Mr. Mahjong’s opened in the FiDi last year without much fanfare, but the little I’d seen suggested a hidden gem. The menu I encountered on a sleepy Tuesday didn’t disappoint.
The Falling Mountain was superbe- bright citrus into rich cereal notes, tea tanins, and a balanced hint of the bitter melon.
Fans of the bar’s namesake game, note that an actual parlor (that I did not investigate) appears to be in the space’s basement.
The bay area has quite a few tiki places and Forbidden Island https://www.forbiddenislandalameda.com is one of the established “oldtimers”. Also, a good name playing on the obvious tiki theme but also its location on the Alameda island. Founded 20 years ago, it was one of the drivers of the (re)emerging tiki culture far beyond just San Francisco. Known also for its huge rum collection - there is also a Kill Devil Club if you been able to try all the rums on their extensive list. Enjoyed a relaxed night with well crafted tiki cocktails
Corcovado Cooler - Brazilian cachaca barrel aged rum, apricot brandy, lemon, blend of spices
Sidewinder’s Fang - Aged rums, lime, orange, passion fruit
Virgin Mai Tai
Our favorite tiki bar! We’re also friends with the owners (brothers from South Africa).
Equal Parts opened a few months back a block or two off the beaten path in North Beach.
What da fig was surprisingly sweet, with a strong note of ripe banana that I imagine came from the blend of other fruits (possibly the melon with the acai?). Some herbal notes underpinned the fruit emphasis, but they were comparatively subtle.
I grabbed the Tuna Carpaccio as a snack, and found it surprisingly grassy- the lemon was mild compared to the other flavors on offer.
To pace myself, I followed with the n/a Coco & Marco. The mouthfeel on this proved very light, owing to the replacement of infused tequila with one of Seedlip’s offerings for the base (absent the pistachio). While it lacked for viscosity, the drink still had impressive texture owing to the grit & astringency from the matcha. The flavor was bright and balanced sweetness, candied lemon braced by bitter tea. While the flavors here worked, I suspect the body is superior in the tequila variant.
On The Road opens with rich, round flavor and mouthfeel. The whiskey is surprisingly understated, and the garam masala light enough to maintain balance. On paper I expected a Whiskey Sour riff, but the drink had lower acidity than expected- just enough to keep it bright. Unfortunately, the richeness grew cloying; I ultimately gave up halfway through the glass.
Overall, a decent showing for a neighborhood bar; but for my money I’d as soon revisit Long Weekend or the forthcoming return of 15 Romolo while in Northbeach.
Almost a year old, Bar Sprezzatura flew under my radar for a long while due to some difficulty finding the relvant portions of their menu online. Having now realized that their cocktails were merely misfiled under the end of the dinner menu, I’m embarassed to have overlooked a program of this quality for this long.
https://mx.michaelmina.net/recipe-exchange/download/?file_id=37287&nodl=true
The Tutto Fumo is a clever Mezcal sour, leaning on a Parmagiano infusion and egg white to round out the smoke and sharp edges of the spirits and acid. A garnish of Peychaud’s sprayed into the foam is a lovely flourish; this is an elegant little drink.
While I usually gloss over the negroni portion of a menu, the bar lead steered me to the Negroni All Arrabiata. This is genuinely clever- tomato gin drinks often veer into basil or a mozarella wash, but this one instead leans on a beautifully balanced calibrian chili amaro to emulate the spicy red sauce. You would scarcely know there was campari in this drink for the boldness of the other flavors.
Chatting with the staff also led to a splash of the Chinato di Torino, a vermouth I’d not previously sampled but which recommends the Rose Rosse Per Te handily.
This was a splendid first impression; I will most assuredly be back.
We had a company xmas party end of last year and the food was quite nice (not a sit down party but lots of small bites).
The food menu was genuinely tempting, but I’d already overdone it earlier in the evening. All the more reason to return!
I hate to say it, but none of those cocktails sound good to me. Each one has at least one ingredient that’s a no.
No blenders:
After last week’s visit to Forbidden Island the mood was still for tiki cocktails but this time in San Francisco. Last Rites https://www.lastritesbar.com in the Castro fits that bill. Started about 8 years ago from people behind Horsefeather it has a little bit different vibe than other tiki bars as it is darker and the theme is more towards a plane crash in a jungle (including sound effects) and is sometimes described as a “dark tiki”. So excellent cocktails have some of the expected tiki characteristics but tend to be less sweet and a bit more complex.
Grifter’s Game - American rye, scotch whisky, coconut, pandan, passionfruit, scotch mist
Permanent Midnight - Jamaican and salvadorian rums, red banana, coconut, pandan, coffee
Mocking Bird (N/A) - pathfinder and n/a cask spirit, salted molasses, lime, pineapple, cane syrup, last rites salt
Interior
There’s a tiki bar darker than Smuggler’s Cove, where I nearly tripped down the stairs while my eyes adjusted to the gloom?
