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Joel Baker to Take On Tres Tequila Lounge in San Francisco

Joel Baker, formerly a bar manager at Bourbon & Branch and Burritt Room, will be taking over the bar program at Tres Tequila Lounge & Mexican Kitchen in San Francisco, the bar/restaurant formerly known as Tres Agaves. 

 

Image stolen from Tres website

 

Most of the plans are still a bit nebulous and we shouldn't expect to see any changes until early March, but Baker told me he'd look into expanding the tequila program into other agave spirits including adding more mezcal and sotol. They'll begin serving tequila shots with a choice of sangrita chasers in red or green as well.

He'll also work on staff education and take some time getting up to speed himself on their huge tequila selection. Baker does plan to expand the cocktail menu, keeping on classics like the margarita (of course), La Paloma, Batanga, etc. and adding a half dozen or so house cocktails. He'll also be putting a few non-tequila drinks on the menu, meant to pair with the restaurant's food. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store. 

A Look at The Ice Cream Bar in San Francisco

The Ice Cream Bar opens Saturday, January 21 in San Francisco. I popped in last night for a preview. 

A bunch of jerks! (Soda jerks, that is.)

The beverage program is run by Russell Davis, formerly of Bourbon & Branch, and the program is based around Fix the Pumps, the recent book on soda fountains by Darcy O'Neil. 

The menu is split into Frappes & Floats, Crushes, Malts & Milkshakes, Phosphates, Panacea (a tonic), Lactarts, and Classics. There is also a list of fountain syrups and house-made extracts to flavor sodas. 

 

The physical soda fountain is from the 1930s and Davis says he had to tune it to get it working right. The soda water dispenser releases cooled soda water at a specific temperature, and has two settings for fine or course streams. The fine stream is used to froth the soda at the end of the pour. 

The glasses for the sodas have to be cold, as otherwise it kills the bubbles. Thus they won't be able to serve these drinks to go. (I forsee long lines here.) They serve drinks without straws for the most part, as these affect the flavor of the drink. 

I started with a root beer soda that was heavenly. It's made with real sassafras tincture. 

Then I had a chocolate phosphate, which tastes like carbonated chocolate milk. 

 

 Then I had the best Root Beer Float evarrr.

 

Other diners had the Pistachio Milkshake. Milkshakes and Malts here are hand-shaken in a cocktail shaker with milk, eggs, and hand-carved ice.

 

Fun Fact: Maria Hunt's mother used to work at a soda fountain.

 And they'll be serving ice cream, and hot dogs and such from another counter. 

There are plans in the future (if/when they get their beer/wine licensce) to serve Angostura Phosphates, plus custom mineral waters. 

This place is awesome. Join their Facebook group here.

 

New Cocktail Program at Sherry-Centric Gitane in SF

Gitane restaurant has a lovely bar with a sherry-centric cocktail program. It was originally designed by Dominic Venegas and later handled by Alex Smith, who recently left to open Honor Bar in Emeryville. 

The new and slightly simplified menu is the work of lead barman Ramon Garcia, with some aid from Neyah White (formerly of NOPA).

Vinegar lovers should be thrilled to see the Sherry Shrub back on a menu. 

SHERRY SHRUB
barbadillo manzanilla sherry,seasonal house shrub, lemon peel 

BOOTHBY
cava, bourbon, sweet vermouth,angostura bitters 

LA PERLA
reposado tequila, manzanilla sherry,pear liqueur 

SMOKED PALOMINO
crema de mezcal,amontillado sherry, grapefruit & lime, soda water

DOBLÓN
yamazaki 12 yr, fino sherry, fresh lemon,honey syrup

JENIBRE SMASH
dry sack sherry, canton liqueur,lemon juice, mint 

MARTINEZ gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur, orange bitters 

CAIPIRINHA CON MORAS
cachaca, dash px sherry, berries, fresh lime, sugar, nutmeg 

BAMBOO COCKTAIL
amontilladio sherry, dry vermouth, angostura bitters

SEASONAL SANGRIA
red wine, assorted fruits,orange liqueur, apple juice, cinnamon

SAFFRA
gin, saffron, honey syrup, lemon, thyme,orange blossom water

LA RENZA
vodka, elderflower & pear liqueur,maraschino, lemon, peychauds bitters

 

Cocktail Menu: Honor Bar in Emeryville, California

Opening January 3, 2012 in Emeryville near San Francisco is Honor Bar.

