Lone Palm The neighborhood bar is a great place to have a classic cocktail under dim lighting while sitting in a comfy chair at a white-cloth table, and staff members know how to make someone new feel like a regular. There’s no concrete menu and no drink specials written on the mirrored walls, but there’s a profusion of creativity. A couple of palm trees in every corner and the dim lighting make the atmosphere feel like a beach house somewhere much warmer. Read More

Pisco is doing all the right things to stake out a presence in a city with an abundance of focused cocktail bars. The use of fresh ingredients, house-made mixers and an area of specialization—in this case, the use of pisco, a grape brandy ranging in strength from 60 to 86 proof — make it worthy of your happy hour to-do list. The rest of the U.S. is still catching on to the South American liquor that San Franciscans, thanks to Gold Rush-era Chilean and Peruvian immigrants, have been tipping back since the 1850s. Read More

You’ve probably heard: After years of stern wrist slaps, The City’s Department of Sanitation finally delivered Tu Lan a killing blow. The iconic dive was shut down in late July, and barring a highly forgiving appeals board, won’t be allowed to reopen. It’s no surprise, to me or anyone who visited this Sixth Street funhouse, that Tu Lan wasn’t the cleanest. Still, the violation list was hard to digest: meat festering on countertops, gloveless staffers scratching themselves and prepping food, a skittering menagerie of roaches and mice. Read More

While making mushroom risotto the other night, I ran out of cooking wine. What to do when the guests are a half-hour away? I asked my better half to dip into the white wine box, grab a bottle and pour a glass for me without telling me what it was, as I always taste my samples blind (whether or not they end up in risotto). I took a sip of this slightly golden-colored liquid, sat down to write some notes and asked my co-pilot to grab another bottle; this was way too good for each and every sip not to be enjoyed as a beverage. Read More