Redwood Room at the Clift Hotel

San Francisco has many historic and landmark institutions, and one of them among the cocktail scene is the Redwood Room in the downtown Clift Hotel.

Partly being historic just means something’s been around for a very long time. The Clift Hotel was built in 1915, a few years after the great earthquake. Then in 1934, the Redwood Room was added by G. Albert Lansburgh, the designer of the War Memorial Opera House.

Ten years ago, the Redwood Room was refurbished by Philippe Starck-Ian Schrager for $50 million. And while the lodge-gentlemen’s club vibe created lots of buzz, I never got a chance to check it out myself.

But last week I was invited to a cocktail tasting party hosted by the Clift Hotel to mark the 10 years since the Starck-Schrager renovations. So I went with my friend Kim, who lives in the neighborhood and also like me had not stepped foot into this historic bar.

The space, of course, gets its name from the redwood used all over, from the walls to the floors (or at least that's the story we were told). It provides a rich and luxurious feel, accented by the large yellow-illuminated bar shelves.

Once Kim and I sat down, along with a few other food bloggers, the parade of cocktails came to the table, all from the Redwood Room’s signature cocktail menu. There was the Huck’s Fizz (Right Gin, huckleberry shrub, thai basil, lemon juice) that I found very refreshing, and the Mandarin Lemongrass Martini (Hanger One Mandarin blossom vodka, lemongrass infused syrup, lime juice) that Kim thought was the best of the night. All were balanced and didn’t have a strong liquor flavor, but subtle in taste. (The cocktails go for a wallet-busting $15 on the regular menu.)

To keep us from getting drunk from all the cocktails, there were also passed h’or douevres such as the perfect breakfast bite – a crostini of truffled scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. There were also duck liver pate, wagu beef on crispy polenta cakes, crispy Brussels sprouts (Kim tried that for me) and squash soup.

All of the h’or douevres are available on the regular bar menu, but the Redwood Room was also trying to showcase the adjacent Velvet Room, the hotel restaurant that was revamped a few months ago from the former Asia de Cuba to a farm-fresh, California seasonal menu created by Executive Chef Ewart Wardhaugh.

Chef Wardhaugh chatted with us briefly, and this engaging Scottish chef (he was named “Young Scottish Chef of the Year” when he was 20) talked about cooking in kitchens from Singapore to Las Vegas.

On this weeknight, the new Velvet Room was like a ghost town compared to the lively Redwood Room. Kim and I took a peek at Chef Wardhaugh’s menu, and while it had some interesting dishes (I was intrigued by the sweet carrot risotto), we agreed the prices for the entrees ($28-plus) were too steep for us to just drop in for an everyday dinner. It's more a place for a special occasion meal.

The Redwood Room and its sister Velvet Room have that old world charm with trendy urban glamour that makes them a unique place in the city. If you live in the Bay Area, you should visit the Redwood Room at least once in your lifetime.

The Redwood Room, inside the Clift Hotel, 495 Geary St., San Francisco. Open daily from 5 p.m. (4 p.m. on Friday and Saturday) until 2 a.m. www.clifthotel.com

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Smuggler’s Cove Bar in San Francisco

Tropical Past in a Cocktail Glass
650 Gough St. (at McAllister), San Francisco
Hayes Valley
PH: 415.869.1900
Open daily from 5 p.m.
No reservations, major credit cards accepted
www.smugglerscovesf.com

Because my friend Ken and I had an early dinner Saturday trying to beat the rush at Una Pizza Napoletana, the night was still young when we were done with our pizzas. So I suggested getting some after-dinner drinks. A bar I’ve been meaning to try for the past year is Smuggler’s Cove, which coincidentally celebrates its one-year anniversary this week.

The tiki-kitsch bar is the brainchild of mixologist/owner Martin Cate, who created a Prohibition-era rum lover’s paradise. It’s a little bit of Trader’s Vic meets Pirates of the Caribbean. When it first opened, the tiny three-story bar had people lining up out the door behind the velvet ropes wanting to get a peek at the tropical décor and a sip of one of the 70 specialty cocktail drinks.

