Alcademics

The SF Chronicle's Bar Stars 2009 feature just came out, and the introduction to the winners is here.

The 2009 Bar Stars are:

• Reza Esmali of Conduit
• Brooke Arthur of Range
• Marcovaldo Dionysos of Clock Bar
• Cate Whalen of Pizzaiolo
• Thad Vogler of Heaven's Dog

I did the write-up of Thad Vogler.

I think the combination of profiles came out really terrific. I didn't know who the other chosen Bar Stars were or who was writing about them (I assume they were selected by my editor- it was all very top-secret), but in the end the stories reflect the different styles of the bartenders: Brooke creating a new drink of the day, Reza using food flavors, Marco's geekery, Thad's back-to-nature approach, and Cate Whalen's homemade creations.

So congrats to everybody.