Last Rites is dark more in the sense of “Moody” than “dim”. Mind you, it is dim- your eyes will definitely need to adjust on a sunny afternoon- but the slightly macabre plane crash Gilligan’s island interior is the distinctive bit here.
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Miniboss https://www.sjminiboss.com in San Jose is an interesting cocktail bar as it is also an arcade place with many old time arcade plays, pinball machines etc. It has also a very different ambience than you would normally expect from a cocktail place - much more energetic, louder, playful. As the owners are also involved in other bars in San Jose like Paper Plane the cocktails aren’t just an afterthought but still an integral part of the bar. Fun place with a different vibe (and all games free on Thursday - don’t know when I played PacMan the last time)
Moonlit Altar - Ukrainian brandy, fig, thyme, clove, cinnamon, pomegranate, lemon, trinity bitters
Tears of Alucard - Rye, amaro blend, fortified wine, grapefruit, cherry bark vanilla bitters
Mystic Fruit (N/A) - NA Apple vodka, peach, guava, lemon, ginger ale
Inside
Outside
As a bonus, they also participate in the Miracle popup for Christmas each year, and are typically a lot less crowded than many of the other bars in the region when they do so.
San Jose is the third biggest city in California but it often feels like a much smaller, quieter city. Nightlife is quite localized on several blocks around San Pedro Square but has a surprising number of cocktail bars. One of them is Five Points https://www.fivepointssj.com which plays a bit in a speak easy ambience and was very quiet at the beginning of the night but got quite crowded later on (including a DJ). Cocktails were well prepared but tended to be a bit on a sweeter side even for those that should have been more spirit-forward
Verdant Hex - Proper 12 irish apple whiskey, amaro, vanilla, sour apple elixir
Bowery Boy - Tequila reposado, mezcal, orgeat, lime, cinnamon, angostura bitters
N/A Cocktail
Inside
Outside
Some cocktail bars are delivering great cocktail and ambience but seem to fly a bit under the radar - Third Rail https://www.thirdrailbarsf.com in Dogpatch is one of them. Very good, well balanced cocktails, dark, relaxed ambiance and just a great neighborhood cocktail bar. Still remember a special of a passionfruit negroni which was one of the best rendition of a negroni - not sweet but perfectly balancing the passionfruit flavors with the complexity of the negroni. They also have a large selection of house-made jerkies as bar food.
Smokeshow - rum, pear liqueur, falernum, lemon, cardamom, star anise, cinnamon
El Dorado - mezcal, tequila, amaro, dry sherry, allspice, chocolate bitters
Penicillin (N/A) - N/A whiskey, ginger, honey, lemon, smoke
Inside
Propagation opened in Lower Nob Hill during an awkward bit of the pandemic, a moment when I wasn’t paying much attention to new openings. The space is distinctive, with dense greenery, warm wood fixtures, and grity industrial elements all vying for your attention.
I opened with The Gardener’s Daughter, apparently one of the program’s evergreen drinks. My palate is a little raw at the moment, so the pepper bitters were extra prominent but not overwhelming, and were well supported by the bright and mild base of citrus, beets, and gin.
Next, I’ll Be Good Today. This is a pleasant enough Alpos sour, but not especially memorable.
At the staff’s recommendation, I followed with the Yesterday is Gone. This is very sesame-forward, and reminded me a bit of the Cold Noodles from Lore or Bar Shoji; but the oolong and lemon support the sesame differently than either of those expressions.
Lastly, Deja Brew is a fun blend of a Manhattan and an Irish Coffee, albeit one that leans heavily to the latter profile. The whip here was salty, not sweet, which was a welcome compliment to the biter and savory flavors of the drink.
Overall, a pleasant night out. I’m not sure that I’d go out of my way for Propagation, but if I find myself in the neighborhood again I’ll certainly pop in.
They like their salted whipped cream - when you mix it into the drink, it actually adds a nice component
Parts of Polk Street in the Lower Nob Hill area has over time become a key area for bar nightlife in San Francisco with many different bar and restaurant concepts. One of the cocktail bars which was part of the early development of this area is Hi-Lo Club https://www.hilosf.com
As the name indicates it has an interesting mix of quality drinks in an laidback, even a bit rough around the edges, environment. It’s not only focusing on cocktails but also has a pretty good selection of beers on tap. Not surprisingly, the cocktails are very well made but are more straightforward than some of the more “high-end” bars and deliver more bolder flavors.
The Scarlet Dalia - Tequila, grapefruit, lemon, pomegranate-honey syrup
Cocktail of the Week - bourbon, triple sec, absinthe (rinse), angostura bitters, peychaud’s bitters
The Bird of Paradise (N/A) - Ritual tequila, lime, sugar, ritual aperitif
Inside