At the helm of the operation is Alex Smith, formerly of Gitane, Smuggler's Cove, and Gather. Also joining the crew are Reza Esmaili (Smuggler's Cove, Conduit, Long Bar), Peter Vestinos (former Chicagoan, Long Bar), and Jason Hubert (Adesso, Plum Bar).

Along with Prizefighter, this makes two brand new cocktail bars in Emeryville and yet another in the East Bay area. I'll be checking out the bar next week and will report back. 

I see: balsamico amaro, acid phosphate, tons of sherry, and interesting liqueurs. 

Honor Bar Menu

winter, 2011

STIRRED

Saturnalia :: rye, cranberry liqueur, allspice dram, maple, sage

Guy Fawkes :: gin, px sherry, montenegro amaro, maraschino, acid phosphate, absinthe

The Corsican :: bourbon, aged rum, falernum, sweet vermouth, orange bitters

Porfiriato :: reposado tequila, guajillo-infused mezcal, cocchi di torino, licor 43, cinnamon bitters

Jenkins' Ear :: aged rum, oloroso sherry, hum botanical, angostura bitters

Black Sabbath :: laphroaig, averna, absinthe, orange bitters

Dar' Panch :: panchpuran-infused vodka, east india sherry, sugar, lime

 

SHAKEN 

White Noise :: white rum, gin, maraschino, anisette, coconut cream, pineapple, lemon

Hollenbeck Cooler :: blanco tequila, blood orange liqueur,  honey-rosemary shrub, sparkling apple cider, pomegranate, lime

Winter Flip :: brandy, tawny port, indian pudding, whole egg

Bleeding Monarch :: bourbon, passion fruit, orgeat, campari, balsamico amaro

Queen Anne's Revenge :: hibiscus-infused gin, grapefruit marmalade, egg white, ginger beer, lemon

Slice of Life :: smith & cross rum, pineapple syrup, maraschino, angostura bitters, lime

The Von Teese :: vodka, st. germain, mathilde poire, absinthe, peychaud's, lemon

 

NOTES:

honey-rosemary shrub = honey & apple cider vinegar infused w/ rosemary

indian pudding = corn flour, milk, sugar, molasses, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, salt

balsamico amaro = combination of ⅓ balsamic vinegar, ⅓ averna amaro, ⅓ angostura bitters sprayed on top

Honor Bar is located at 1411 Powell St. at Hollis, Emeryville, CA.

Cocktail Menu: Maven in San Francisco

Opening on Wednesday, December 21 in the former RNM space in the Lower Haight in San Francisco is Maven. (Not to be confused with Haven, the Daniel Patterson restaurant openeing in the East Bay.)

Unlike RNM, this space is clearly a bar that serves food rather than a restaurant that serves drinks- the menu is 2/3 booze, 1/3 food. All the booze is meat to pair with specific dishes - you can see the full pairings on the menu at Maven's website. 

The cocktails were designed by Jay Bordeleau (co-owner / beverage director), with input from lead bartender Kate Bolton (Michael Mina). The menu is below.

New Bar: Tacolicious II and Mosto in San Francisco

The second outlet of restaurant Tacolicious has moved in to The Mission district in San Francisco, with tequila bar Mosto attached. 

It's a very strange set-up: Both Tacolicious and Mosto serve both food and drinks, yet they opperate independently with different menus. Yet you have to walk through Tacolicious to get to Mosto. The restaurant serves cocktails, while the bar serves mostly shots/sippers. 

