Category: San Francisco

  • Drinking by Degree

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    Camper English
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    Check out my story in the February issue of San Francisco Magazine. It's about tasting clubs around the city where you earn prizes or a degree by working your way through the menu. I focus on the Tequila Passport program at Tres Agaves, but also mention programs at Tommy's Mexican Restaurant, Forbidden Island, and Barclay's…

  • Bar-Bary Coast

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    Wolfgang Weber from the Spume blog and Wine & Spirits Magazine has started a Google map of "classic" (in one way or another) eateries and drinkeries along the Barbary Coast Trail in San Francisco. I've never walked the trail myself but now that he's turned it into a bar crawl I'm much more likely to…

  • Heaven’s Dog Preview

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    Camper English
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    On Monday I had the chance to check out Heaven's Dog, the new Charles Phan (Slanted Door) restaurant and bar opening on in San Francisco on Friday. On closer inspection, bar and restaurant would be a more adequate description of the place. There's a small noodle bar/kitchen on one side- almost an adjacent business connected…

  • New Bars and Old New Bars

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    San Franciscans should immediately leave work and run screaming to their local newsbox to pick up this week's San Francisco Bay Guardian. Why? Because you'll find me waiting for you inside. In the Scene insert I have two stories. One of them is on some new recommended bottles of booze. The other is on new…

  • San Francisco’s Next All-Star Bar

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    I recently spoke with Erik Adkins (Slanted Door, Flora) who is the bar manager of the soon-to-open Charles Phan (Slanted Door's chef/owner) restaurant next to the Soma Grand building on Mission Street. After much wavering on the name (the code name was "Phantom" at one point, get it), they seem to have settled on Heaven's…

  • Store and Pour

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    In the December issue of San Francisco Magazine, I have a story on venues like Taverna Aventine, Nihon, the San Francisco Wine Center, and the Occidental Cigar Club where you can store your poison of choice on-site. Read it online here.

  • A Bar Contest You Don’t Want to Win

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    Eater SF hosted a "Douchiest Bar in San Francisco" contest. The winner, unfortunately for them, was Medjool, the rooftop bar in the Mission. Filling out the Top 5 were Matrix Fillmore, Bar None, Americano, and Zeitgeist. The comments on the original post are priceless. "It's as if the marina suddenly puked up it's best and…

  • The Craziest New Cocktail Menu in San Francisco

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    DOSA Fillmore opens on Friday, but the drink menu for the restaurant has been released. The cocktails were created by Jonny Raglin of Absinthe, and they look insane. I can't wait to try them. Batsman Martin Miller’s Gin, Darjeeling tea cordial, lemon juice & ginger beer, served over ice with a mint sprig 9 Bowler…

  • Here’s that story I wrote about bartenders

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    Camper English
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    Bay Area's best mixologists leaving bars for brands Camper English, Special to The Chronicle Friday, September 19, 2008 While you're still likely to run into many of San Francisco's best mixologists in the usual cocktail hot spots, increasingly they'll be standing on the other side of the bar. That's because many local bartenders have accepted…

  • Who’s rocking at the clock?

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    Not only is Bacar’s Joe Parrilli now working at the Clock Bar (note: hat-less!), Bourbon & Branch’s Kevin Diedrich will be pulling shifts there too starting today. He told me he’ll still be spending some time at Bourbon & Branch- after all, he’s the one creating a lot of the homemade syrups, tonic water, and…