Category: bars

  • Bar Agricole Cocktail List Revealed

    The SF Chronicle's Jon Bonne gets the scoop on Bar Agricole's forthcoming cocktail list. 

    The story has lots of information about the bar/restaurant (one we've been awaiting for about 2 years). The bar is set to open August 15 or 16. So go read it

    For those of you not lucky enough to have sampled Thad Vogler's cocktails at Slanted Door, Beretta, and other venues, here's the gist: Simple, local, organic, seasonal, custom-made ingredients; small twists on vintage cocktails; consistency and elegance. 

    While the older style of California cocktails was sometimes called the "salad in the glass" style- tons of fresh herb and citrus ingredients muddled together- this menu is more of the refined simplicity Vogler has been seeking all along. For this project, many of the ingredients (even distilled ones) were produced locally just for the bar. 

    I cannot freaking wait! 

    Whiskey Cocktail with dry vermouth and grenadine, absinthe, orange bitters
    Traditional Sour of Blanche d’Armagnac, lemon, egg white
    Brandy Cocktail with curaçao, Italian vermouth, absinthe and bitters
    Daiquiri of white rum, lime, grapefruit, maraska, aromatic bitters
    Jersey Sour: California brandy, lemon, apple, maple, aromatic bitters
    Tequila Daisy with lemon, vermouth blanc, apricot preserve, chartreuse bitters
    Petit Zinc: farmhouse vodka, orange juice, red vermouth, farmhouse curaçao
    Whiskey Sour: lime, port, and orange bitters
    Presidente: California agricole, farmhouse curaçao, grenadine, orange bitters
    White Rum Swizzle with 2 vermouths, lemon, farmhouse curaçao, raspberry
    Ti Punch made with hibiscus bitters
    Gin Cocktail with riesling and stonefruit bitters
    Star Daisy: Calvados, gin, grenadine and lemon
    Capitan Cocktail: Blanche d’Armagnac, aromatic bitters and chinato
    Dry Pisco Punch with pineapple gum and hibiscus bitters

  • Erick Castro to Leave Rickhouse at End of Month; Take Brand Ambassador Job

    Erick castro  Erick Castro, bartender and general manager of Rickhouse in San Francisco (up for three awards at Tales of the Cocktail this year) has revealed that he'll be leaving the bar at the end of July. He'll now be the West Coast Brand Ambassador for Plymouth and Beefeater gins. 

    This is another bittersweet announcement in the San Francisco cocktail community, right on the heels of Neyah White leaving NOPA to become a brand ambassador for Yamazaki whiskies at the end of June and Jackie Patterson leaving Heaven's Dog (soon) to become a brand ambassador for Solerno and Lillet. 

    So congratulations to Castro on the sweet new job but we'll miss seeing you behind the bar. 

    I suppose the good news is that, like the rash of bartenders who were leaving bars for brands I wrote about in 2008, this makes way for a new crop of folks to step forward as mixological masters behind the bar.  

    Jackie patterson shakerface 
    Neyah in action pose 500

     

     

  • Better Cocktails Creep Into the Castro

    My first story written for 7×7 Magazine is now online. 

    Castro's Last Stand

    Long a bastion of bad drinks and a good time, the city’s biggest party neighborhood is slowly but surely learning how to wield a muddler.

    by Camper English

    Badlands
    While the Tenderloin, Mission and Haight are reveling in white whiskeys and raw sugars, in the Castro, bartenders are still called bartenders, and the drink of choice is more likely to be an appletini than something made with absinthe. From Martuni’s to Moby Dick, drinks in the gay sector are still mixed with vanilla vodka, Long Island Iced Teas make up the happy-hour specials, and mojitos come in more than one flavor. Popular venues, like Toad Hall and Badlands, skip the cocktail menu altogether.

    As of late, however, there have been a few glimmers of change. 

    Read the rest on the 7X7 website

  • Bars Inside Other Bars

    In my latest story for San Francisco Magazine, I talk about bars opening inside other bars.

    The-Hideout-4778.full

    Photograph by Chris Brennan

    Make it a double

    These bars within bars offer patrons a choice of drinking styles.
    By Camper English

    The hottest haute cocktails require a range of syrups, bitters, fresh herbs, several types of gin, a lot of storage space, and extra time to make every drink. One way in which bar owners are handling the demand is by dividing and conquering, opening two bars in a single venue—one to promote quick service, the other for slow sipping.

    Until recently, the back room at Dalva was a barren spot more suited for storage than for socializing, and it was often used by customers sneaking illegal indoor cigarettes. But with a fresh coat of paint and a bit of remodeling, including a custom-made bar and wrought-iron accents, this area has been rebranded as a boutique interior cocktail lounge called the Hideout. 

    Continue reading the story at the San Francisco Magazine website

  • Why Can’t I Get a McDonald’s Hamburger at Chez Panisse?