Ken and I got a spot on the second-floor lounge area that overlooks the tiny bar. (The basement was closed for a private show.) We were surrounded by tiki statues, blowfish lanterns and colored glass balls in netting. It’s the kind of kitsch reserved for the tourists when I was growing up in Honolulu, but on this night it felt a bit nostalgic for me.

After flipping through all the options, I decided to order something that sounded like Hawaii, so I got the Kona Cocktail ($9), a never-used recipe from the Don the Beachcomber cocktail book. I guess Ken wanted to get something that reminded of his hometown of Fresno because he ordered something called the Fogcutter.

Memo to self: Don’t let Ken get the drinks. What happened was Ken went to the bar to order the drinks, but he totally didn’t ask the bartender which drink was which.

So when he returned, we pretty much spent the next half hour trying each other drinks to figure out which was which. We finally settled on the fact that this is the Fogcutter because it had a lot of the citrus taste that makes the base of the drink.

This was my Kona Cocktail, made with muddled pineapple, passion fruit, and dark Jamaican rum. Ken and I both liked this cocktail the best, which also had some honey that we didn’t initially taste because it all sunk to the bottom of the glass.

I decided to try one more cocktail, this time the Straits Sling ($9) because it’s based on the Singapore Sling and I remember that drink from this year’s Top Chef finale when they were in Singapore. It’s a refreshing blend of gin, cherry liqueur, Benedictine, lemon and two kinds of bitters. The seltzer water makes the drink feel light too.

Smuggler’s Cove definitely has a lot of kitschy fun to it, and the umbrella-accented drinks are all perfectly blended. (Although the over use of pineapple definitely attracted the fruit flies in the place.) The upper floor lounge is a nice respite from the packed bar below. It’s definitely a little bit of paradise, which is especially nice during these cold winter days.

Single guy rating: 4 stars (Aloha Rum)

Explanation of the single guy's rating system:
1 star = perfect for college students
2 stars = perfect for new diners
3 stars = perfect for foodies
4 stars = perfect for expense accounts
5 stars = perfect for any guy's dream dinner

Let it pour:
Pisco Latin Lounge: “Trying to Shake Up the Neighborhood”
Clock Bar: “Time Stands Still at this Hotel Bar”
Kingman’s Lucky Lounge: “A SOMA Lounge in Oakland”

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Farmers Market Happy Hour for SF Cocktail Week

On Wednesday night, I got drunk. But in a good way. It was the Farmers Market Happy Hour that's one of the many events this week as the city celebrates Cocktail Week. This event, which I went to two years ago, is put on by CUESA and takes place at the San Francisco Ferry Building arcade.

Bartenders from some of the city's hottest lounges mixed up specialty drinks using farm fresh fruits from the season, and a few restaurants served up appetizers so people wouldn't get totally drunk. But this year there seemed to be fewer food booths, which explains how I got drunk so quickly.

It seemed a lot of the bartenders were using citrus and stone fruit, like plouts. But some people cheated where they only used fruit-flavored syrup or infused alcohol as their drink, so they weren't exactly farm-fresh.

But really, I was more interested in the food. Like I said, there seemed to be fewer restaurants serving up dishes, but they were serving up some fantastic-tasting food and a lot of it. One of the first booths I hit up was serving up this shrimp Louie and avocado toast, made by Chef Carlo Espinas of Comstock Saloon. The combination is classic, and it was a nice serving on each perfectly thin toasted slice.

Another classic combination was still a winner in taste. And that's this Black Mission fig tart with goat cheese from the Plant Cafe.

This is the Pimento cheese spread on toast with country farm ham thinly sliced like prosciutto from Chef Scott Youkilis of the new Hogs and Rocks. Again, nothing surprising but all the taste profiles were just on the mark and filling.

