Asian melding of flavors: sweet, sour, salty, and spicy.
Baguette Express is clean, tidy and they have a machine that they can run some sugarcane through to get you your fix of sugarcane juice (haven't had it? then you haven't yet backpacked around South East Asia - you get addicted to this stuff there). It's slightly bigger than Saigon Sandwich and you can even sit down at a table or two. Saigon Sandwich is a small, cluttered little shop that has a lot more Vietnamese snacks to sell than Baguette Express. Both run around $2.50 per sandwich so it's probably the best deal in the entire city.
Baguette Express's bread has that difficult-to-get balance of crunchy-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside, while Saigon's is not as crunchy but still soft. The choice of meats are broader at Baguette Express and that's where Saigon Sandwich to me really shines. The meats there are just better - I think because they focus on fewer than Baguette Express. I compared a barbeque pork sandwich and a barbeque chicken sandwich from both places. I also felt that Saigon's balance of the sweet/spicy barbecue sauce, sweet/sour pickled carrots, spiciness of its peppers, cilantro, and mayo really balance well, while with Baguette Express the flavors were not as powerful.
For some reason, I've made it a ritual to head over in between the 2 NFL games on Sunday afternoon with a few bucks and pick up one of these sandwiches for the second game. Hope to see you in line around 1:30 next Sunday!
This week, everyone's favorite crackhead hangout: the Tenderloin.
Besides the Tenderloin's varied places to get a great dinner (and score some heroin!), the Tenderloin has two Vietnamese sandwich places. I prefer one over the other. They are both located on Larkin near Eddy, about a block apart. Saigon Sandwich is at 560 Larkin while Baguette Express is at 668 Larkin.
So, what the hell's a Vietnamese sandwich? It combines a buttery French baguette with meat (usually barbecued), cilantro, pickled carrots, some spicy peppers, and sometimes mayonaisse. In other words, it combines the best of France with the SouthEast Asian melding of flavors: sweet, sour, salty, and spicy.
Baguette Express is clean, tidy and they have a machine that they can run some sugarcane through to get you your fix of sugarcane juice (haven't had it? then you haven't yet backpacked around South East Asia - you get addicted to this stuff there). It's slightly bigger than Saigon Sandwich and you can even sit down at a table or two. Saigon Sandwich is a small, cluttered little shop that has a lot more Vietnamese snacks to sell than Baguette Express. Both run around $2.50 per sandwich so it's probably the best deal in the entire city.
Baguette Express's bread has that difficult-to-get balance of crunchy-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside, while Saigon's is not as crunchy but still soft. The choice of meats are broader at Baguette Express and that's where Saigon Sandwich to me really shines. The meats there are just better - I think because they focus on fewer than Baguette Express. I compared a barbeque pork sandwich and a barbeque chicken sandwich from both places. I also felt that Saigon's balance of the sweet/spicy barbecue sauce, sweet/sour pickled carrots, spiciness of its peppers, cilantro, and mayo really balance well, while with Baguette Express the flavors were not as powerful.
For some reason, I've made it a ritual to head over in between the 2 NFL games on Sunday afternoon with a few bucks and pick up one of these sandwiches for the second game. Hope to see you in line around 1:30 next Sunday!
Monday, October 23, 2006
The IPR: The Relaunch
I've been getting a lot of requests to launch a blog to detail my observations and notes of what to do (eat, drink, go out, culture, travel).
This blog will be mainly focused on San Francisco and the Bay Area, but will venture out of this area as well.
Look for new information soon about the TENDERLOIN:
-LUNCH - which Vietnamese sandwich place on Larkin is the best?
-DINNER - where can you get your fix of gado gado?
-DRINKS - which hidden bar do you have to check out?
Other areas of town will be profiled in the coming weeks.
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