    In response to my recent story in the San Francisco Chronicle on high-end bars becoming more accommodating to patrons' requests, many people wrote into the comments about how snooty bartenders are who won't give you the drinks that you want.

    The Chronicle's commenters are a notoriously (and often hilariously) opinionated bunch, so I don't take offense to anything they say. By and large, they were all terribly upset with Erick Castro of Rickhouse's quote:

    "Three years ago it was OK to be rude. It used to be 'I'm not making a
    cosmo and you're a horrible person.' Now we say, 'I'm not making a
    cosmo, but I'm making you something better than a cosmo.' And if they
    like (the drink) they trust you for the whole night."

    Commenters were offended that a bartender is so arrogant as to think he knows better than the customer, and offended that a bartender wouldn't make the customer what he wants.

    I know that in the case of Rickhouse they don't carry cranberry juice, so they actually can't make a Cosmo. I believe all of the other drinks cited by commenters cannot be made at Rickhouse either- drinks with Midori, 7UP, Malibu, etc. They do not carry these products on principle, and thus cannot make drinks with them.

    So Rickhouse can't/won't make a Cosmo, and that makes people mad. But does it also infuriate them that Chez Panisse (probably) can't make a McDonald's hamburger?

    Would you be surprised at Chez Panisse if you asked your waiter for a McDonald's hamburger and they steered your toward something similar and better, like a grass-fed, free-range beef burger on a fresh-baked bread roll with organic ketchup? Would you consider them arrogant? Call for the waiter to lose their job?

    Only if you can't see the difference between McDonald's and Chez Panisse; between fast food and fine dining. And that is the image problem that cocktail bars have. Many people still think every bar is a McDonalds, when most bars that make the news are evolving toward something better. 

    The better cocktail bars are not actually suffering from this lack of understanding- there's a huge demand for them, in fact, and in my experience the places selling $10 cocktails are affected less in this recession than places selling $6 ones. So despite complaints, better cocktail bars are safe, for now.

    The funny thing is that speakeasy bars were originally a theme concept,
    but evolved into a practical concept: hiding the bars from people who
    don't yet know that not every bar serves Bud and has sports on TV.

    Some people worry that the perceived arrogance of the bartenders in these places will make this better-drinking era a trend rather than an ongoing movement. I think that's a valid concern, as fine cocktails are very trendy right now. I'd hate to see this movement lose momentum as there is so, so much further to go with it.

    As was the point in my original article, bartenders are learning how to talk to patrons in a nicer way to steer them away from lesser-quality or marketing-driven drink choices and into better ones. But is there more that can be done- in the media or by bartenders/bar owners- to make a clearer break between the fast food version of bars and the ones more like fine dining?

  • User-Generated Cocktails

    Here is my latest story in the San Francisco Chronicle, December 27th 2009 edition.

    Bartenders shift from lecture to nurture

    Camper English, Special to The Chronicle

    Friday, December 25, 2009

    A common sight in the nation's speakeasy-themed bars is a list of rules about what one can and cannot do – and can and cannot order. But among a newer batch of bars, the trendiest design feature is dialogue.

    "Three years ago it was OK to be rude. It used to be 'I'm not making a cosmo and you're a horrible person.' Now we say, 'I'm not making a cosmo, but I'm making you something better than a cosmo.' And if they like (the drink) they trust you for the whole night," says Erick Castro, general manager at Rickhouse in San Francisco's Financial District.

    Bartenders at top cocktail spots have shifted from a lecturing mode into more of a nurturing one, and Castro says the strategy has paid off.

    "The same people who used to complain that we didn't have Bud Light and Grey Goose are now our biggest customers, coming in three times a week and ordering rye Manhattans," he says.

    speakeasy rules cocktail bar with rules

    Read the rest of the story here. The story centers on how bartenders are trusting consumers to trust them more, instead of focusing on lists of rules of behavior. The story namechecks Heaven's Dog, Bourbon & Branch, Rickhouse, The Alembic in San Francisco, Copa d'Oro in Santa Monica, Drink in Boston, Klee in Singapore, and door74 in Amsterdam.

    Yeah, I get around.

  • Smuggler’s Cove in Pictures and Words

    Smuggler's Cove, the San Francisco tiki bar by "Shoeless" Martin Cate, opens in San Francisco on Tuesday, December 8th. I got a sneak preview along with other members of the press on Thursday night. To give you an idea about the level of excitement around this bar opening, some cocktail nerds drove up from Los Angeles or flew down from Portland to witness it in person, assuming they'd see it now before it is packed for the next few months as the very enthusiastic tiki crowd swarms in.

    Smuggler's Cove has a gorgeous menu featuring 80 mostly rum cocktails and will have over 200 sipping rums. There are incentives for drinking them all. Join the "Rumbustion Society" and work your way through the rum list to gain access to samples from very rare bottles. Or join the "Voyager of the Cove" club and try all the cocktails for unspecified super secret perks.