For the $40 admission ticket, you get to eat all the small bites and tasting cups from the bartenders. But you also get two full-sized cocktails. The first one I tried was the "September Breeze," which had a long list of ingredients and required several different layers to build it into this perfect drink. The bartender started off with angostura bitters, then added bing cherry extract, martini rosato, and 42 Below honey vodka from Australia. Then there were honey, fresh lemon and soda water and a spritz of verbena water. Very complex and very well balanced.

The second full drink was called "Papa Ghiradelli," and it was good but nothing spectacular compared to the September Breeze. So that's probably why I didn't take notes on the ingredients, but it may also be that by now I was totally wasted.

It was interesting watching the bartenders mix up their drinks, which had some interesting names like The Remedy, Little Horner's Luck, and Square Peg, Round Hole.

Oh, one more food shot. This was actually the night's best and my favorite, IMHO. It's a skewer with grilled Shishito pepper, feta cheese with a slice of coppa, and watermelon. This was dreamed up by Chef Jake Kwan-Rosenbush from 15 Romolo. He was frying up the shishito peppers at the stand and it was my first time trying this "in" pepper and I totally love it. Everything on this stick was amazing and a perfect representation of summer.

As for my favorite drink, I have to give it to this guy, Joel Teitelbaum of Zero Zero.

He created something called a "Her Royal Vintage" and this isn't a shot of it above. That's just a photo of the glass holding the tiny grapes that were thrown into the drink. The drink is made with brandy, Campari and spiced apples and Concord grape syrup with a bit of balsamic vinegar. Everything tasted fantastic and was well balanced. (Some drinks I had at other places were too strong or too weak, but this was just the right amount of alcohol and sweetness from the fruit.) I would give Joel a blue ribbon if I had one.

So it was a fun night of munching and drinking, and watching the bartenders at work. One thing I did learn is not to drunk tweet, which always can be too much information.

San Francisco Cocktail Week is wrapping up, but there's still some events you can get to. So pull up a stool and raise a glass to the season's best.

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A Summer of Pisco Sour

I’ve talked about how the pisco sour is my favorite drink of the moment. It’s partly because of the presentation of egg whites whipped into a foam and partly because pisco was banned in this country until a couple of years ago.

The pisco sour is the national drink of Peru and is pretty popular in other parts of South America as well. I had my first one in Buenos Aires. The main components of a pisco sour are lemon or lime juice combined with egg whites and, of course, pisco, which is a grape brandy. It’s topped off with dots of bitters, usually Angostura bitters.

Pisco also has a connection with San Francisco, which made a once-popular drink called the pisco punch. It’s a fun drink too, but I’m still a pisco sour fan.

So much of a fan that this past summer I decided to go on the search for the best pisco sour in the Bay Area. And luckily, I found a few bars serving this drink up. How many actually served it up right is another story.

Now that summer is over, here’s my list of pisco sours I’ve tried and how they ranked. I should make clear that I’m not an expert on what is a true pisco sour since I didn’t grow up in Peru, but I’m giving you my impressions of which drink was the most balanced and tasty, and in a way took me away to Peru.

I ranked each drink on presentation, authenticity and taste, on a scale of 1 to 5. I found the pisco sour at nine locations, and here they are, starting with the bottom on my list:

Levende East, 827 Washington St. (at 8th), Oakland. 510.835.5585
Cost: $9, Overall rating: 2.5

Presentation: 3.0
Authenticity: 2.0
Taste: 3.0

Notes: This drink threw me off a bit because it was finished without the traditional bitters on top, not even one dot, and it was served with ice cubes. It tasted fine but for some reason without the bitters and with the added ice cubes, it made me feel like I was drinking a margarita, especially with the lime garnish.

La Furia Chalaca, 310 Broadway, Oakland. 510.451.4206
Cost: $9, Overall rating: 2.75

Presentation: 2.75
Authenticity: 2.75
Taste: 3.0

Notes: You would think this Peruvian restaurant would serve up an authentic pisco sour, and if this is how it is, then my idea of a pisco sour is totally off. The drink was served with grated cinnamon instead of the bitters, and I felt the brand of pisco used was especially strong and not very smooth. The multi-colored straws didn’t really say sophistication either.

