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San Francisco's Next All-Star Bar

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 Dog. That's pretty rock and roll.

Also great is the list of bartenders who've signed on to take shifts at the place:

• Thad Vogler (Slanted Door, Jardiniere, Beretta, the forthcoming Agricole)
• Eric Johnson (Eastside West, Bourbon & Branch, Beretta)
• Jackie Patterson (Orson, Zinnia)
• Jennifer Colliau (Slated Door, Small Hand Foods)
• Jon Santer (Bourbon & Branch, Beretta, Martin Miller's Gin)
• Lane Ford (Beretta, Flora)

The restaurant should be opening in early January. Adkins tells me that they'll keep the drink menu at a reasonable 12 or so drinks "focusing more on execution than on unusual recipes." They'll also have an emphasis on quality ice, with a Kold Draft machine for cubes, plus a freezer dedicated just to ice that they'll use to make spears for tall drinks and chunks for some of the rocks drinks.

Brrr, who's thirsty?

Another Win for Vinegar

Congratulations to San Francisco's Neyah White, who took home the top prize at the 2008 Vinos de Jerez Cocktail Competition with his Sherry Shrub.

As we know, a shrub usually equals vinegar plus a fruit of some sort. I don't know what the other ingredients were in the drink but hopefully they'll be published soon.

Neyah beat out contestants from six states, including fellow San Franciscan Joel Baker who makes a mean sherry cocktail himself. Neyah wins cash (a rare treat in these things), a scholarship to the B.A.R. program next September in New York, and trip to Jerez in Spain.

When he's not traveling the world to collect prizes, you can find Neyah White running the bar program at NOPA in San Francisco.

The Times Gets Boozy

You've probably read all of these by now, but I thought I'd post them anyway. The New York Times printed a whole bunch of booze stories yesterday.

- A story about cocktail obsessives.

- One about relatively inexpensive Speyside scotch whiskey with a lot of good information about changes in the industry. Also, tasting notes.

- Another on White Russians.

- And finally, one on eight bartending philosophies. That one is largely made up, distinguishing between "pre-repeal revivalists" and "neo-classicists" and between "liquid locavores" and the "farm to glass movement" where such distinctions don't necessarily exist in real life. Still, a great look at modern approaches to bartending.

I am BarSmart

You know that BarSmarts certification I was all stressed about, where we had to learn 25 drinks and a lot of information to pass the written and live bartending test?

I passed, and am officially BarSmarts Advanced certified. Congratulations to me.

Now I can put my new degree to use, backstool bartending by critiquing the drinks of others.

Of course, I already do that. So I hope they send me a badge or something to make it official.

Bartender Mentors

St. John Frizell has a story in Edible Manhattan about bartender mentoring, and the passing of knowledge from Dale DeGroff to Audrey Saunders to Jim Meehan to his staff.  Go read it.

I wrote a long post about how San Francisco is more of a collaborative environment than a mentoring one, with the overall quality of drinks throughout the city increasing more than in just the superstar venues as in NYC, but then I realized I was just thinking out loud.

Drinks are good, y'all!

Home Celebrity Invasion

Check out this big charity auction from Woodbridge Wines. There are bunch of food things to bid on, but some good booze ones too. You can make Tony Abou-Ganim come to your party and serve drinks!

Also

• Waterford decanter and wine glasses. 
• A bag of Wine Spectator swag.

And right now there is a bargain bid price on the Sunset Headquarters lunch and tour. The HQ sounds kinds of glam. Someone go bid on that and take me as your guest.

A lot of the prices are too low and the auction ends on the 23rd so go and bid.

Bar (pre)Tender

All day today I've been playing imaginary bartender. I'm taking the Bar Smarts course, which is an advanced training for bartenders on classic cocktails, techniques, and history sponsored by Pernod-Ricard. You do four weeks of book, DVD, and online training, followed by a full-day class, written test, and live cocktail-making test.

 

Book learning? Yeah, I'm not so worried about that. I am kind of a nerd. But the practical part- actually making drinks? I only do that for myself, and my philosophy is that I try to only order drinks out that I can't make at home and to only make drinks at home that are easy.

I am doing the course as a member of the press and writing about it, but am probably one of very few people taking the test who doesn't work behind a bar. After memorizing the 25 required recipes, and practicing techniques (like not shooting lemon juice in my eye from the squeezer), I decided I should make all the drinks at least once. We have to do three of them in ten minutes (I assume three at once, not three in a row). I poured fake booze (not up to drinking 25 cocktails in an hour), I squeezed real fruit and muddled real mint, I added bitters and cracked eggs. And I timed myself.

Conclusion: I'm screwed.

I am fine with listing the ingredients and preparation of drinks from memory, but I don't think in the order that drinks are made. For example, the typical recipe would end with "Strain into a chilled cocktail glass with a salted rim," but that's the step you need to do first when you make it.  Then there are the issues of making three at a time- keeping track of which is which and when to shake so they're all done/cold at the same time and remembering the difference between a sour glass and a Collins glass in reality. At the end of the day I didn't waste any actual booze and still my kitchen and person were entirely covered in sticky.