(Photo of Tacolicious II by Tyler Gourley, courtesy of Tacolicious)

Tacolicious is food-focussed: it's a high-volume restaurant with a large private dining/party room and an outdoor patio. They offer about 20 cocktails, most available by the glass or pitcher. (The menu is below the jump.) They are mostly juice cocktails with a couple Micheladas. They also offer a huge selection of tequila. 

(Photo by Ed Anderson, courtesy of Tacolicious)

The bar Mosto on the other side of the wall is a much smaller and tighter space than the restaurant it abuts, and doesn't feel like a waiting room for Tacolicious either as it is so different.  Mosto only offers five snacks, served from a station at the end of the bar, and only a few cocktails: 2 versions of a Margarita, an El Diablo, a Tequila Sunrise, and a Paloma. 

(Photo of Mosto by Tyler Gourley, courtesy of Tacolicious)

The tequila list at Mosto is also huge, and it includes a large selection of mezcal too with the full range of Del Maguey and Pierde Almas lines among other mezcales. They even have a few sotols. Tequilas start at $8 (though most are $11+) and are served with both sangrita and jugo de escabeche, the latter sort of a spicy pickleback that is delicious. 

(Photo by Ed Anderson, courtesy of Tacolicious)

As far as other drinks, they have a small menu section awesomely called "Haters" that offers a single choice of vodka, gin, rum, and bourbon. 

 

The menus are below. 

Cocktail Menu: Winter Drinks at the Moss Room in San Francisco

 The Moss Room, in the middle of Golden Gate Park inside the California Academy of Sciences, has beefed up their cocktail program of late, with GM and Beverage Manager Rafael Jimenez Rivera at the helm. 

In addition to the cocktails below, they'll also be serving Coquito (Puerto Rican egg nog made with coconut cream, coconut milk toasted spices white and dark rum) from Rivera's grandfather's recipe from Dec 19 to January 6th. 

The holiday cockatil menu is below.

130 + 1 = Infusing the Modifier

In Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle, I have a story about bartenders making complicated infusions.

I kept seeing bartenders infusing Chartreuse, Campari, vermouth, and bitters - things that already have dozens of ingredients (or 130 in the case of Chartreuse), and I thought to myself, "WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?"

(I always talk to myself in capslock.)

As I researched the story and interviewed bartenders, I realized that in every case it's not that they thought "Oh this Campari is missing something, I bet it would be better with cinnamon," or "Hey it's cool now to infuse complicated things." 

Instead, in each case they had a specific drink in mind and wanted to get a flavor into the cocktail. Options include infusions, tinctures, bitters, syrups, etc. Or they could have just muddled the fresh ingredients, made a tea out of the tea, or rimmed the glass with the ingredients. 

In each case, they chose to infuse the modifying ingredients in the cocktail rather than the base spirit. So I didn't actually discover a trend bartending, so much as I found that bartenders have honed their techniques. 

Here's how the story begins:

Around the turn of the millennium, bartenders proudly displayed large glass jars of their experiments behind the bar. These infusions generally weren't terribly complex; often they would be fruit floating in vodka or light rum, destined for a flavored lemon drop or mojito.

A decade later, bartenders have refined those techniques, infusing spirits in different ways to put all sorts of vegetable (and sometimes animal) matter into syrups, tinctures, bitters and liquors.

Menus in San Francisco and around the country now list caraway-infused Campari, black-cardamom-infused Sherry, black-pepper-infused Chartreuse, clove-infused Cognac, and chai-tea-infused sweet vermouth. Despite some of these spirits purportedly containing 130 ingredients, bartenders feel compelled to add just one more.

Their reasons for these infusions vary. But everyone seems to want to fine-tune flavors for a specific cocktail.

Please go here to read the entire story and enjoy a cocktail from Joel Teitelbaum of the Starlight Room. 

Photos taken from SFGate.com. Both by Lance Iversen for The Chronicle.