Alcademics

Unfortunately that was only the first stop on a bar crawl to show my pal Ana from New York around to the new cocktail bars that have opened since she was last here.

After a quick refresher at Cantina we hit Rye, where we sat in the outdoorish smoking patio hoping for a stray breeze, but no such luck was had. A drink was had instead.

Then off we went to Bourbon & Branch where it wasn't as stifling as it can be in there, so I felt lucky. Joel Baker made me a repeat of his Chatreuse/peach/basil/sherry drink from the competition a few days earlier, so I felt luckier- and he even sent someone out to pick up a peach to make the drink. Now that's what I call service!

By this time Ana was tipsy and hungry, so headed to NOPA where she could satisfy her urge to eat and I could satisfy mine to stay tipsy. It was hot, but not insufferably hot in there. Ana had one of their famous pork chops and pronounced it the best she's ever had (yeah for her, too bad for the pig), and I had some vegetable goop. Soon poor Ana, unable to contain her carnivorous voraciousness, had consumed the entire gigantic pork chop and grew uncomfortably full.

Time for an uphill walk in the not-cool night air! Up Divisadero and further up Haight Street we traveled to reach The Alembic. No heat relief was to be found there- it had to be over 90 degrees inside. Luckily, relief came in the forms of the Pisco Sour and new-to-the-menu Gilded Lily with Plymouth gin, Yellow Chartreuse, orange flower water, and sparkling demi-sec.

At this point Ana, who lives in New York and should really be better at this, pooped out. I think she was sufficiently impressed with the cocktails in SF and I was sufficiently impressed with myself for out-partying a New Yorker.

Not a bad way to beat the heat.

Labels: bars, SanFrancisco