Spa-inspired drinks a specialty at Boboquivari

Health nut: Bobo’s bartender Heidi Walrath is so passionate about nutrition that some of her concoctions will reflect that love. She has even made cocktails with the immune-building drink mix Emergen-C, putting it on the rim of a glass. (Christina McNeill/Special to The Examiner)

We’ve had many a bartender make us feel good once we slid ourselves off their bar stools. Bobo’s resident mixologist, Heidi Walrath, however, had us feeling downright great. The gal just beams optimism and positive energy. She’s currently studying to be a chiropractor and is also deeply interested and invested in nutrition, which explains why she deems many of her cocktails, well, healthful. One of her spa-inspired drinks is the Q-Ball, which brings together Hangar One Buddha’s Hand Citron, fresh cucumber, lemon and mint. She even once made a cocktail with Emergen-C on the rim. If you use a lot of fresh citrus — such as lemons and limes — as it breaks down in your body, it reduces the acidity (which is what alcohol amplifies). We feel better already. Next time we need a liquid diagnosis, we’re hitting up Walrath, who will give us our medicine via stemware, not needles. 1450 Lombard St., S.F.;
(415) 441-8880, www.boboquivaris.com

Where are you from? Oregon, originally. I’ve been in the Bay Area since about 1995, grew up in the Palo Alto High School area. Just lived around the Bay for a while. Decided to check The City out. [I’m] now studying to be a chiropractor.

How did you get into bartending? I was actually working a full-time, regular job, never worked in restaurants in my life, and realized I don’t want to finish business school and want to start all over again. I tried hairdressing one day, and realized I didn’t want to do hair. So I was like, “OK, all my girlfriends are bartenders, let’s try that out.”

What was your first gig? I worked up the ranks. I worked two jobs back to back at a hotel in Palo Alto banquet bartending. My first job as a bartender, I worked a 350-banjo-player banquet, and they were all 80 and over.

What did they order? Scotch on the rocks with just the right splash of water, and I remember getting lectured on how much water to put and why not to put too much by an 87-year-old man. He was hitting on me, actually, because I was
22 at the time.

We understand some of your cocktails are “healthful”? Well, I have a nutrition background, and my mother owned a vegetarian restaurant when I was growing up. She was very into health, very into using organic products. The fruit thing, the natural juices, for me, is really important because that’s what my passion is. Besides chiropractic, nutrition is my other big thing. Because I’m learning to be a doctor, I want to be able to understand people and read people … so when people sit down, I try to figure out what cocktail is best for them.

When you’re a doctor, if you could hand people “their” cocktail, during their consultation, it would be sweet. Yeah, you know, I figure bartender, doctor, nutrition health … I don’t know if the other doctors would appreciate it. But you know, I just like people. I see this as a path to practice in the future. I learn to interact with people, and I learn to balance multiple things at once. And you hear people’s stories, and I get to sit here and listen to a lot of stuff, and people are incredible.

Since this is a steakhouse, what’s the best cocktail to have with a steak? We do a lot of basil, a lot of garlic here, so ... I’d always recommend a basil martini. It’s smooth, it’s got that fresh lime into it. It’s mostly vodka and the basil, and we put a lot of basil in a lot of our food, so it’s very complementary. —

The Dream

• 3 to 4 blackberries
• 1 oz. vodka
• 1 oz. vanilla vodka
• ½ oz. housemade lemonade
• ½ oz. simple syrup

Add blackberries to the bottom of a pint glass. Next, add ice and vodka through simple syrup. Shake together (the shaking will break down the blackberries). Strain into a martini glass with a sugar rim.