Clock Bar, the hyped Michael Mina cocktail lounge opening July 15 in San Francisco, is becoming a lesson in OOPS I FORGOT ABOUT THE COCKTAILS.
Early on the project was announced- historic space, famous chef, tasty bar snacks, high-end drinks, yadda, yadda, yadda- and nobody listed as being in charge of the cocktail program.
Curious. The restaurant Gitane won’t be open for another two months and they’ve had a beverage manager and a cocktail consultant on retainer since the beginning of the year. But things were happening on the back end. Several people involved with the project were interviewed for a story in 944 magazine that just came out. The story is marvelous.
In order to create the drink menu, Mina brought in legendary Las Vegas cocktail specialist Noah Ellis to help with the launch…. As the group’s beverage director, Ellis promises to ensure quality by creating a menu that features fresh-squeezed juices, house-made tonic and seltzer bottled sodas to complement the high-end alcohol. Additionally each drink will contain jagged wedges of ice, hand-cut from frozen blocks of mineral water…
It sounds okay so far, right? Good, even. And then (cue sound of bomb dropping):
“The lounge’s signature drink, the Clock Martini, will include frozen Ketel One Vodka shaken tableside and served with traditional garnishes.”
Oooh, Ketel One! Don’t hurt your arm reaching so high up on the shelf! And traditional garnishes? Stop spoiling us! It seems they hired a guy to do their cocktail menu and he came up with a signature drink of a standard vodka martini. Refund!
Now, before I read this I’d heard that Marco Dionysos got a job working there. Marco works at Tres Agaves, used to work at Absinthe, and is a huge cocktail nerd who often corrects brand representatives on factual errors about their own products. He’s invented at least one cocktail so good it’s on drink menus in New York. Oddly enough, Marco told me a while back that he wasn’t hired to be in charge but just on staff.
That’s curious. Don’t they know who they’ve got? Of course they must- the article points out that they did their research. Just listen to Patric Yumul, VP of Operations for the Mina Group in the 944 Magazine story:
“It’s about hitting on all cylinders,” he says. “None of the bars I saw were doing it though. Even in ones with great drinks, I didn’t want to actually sit down because I was afraid of getting hepatitis.“
Curiouser. I wouldn’t think that suggesting your competitors’ venues teem with disease often spread by fecal-oral contact would be a good way to ingratiate yourself within the local cocktail community. But then again, the hepatitis prevents me from thinking clearly.
Today I received the updated press release for the venue. There’s no mention of hand-cut ice or house-made tonic- or Noah Ellis and the signature vodka martini for that matter. And how’s this for not-a-raise:
Lead by a veteran hospitality team of GM Matthew Meidinger, reputable San Francisco bartender Marco Dionysos (formerly of Tres Agaves) and seasoned bar team Ray Cortez Brown, Estanislado Orona and Maren West, the opening of CLOCK BAR marks the return of San Francisco tradition to the heart of Union Square.
Well at least Marco is reputable now and singled out- though it doesn’t appear he’s been given a title/position such as Bar Manager or Head Bartender. Make that happen, Michael Mina people, and we’ll have our first clue that you might know what the heck you’re doing bragging about your super awesome new cocktail bar.
Anyway, mistakes have been made, but they’re fixable. I hope everything turns out delicious and that they bring success and additional great cocktails to San Francisco- they’re just going to have to work a bit harder at it.
[10:18 update: spelling of Ketel One corrected.]
Labels: bars, SanFrancisco
