San Francisco Treats

So obviously I’m not quite as on-the-ball as our San Franciscan friends, Anita and Cameron, from Married with Dinner fame, but you have to cut me some slack. Granted, they had a report from our evening in the Golden City up on their site the very next morning. At that point, I was still nursing the after-effects of the previous evening. Not to tear down the “fourth wall” of the blog world or anything, but for a lot of bloggers, a significant amount of time is spent not only doing research and writing the posts, but also with setting up and taking exorbitant amounts of photos in hopes of getting a decent, usable picture for the blog. Don’t get me wrong, some people have no qualms about throwing some hideous photo of their latest creation up on their site, but I like to think a lot of people in our cocktail blogging community spend serious time and money, not just on their booze, but on their photos as well.

Anita and Cameron exemplify this better than just about anyone. Not only do they typically have ONE beautiful picture of the posted subject, but to show us that they truly are photography badasses, they provide a link to their flickr pages filled with hundreds of examples of brilliancy.

Aside from being Bay Area authorities on anything having to do with cocktails, they are also big campaigners of the eat local movement that is sweeping the nation. One of their lesser-known qualities though, lies in their “evening-planning” abilities concerning out-of-towners that are longing for a great time in one of the coolest cities in the world.

What I find truly disturbing is that on most people’s “to-do lists”, while visiting San Francisco, are plans revolving around Fisherman’s Wharf, a walk across Golden Gate Bridge, taking a ride on a cable car, or visiting Alcatrez via a bay tour. Obviously, there is nothing inherently wrong about wanting to do those things, but I am of the opinion that if one really wants to get to know a city, one must do some research to determine what the locals enjoy. Sometimes that involves putting oneself out there to just ask a Local for some help.

After emails were exchanged, Anita had coordinated all of our schedules and we were to meet them first at Nopa for some dinner and drinks, after which we were to cap the night at the legendary watering hole, Alembic. So as not to come off as too much of a dork in front of our new friends, I didn’t take any pictures of our incredible dinner at Nopa. You’ll just have to imagine my beautifully seared Kurobuta pork rib chop in all of its medium-rare glory, perfectly paired with some of the tastiest grilled peaches that I’ve ever had. Nopa also has a wonderfully ambitious bar program. The night we were there, among the house-made ingredients were several interesting bitters, along with some rosé vermouth, a cherry shrub, and I’m sure some other concoctions that I unfortunately missed.

We then moved on to the Alembic Bar just a few blocks away. My first trip to Alembic was a few months ago and was very rushed. It was late, and the rest of my party was mostly just humoring me by stopping at my request. All I had time for was a quick drink and we were out the door. This time, thanks to the good company of our new friends, we did the place right. Several hours later, it seemed like we had sampled a good cross-section of their menu. Some drinks obviously suited my palate better than others, but no doubt was left that they are truly an awesome drink spot. Having made our own infusions in the past and understanding how labor intensive it can be to strain an infusion for purpose of clarity, an ingredient in one of their ‘new school’ drinks quickly jumped out at me—graham cracker-infused bourbon. I’m sorry what? This makes me feel much better about my off-the-wall idea of bleu cheese-infused rye. I immediately got a picture of soggy graham crackers floating in large bottles of bourbon, somewhere in a back room. Then, I pictured the poor bar -back who had to dump it out and strain it through yards and yards of cheese cloth. All of that aside, the drink that was presented to me containing the graham cracker concoction, paired with house-made rhubarb soda, went down really well.

Another of the more interesting drinks of the night was one called The Gilded Lily. Delivered in a champagne coupe, was a mixture of gin, Yellow Chartreuse and orange flower water, topped with some sparkling demi-sec, and garnished with a few flakes of gold leaf. What? Yeah…gold leaf. Although I don’t have the exact proportions, I came up with this back home.

The Gilded Lilly (approximately)
(from the Alembic Bar, San Francisco, CA)

1 ½ oz. Plymouth Gin
½ oz. Yellow Chartreuse
2-3 drops Orange Flower Water
Splash of Demi-Sec Sparkling Wine
Gold Leaf for Garnish (if you can find it)

Combine gin, chartreuse, and orange flower water in a mixing glass filled with cracked ice. Stir to chill. Strain into a cocktail glass. Top with the demi-sec. IF one can find it or has a desire to find it…and then purchase it, go ahead and flake some gold leaf on top. Personally, I’m a fan of garnishes that add something flavorful to drinks. This can be forgone without sacrificing the taste of the dink if it is not available.

Our evening really could not have been spent in a better way—an amazing local restaurant, an envelope-pushing bar, all spent with fantastic company. Keep Fisherman’s Wharf. This is the San Francisco that I remember.

 

 

Here is an amusing note from an email Anita sent me regarding tourists in San Francisco. So as not to come off like a total douchebag while visiting SF please adhere to the following:

In SF, shorts are the exclusive domain of shivering tourists wearing fleece jackets (with little cable cars embroidered on the chest pocket) they bought at Fisherman’s Wharf

You can almost hear them thinking “Jeebus, I thought Californey was SUNNY!”