Absinthe, 398 Hayes St. (at Gough), San Francisco, 415.551.1590
Cost: $9, Overall rating: 2.75

Presentation: 3.0
Authenticity: 2.5
Taste: 2.5

Notes: People raved to me about the pisco sour at the longtime popular restaurant bar, but I have to say the drink was sloppily made, with the bitters drizzled on top without the dots I typically see. Plus, the egg whites dominated the drink and never really separated to reveal the pisco. The pisco also tasted strong, just like whisky. I did appreciate how the drink was served very cold, which makes it a great summer drink.

Five, 2086 Allston Way (at Shattuck), Berkeley. 510.225.6055
Cost: $10, Overall rating: 3.0

Presentation: 2.5
Authenticity: 2.5
Taste: 3.25

Notes: Served in a short champagne glass, Five’s version also had an unusual pattern on top using the bitters, making almost an abstract design. Beyond that, I thought the bitters looked unusually red instead of the typical rust color and the bartender looked like it was the first time he made one in a long while as he went about looking for an egg to whip up the whites.

Pisco Latin Lounge, 1817 Market St., San Francisco. 415.874.9951.
Cost: $9, Overall rating: 3.25

Presentation: 3.25
Authenticity: 3.0
Taste: 3.25

Notes: I had high hopes for the pisco sour at Pisco Latin Lounge. I mean, come on, it has pisco in its name. But it turned an odd twist when the bartender served it with a happy face on top, and then the egg foam never really settled or separated. Also, the particular pisco used was especially strong and didn’t balance well with the overall drink.

Adesso, 4395 Piedmont Ave. (at Pleasant Valley), Oakland. 510.601.0305
Cost: $7, Overall rating: 3.5

Presentation: 3.5
Authenticity: 3.0
Taste: 3.5

Notes: It was served in a really beautiful curved tumbler and the bartender grated nutmeg on top and added the bitters in front of me, which is a nice touch although I wasn’t sure about the nutmeg. The taste was nice and balanced but there were bits of chipped ice in the drink, which I find distracting.

Alembic Bar, 1725 Haight St., San Francisco. 415.666.0822
Cost: $10, Overall rating: 3.75

Presentation: 3.5
Authenticity: 3.5
Taste: 4.0

Notes: The drink was served up in a glass like what you’d serve bear, so not as elegant as others I’ve had, but I thought it was creative how they made a pattern with the bitters (I’m not always totally against unusual patterns with the bitters as long as it looks nice and not sloppy). The taste was a nice balance but overall a bit lukewarm. It could have been more refreshing.

Nopa, 560 Divisadero St., San Francisco. 415.864.8643
Cost: $9, Overall rating: 4.0

Presentation: 4.5
Authenticity: 3.75
Taste: 4.0

Notes: This is one pisco sour I can drink again and again. Nopa puts their own spin with a pattern created by the swirl of the bitter spots, and it’s served up in a martini glass, looking very classy and refreshing. The taste is balanced and quite a bit of a drink, even in a martini glass.

La Mar Cebicheria Peruana, Pier 1.5, The Embarcadero, San Francisco. 415.397.8880
Cost: $5 (Happy hour, 4-6 p.m.), Overall rating: 4.5

Presentation: 4.5
Authenticity: 4.5
Taste: 4.5

Notes: So La Mar is where I found the best version in the Bay Area, looking like what I think a pisco sour should be, with the perfect foam and bitter dashes. This restaurant from Peru serves up its pisco sour in a simple tumbler. The taste was also refreshingly cool with a very balanced pisco and sour combination. It helps that the price is right during happy hour.

Honorable mention: One of my favorite pisco sours I tried this summer was actually in New York when I dined at Eleven Madison Park. This luxurious restaurant also serves up a luxurious pisco sour. What was so unique about this version was the pure frothiness and creaminess of the egg whites and pisco. It was like drinking a smooth liquid custard. I found it very enjoyable even at its high price of $11.