    Ah, but what does it look like? Sort of like the entrance to a theme ride at Disney World. Rather than being a design theme or decor, the three-story (yet small) bar is filled with props and sets. The giant anchor that hangs menacingly over the main stairway is thankfully not made of solid metal, nor is the canon that threatens to squish the bartender. Giant rocks poke out from the walls, some sort of tribal spears adorn a wall, and rum crates are used as tables in the basement. It's like drinking on a movie set, not that I've ever done that.

    It's all very unreal, except for where it's not. The bar is actually packed with historic artifacts from tiki bars around the country- the the ship's wheel and Boathouse sign above the downstairs bar, vintage tiki mugs, totem polls, and other flotsam and jetsam once adorned the walls of various Trader Vic's and other bars. The three display windows at the entry level bar are mini-museums dedicated to past San Francisco tiki bars, including one where the first tiki mug was created. There is so much history in the place I'm considering asking Martin to train me as a docent to give regular tours.

    So here are the pictures.

    The top floor is a bamboo hut lounge where journalists take notes about the bamboo hut lounge on the top floor.

    Smugglers Cove 006s 

    The street level bar is small and backed by endless bottles of delicious rum.

    Smugglers Cove 037s

    Recent LA transplant Matty Eggleston was working there on preview night.

     Smugglers Cove 005s

    The ceiling in this room is tall and packed with barrels, boxes, and other stuff held up with ropes and pulleys. 

    Smugglers Cove 003s

    In the basement, Dominic Venegas works the bar.

    Smugglers Cove 010s

    No wait! That was a pufferfish lamp. This is Dominic Venegas working in the basement bar.

    Smugglers Cove 011s

    And this is the guy who built this magic playground for us, "Shoeless" Martin Cate. Congratulations Martin!

    Martin cate1s

  • SF Cocktail Geography

    Sfist_logo Jay Barmann from SFist.com attended my talk at SF Chefs.Food.Wine and kept the handout. Today he's posted my categorization of nearly every type of cocktail program in the city, which is good, because formatting html is a pain.

    The categories I made up so don't get too hung up on them- it's just how I see them.

    Read it here

    I've been thinking of giving that talk again, because PowerPoint is forever. Let me know if you're into it and maybe I can put something together.

  • Bartenders Hitting Their Hoes

    For some reason, the San Francisco Chronicle didn't choose the above title for my story that comes out Sunday August 30th. I can't think of why.

    More bars growing own cocktail ingredients

    Camper English, Special to The Chronicle

    Friday, August 28, 2009

     Victoria D'Amato-Moran grows tomatoes, Asian pears, Fuji apples, blackberries, roses and many herbs in her South San Francisco garden. Sooner or later, everything in it winds up in her cocktails.

    "Except the zucchinis," she says. "I haven't figured out how to use those yet."

    Gartenders2

    The Bay Area has long been home to the farm-forward cocktail movement – initially personified by Scott Beattie, then of Cyrus restaurant, who sourced produce from neighbors' fruit trees for his bar. Lately, more bartenders are doing the gardening work themselves, for the same reason that backyard gardeners seem to have appeared everywhere.

    The extra effort may not save money, and the drinks may not taste noticeably fresher to the customer, but you can bet they do to the proud garden tender who grew part of your gimlet from seed.

    Read the rest of my story in this Sunday's Chronicle about bartenders who also tend to gardens, including Duggan McDonnell, H. Joseph Ehrmann, Daniel Hyatt, Scott Stewart, Thad Vogler, and Lane Ford, and the bars Fairway Cocktail Lounge, Cyrus, Elixir, Alembic, Cantina, Fifth Floor, Bar Agricole, Starbelly, Sprcue, Brix, and Etoile. Gosh I'm thorough.

    Also: there's a recipe for Jacques Bezuidenhout's Sagerac, a version of the Sazerac made with fresh picked sage, and Scott Stewart's Lonsdale No. 3 made with fresh basil.

    Gartenders1

  • Heirloom Tomatoes, Ripe for Drinking

    It's tomato season and all the local restaurants are rolling out the tomato carts and tomato specialty dinners. The bartenders are getting in on the action too.

    Zing At Range, Carlos Yturria's famous Sungold Zinger is back on the menu, made with Sungold Zinger cherry tomatoes, No. 209 gin, lemon, agave syrup, and salt.

    The bartenders at Range restaurant in San Francisco have started two blogs, by the way. Cocktail of the Day lists the daily cocktail served at the restaurant, and Inside the Blood Bank (from which I stole the picture) is a more general bartender and drink blog.

    Elsewhere in tomato drink news, Carneros Bistro & Wine Bar in Sonoma is serving a tomato basil martini with your choice of gin or vodka.

    And as part of the tomato dinner Sent Sovi in Saratoga greets guests with a Lemon Boy Bellini. Tomato Bellini? That sounds oddly delicious.