It's fair to say I am pretty stressed out about the test tomorrow (I CANNOT FAIL), but I just came to a realization that I actually *can* harvest my nerd powers in this circumstance.

The test is being given by the B.A.R. guys, all of whom should be getting into town tonight. I'm going to Dale Degroff (one of the examiners)'s book party, and should probably see the rest of the crew there. And I am fully prepared to do what nerds to best: BROWNNOSE.

The backyard bartender

Tablehopper gets the scoop on a new bar/restaurant coming from Thad Vogler: Bar Agricole. Slated to open in San Francisco in March 2009, it will feature all non-commercially distilled artisan spirits. (Plus food and wine, if you care.)

I haven't yet made it to Camino, where he's been since opening Beretta (he gets around), but he runs a similar cocktail program there. Vogler has been moving in an increasingly local/sustainable direction, without sacrificing drink quality but increasingly limiting drink options.

And now some of those options will be home grown. Tablehopper reports that he'll have patio garden for herbs and greens used in the food and drinks. I wonder if it will look like this:

Wilding during Whisky Week

This is whisky week in San Francisco, so there are a ton of events happening with distillers and brand ambassadors all over the city. Last night, I made it to four of them.

I started off at Swig, meeting Sam Simmons of Balvenie. I tried the Doublewood, the 12-year-old limited edition for Dave Stewart's 40th anniversary at the company, and the new Balvenie 17-year-old rum cask.

Next up was Rye's cocktail competition with Michter's rye. I got roped in to judging the event at the last minute, but it's not so bad- it ensures both a seat and a steady supply of drinks. The first-place winner was a bartender from Rye (can't remember her name...), second place was Josh Harris from Pier 23 (with balsamic vinegar and cherries- my favorite of the night) and third place was Scott Baird from 15 Romolo.

Then half the bar relocated to Bourbon & Branch, where Jackie Patterson was guest bartending. I stayed for one drink, as the effects of judging 7 drinks in an hour and a half were starting to take hold.

A group of us then headed to Elixir, where the guest bartender was John Glaser of Compass Box whisky. He was swinging around his magnum of Peat Monster and towards 1AM when there were only five of us in the bar, pressuring us to drink more so he had something to do. I think this was my first time ever doing shots of single-malt. It was good stuff, but I hope it's the last time I do that.

I would post pictures, but it seems I left my camera in one of the bars.

Here's that story I wrote about bartenders

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 full- or part-time positions as spirits brand ambassadors, bar consultants and sales representatives. David Nepove, Jon Santer, Jacques Bezuidenhout and Todd Smith are some of the top talent who are working behind the stick one night per week, if that. Even more are bartending three nights or fewer.  

(read the rest of the story here)

Reading material: post-European edition

You may not have noticed thanks to the incredible blog technology that allows me to write posts in advance, but I was out of the country all last week. Here are some things that have stuck in my brain as I catch up on my reading:

Eric Felten (I pretty much link to his column every week) writes about the Sherry Cobbler, and how it popularized both the cocktail shaker and the straw. 

Then he wrote about Georgian (not the US one) brandy.

W. Blake Gray says that "Nigori is the White Zinfandel of sake," but found one he actually likes.

Partying like it's 1905, towns in New Zealand move to ban absinthe. 

They're dropping like flies in SF! Thomas Waugh left The Alembic for the shores of NYC, and Jacqueline Patterson is no longer managing the bar at Orson but is still in town. Unconfirmed rumor is that Carlos Yturria is no longer at Grand Pu Bah and is now bar manager at Bacar.

Heaven Hill is releasing a Tabasco-branded tequila. Now that's a spicy margarita!

SF booze news

I just heard from Victoria Damato-Moran, who tells me she's been hired at La Mar Cebicheria, the new Peruvian place on Pier 1 1/2. She'll be holding down the day shift (the woman loves happy hour), while Enrique Sanchez of Tres Agaves will be the lead bartender at night. I don't know Enrique yet, but I know I love some pisco. The restaurant is scheduled to open mid-September, but you know how these things go.

Speaking of delayed restaurants with great bartenders, Dominic Venegas says the five-or-so months-delayed Gitane on Claude Lane should also open in September. When it does, he is scheduled to take a Wednesday shift. In the meantime, he's taken on the Thursday shift at Range and he's still working at Bacar on Fridays. Carlos Yturria, his Friday co-tender, is taking a Wednesday shift at Range.

More news tomorrow...

Mackay's Workday

Jordan Mackay has a nice long piece on being a bartender in 7X7 Magazine [link via Eater].  I especially love the sidebar: What Your Drink Says About You. Some excerpts:

1. Shot of Patrón You think you know, but you have no idea.
4. Vodka Soda Marina chick (even if you're a guy).
7. Milk of Millennia You're likely from L.A.
8. Mojito European tourist who will later ask whether we know of a good disco in the area.

Who's rocking at the clock?

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 other items on the list.

With three good guys behind the bar, Clock Bar should make a swell addition to the downtown cocktail circuit- as if I needed another just-stop-in-for-a-drink place in the neighborhood. (I would like to ride the BART train home without a buzz on occasion.) I was in the place this past Friday night around 10PM and it was full but not packed- just the way  I like it. Actually, I like bars mostly empty, but there's little chance of that happening there.