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Dish on Drinks: Pisco Latin Lounge

Trying to Shake Up the Neighborhood
1817 Market St. (at Pearl), San Francisco
Lower Hayes Valley
PH: 415.874.9951
Open Monday to Saturday, 5 p.m. to midnight (till 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday)
Major credit cards accepted
Web site

My favorite drink right now is the Pisco Sour, the ubiquitous drink of Peru. I read about it a few years ago when I was first introduced to Peruvian cuisine, but it was difficult to find the drink in the United States because pisco (a kind of brandy) wasn’t widely available.

But in the last year, pisco has made a big return to California (it was popular during the Gold Rush) and now there’s even a bar bearing its name.

Pisco Latin Lounge opened last year right next door to the popular nuevo Peruvian restaurant Destino. (It’s no coincidence; they’re both by the same owners.) I dropped in recently to check out if they had the best Pisco Sour in town.

The long, narrow space had a mix vibe of Latin lounge and neighborhood bar. While the sun is still out, the natural light sparkles near the front where people can lounge on comfy sofas. Towards the back, there’s a tiny platform area called the “pagoda” that provides a more intimate gathering. (You can reserve that area if you have a large group.)

From 5 to 7 p.m., Pisco Latin Lounge offers special $6 drinks. The night I was there they had a special cucumber martini and a mulled cherry drink. But I was there for the Pisco Sour ($9), so that’s what I ordered.

I failed to mention that I visited on a Friday night. I remember now because the photo shows my Pisco Sour—which traditionally made with foam of egg whites and topped off with Angostura bitter—came with a happy face that my bartender made using the bitters. He was so happy that it was Friday.

It was a bit weird drinking my Pisco Sour with the happy face because it was like I was kissing the drink every time I took a sip. (The happy face never disappeared because the foam stayed thick till the very end.) The overall drink felt like it had too much foam and too much Pisco because it tasted strong.

The bar menu contains several interesting Peruvian-influenced dishes, so I decided to order the Camarones ($10.50), which was the tiger prawns with goat cheese salsa. The prawns looked like perfect bar bites when they arrived because each prawn sat on a maseca chip. So you could pick them up and pop them in your mouth. But I have to say that the overall look, while convenient for eating, did seem a bit rough around the edges. It didn’t look refined. And the taste was lackluster, partially because the maseca chip became soggy from the shrimp juices and salsa.

As more people started arriving and the music pumped up, I ordered the Pisco Negroni ($11) just to see if I could find another pisco drink to like. Made with pisco, sweet vermouth and Campari, the drink was definitely pretty in color but packing a lot of punch. Not sure if it was the different variety of Pisco used or the combination of vermouth and Campari?

Service at the bar was mixed. A couple of servers were friendly and engaging, while my main bartender was more flirty with the girls down the other end of the bar than attentive to the rest of the guests. It’s rare that I sit at a bar and not have a bartender ask me if I need another drink, but that’s what happened as I often emptied my glass and not have anyone push another one on me.

Pisco Latin Lounge seems like a fun neighborhood hangout, but the food and drinks don’t provide any sparks to heat up a hot night.

Note: I’m not giving a rating since this is not a full restaurant. It’s a nice place to drop in if you’re in the area, but I wouldn’t go out of my way.

I wouldn’t say Pisco Latin Lounge made the best Pisco Sour I’ve ever had. So now I’m in search of the best in town. Where do you think serves the best Pisco Sour?



Another round of bar reviews:
Clock Bar: “Time Stands Still at this Hotel Bar”
Kingman’s Lucky Lounge: “A SOMA Lounge in Oakland”
Nihon Whisky Lounge: “Not Really Tokyo But a Whole Lotta Fun”

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A Toast to Winter

This week was "Cocktail Week" in San Francisco, and I really don't know what prompted this special attention to cocktails because in this city it seems like cocktail week is every week. But I guess since we just had Beer Week and there's a wine event almost every month, someone thought the cocktail needed its own week. Who am I to argue?

So one of the event that I checked out was the Winter Farmers Market Cocktail Night put on by CUESA (the Center for Urban and Education about Sustainable Agriculture) and the San Francisco Chapter of the United States Bartenders Guild. It took place this past Wednesday night at the San Francisco Ferry Building. What I liked about this event was the price. It was only $25 for admission and that entitled you to two regular-sized drinks and the chance to try little taste-size drinks created by 12 local bartenders, plus a few munchies from some of the city's best restaurants. (A lot of food events usually cost around $80-$100, so this was definitely more easy on my pocketbook.) Here's a look at how it went:

The first table I saw was from Michael Mina, who was serving up these Smoked Sturgeon Mousse with pickled red onion on a fingerling potato coin all topped off with California caviar. How decadent was this? It was incredible, with the smokey mousse that wasn't fishy at all, and a nice twang from the pickled onion. The only thing was it was hard to pick it up because the potato was a bit slimy for some reason. I guess I wasn't the only one having a problem picking it up because later on I saw they put out little tongs to help people pick up these little gems.

Next bite came from Beretta, which I reviewed recently. They served up a bruschetta with Caponata and Burrata cheese. The toast had a nice crunch, but it lacked any amazing flavor. Kind of my whole feeling about Beretta.

The theme of the event was cocktails using seasonal ingredients, so in wintertime that means a lot of citrus-based drinks. There were a lot of bartenders using blood oranges and tangerines.

Case in point: This drink was called "Blood in the Streets" created by Brian MacGregor, bartender at Jardiniere.

Here's a station using kumquats to make a drink. It was very refreshing. A lot of bartenders mixed their drinks with some fizz like champagne or sparkling wine.

Back to the food, this is another bruschetta served up by Globe Restaurant. It's topped with tuna tartare with olive tapenade. It was really odd to see the tuna in that green shade, but the taste was overshadowed by the prominent olive tapenade (a spread) underneath.

This is Kobe Beef Brisket from Zuppa.

Here's a server putting the brisket into a bun to serve up to people. I wasn't a fan of the bun, and the brisket didn't have much flavor. But you know what? When people drink, they devour basically any kind of meat dish so this was a popular station.

Actually, the food went out within an hour and the event had one more hour to go. So I was glad I got there early. Still, there were a lot of drinking to do so I think people were still happy about that.

The two full-sized drinks offered up tonight included this one called Old Sydneytown Winter Punch. The other full-sized drink was the Original John Collins, which I preferred because it was more subtle the way it was mixed instead of the punch, which was a bit too tart.

OK, who was in charge of checking I.D.s!? LOL.

Some of the bartenders mixing drinks were like rock stars, drawing the crowds and putting on a show. This is Greg Lindgren of Rye, Rosewood and 15 Romolo. He created a drink called "Grey Lady."

This is Evan Roth who bartends at various places around town. He created a drink called "Kiwi Kruze." It's made with Campari, Luxardo and kiwi liquere topped off with ginger beer. Refreshing.

OK, one of the few food stations still serving food was also the one with the biggest crowds. It's the Conduit table and they were serving up Truffled Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Ribeye Carpaccio. The chef was making it up as it went, and everytime he placed out a platter, people would grab them all within seconds.

Here's a close up of the grilled cheese sandwiches. It was amazing! The carpaccio on top was so tender and had a sweet-sour dressing on it that really made the bite unique. No wonder it was so popular.

I liked the dish from Conduit so much I have to give kudos to the team. Pictured above is General Manager Brian Gavin, left, and Chef Justin Deering. Thanks for the great taste guys!

This was a refreshing sangria using a variety of fresh seasonal fruits. Yum.

I had so much to drink, despite the small cup size every cocktail held a lot of punch. I think my favorite of the night was a drink by independent bartender David Nepore who made a drink called "Lady Madonna." What was unusual about it was a liquere ingredient he used called Chartreuse made by French monks. The Chartreuse had an unsual anise like flavor that was really distinctive and made the drink perfect.

I had a lot of fun at this events, and CUESA says they may do it once a quarter for every season. I hope so because what better way to celebrate the season than a nice cocktail from some of the best bartenders in town!

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