Liam's List

  Greetings chums,

This week's list is all about Happy Hours and hangouts where you can enjoy killer cocktails or indeed first class wines.

Cocktail Week gets underway in San Francisco on May 11th. Save the date and some time in your schedule to grab a libation at any one of the Bay Area's many great watering holes.  sfcocktailweek.com/site/event-schedule

For now, have a fab weekend and enjoy the list.

Cheers, Liam

1 - HAPPY VINO HOUR
Press Club
20 Yerba Buena Lane, San Francisco
Friday, Saturday, Sunday 11am - 9pm
Monday to Thursday 2pm - 9pm
Escape to the wine country without leaving town at Press Club. Eight NorCal wineries (Chateau Montelena, Miner, among them) and their wines are showcased here. The concept is simple; come, taste, soak up you favorite wine. The ambiance is cool and inviting and the perfect spot to drop into after work or before heading out for a downtown dinner. The tastings range form $3 to $12.50. Find the wine you like and then go for a glass or a bottle. This is the most exciting new vino destination to open in downtown SF in an age. 
pressclubsf.com

2 - RITE ON HAPPY HOUR
Rite Spot Cafe
2099 Folsom Street, San Francisco
Monday to Friday, 5 - 7pm
This Mission district dive bar has five days of happy hours for your imbibing pleasure. It's a deal here Monday to Friday with a dollar off beers, spirits and wine. You have to love that. This 60-year-old neighborhood bar is lowly lit and offers decent pub grub as well as a full bar. The pastas here are surprisingly good and all priced under $12. Bar staff Nicole and Ed add spirit to the Rite Spots funky vibe. There is music here most nights, too and no cover charge. Reuben Rye is my favorite musical turn. He plays classic tunes on an old school piano; the Cure and A Flock of Seagulls never sounded so good. Hit this spot even if you live across town. Check the web site for the entertainment line up and cafe menu. See you there. 
ritespotcafe.net

3 – CHILLED HAPPY HOUR
Bambuddha Lounge
Phoenix Hotel
601 Eddy Street, San Francisco
Wednesday to Friday 5.30pm - 7.30pm
Happy hour starts now at one of San Francisco's coolest lounges. Located on the edge of the Tenderloin in the Phoenix Hotel, (where the rock stars stay when gigging in town). Bambuddha Lounge is a cool spot, with cool staff and cool, affordable cocktails. During happy hour you'll find a variety of specialty drinks at just $5. The mango mojito with Mount Gay mango rum, fresh lime juice and muddled mint is a delicious after-work lifesaver. The happy hour food is a treat, too. Try the sesame lime evicted for just $3, and orange hoi sin chicken wings for $5. This is a Happy Hour with a capital "H". 
bambuddhalounge.com

4 - HAPPY FRENCH HOUR
La Folie Lounge
2316 Polk Street, San Francisco
Monday to Saturday 5pm to 1am
It's happy hour every hour at the brand-spanking new lounge next door to one of San Francisco's most popular restaurants, La Folie. Under the eye of French Chef Roland Passot, the lounge is the perfect compliment to the restaurant. A great selection of wines and a little tasting tease of the four-star offerings from the kitchen next door, bar bites like salmon lollipops, truffled popcorn. Consider the lounge an amuse busche, if you will. A full review to be posted here soon. Heading to the lounge tonight. Perhaps I will see you there.
http://www.lafolie.com/ 

5 - HAPPY COSMO HOUR
The Cosmopolitan's Bubbly & Beer Garden
21 Spear Street (at Mission), San Francisco
Wednesday and Friday, 4pm - 8pm
The Cosmopolitan offers $4 Belgian beers and bubbly at it's bi-weekly happy hour. Enjoy happy hour offerings like waffle and chicken sausage sliders and applewood smoked ham and gruyere pressed sandwiches, yum for just $4. The garden party also boasts discounted ales include Affligem Blonde, Duvel Golden Ale, Grimbergen Dubbel and La Fin du Monde. Now this is one fine happy hour. 
thecosmopolitancafe.com

6 - HAPPY COCKTAIL HOUR
15 Romolo
15 Romolo Street, San Francisco
Happy Hour Daily 5 - 7.30pm
It is happy hour every hour at this cool watering hole, a hidden gem up a side street steps away from the hustle and bustle of North Beach's main drag. Behind the bar you will find some of the best mixologists SF has to offer, shaking up a drinks storm such as: The Ruby Tues, The Rum Whizzle, and - my favorite - Mr. Peabody.  It's a delicious concoction of gin, Earl Grey tea, cara cara marmalade and bergamot tincture!  Need I say more? Drop in anytime but happy hour is particularly festive with $6 pimm's cups and $5 well drinks. The bar boasts first class food, too, a step up from usual bar fare, including pulled pork sliders that are too tasty for words and funnel cakes that will take you back to the carnival and to a happy place.  For late owls, the kitchen - manned by Scott Baird - is open daily from 6pm to 1:30am.
yelp.com/biz/15-romolo-san-francisco 

7 – A TASTE OF PARIS HAPPY HOUR
Grand Cafe Brasserie and Bar
501 Geary Street, San Francisco
Monday to Friday 4pm to 7pm
One of the city's best brasseries is reborn and is inviting you to a new happy hour where you can wet your whistle and make your tummy happy. Go to the bar at Grand Cafe for a right royal treat of a happy hour. Star Chef and my pal Mauro Pando has come up with a menu with the flavors of France and all easy on the stomach and wallet; salt cod beignets, salmon rillette on toast for just $4, tomato goat cheese terrine tapenade, and pissaladiere for $5.   How about libations like Sierra Nevada for just $3, Kronenberg a steal at $4. Is this not the happiest happy hour ever?
grandcafe-sf.com 

8 - HAPPY HOUR WITH ALICE
Alice Restaurant
Skyline Boulevard (Off Hwy 84), Woodside
Daily 4pm to 6pm
Alice Restaurant has been a fave spot for bikers for decades but this cozy joint at the crossroads of Highway 84 and Highway 35 (Skyline) is open to all. It's a great spot for breakfast, lunch or dinner but the best time to visit is happy hour. You'll find happy prices: draft beers for $3.50 and wine just $4. Plus, there is a LIVE band on Fridays to keep your toes tapping while you soak up some suds.
alicesrestaurant.com 

9 - TEXAS-STYLE HAPPY HOUR
Back 40 Texas BBQ
100 Coggins Drive, Pleasant Hill
Daily 3.30pm to 5.30pm
Drop into Back 40 for a special happy hour menu with tasty items, a treat at a fraction of the usual price, with everything at $3.25. My recommendations: BBQ chicken quesadillas, the delicious beef sliders and the naughty-but-nice nachos. You'll get $1 off well drinks and beers.  And soak it all up with live music from 6pm into the evening.  Check the web site for the full menus and details about their frequent Texas hoe-downs.
http://www.backforty.us/dineinMenu_PH.htm 

10 - TWO FOR TWO HAPPY HOURS
Garibaldi's
5356 College Avenue, Oakland
Monday to Friday 5pm - 7pm and 9pm to 11pm
It might just be the best happy hour in the East Bay. At 5pm drop in for two hours for an after work social, killer cocktails and cheap eats. The late night crowd may enjoy the late happy hours from 9pm to 11pm. All the yummy items on the menu are half-price; grilled hamburger for $7, the classic Caesar salad for $7.25 and their house pizzas from $5.50. Cocktails are killer, too. My favorite is the Oxford Shuffle: gin, English cucumber and fresh lime. Yum!
garibaldisrestaurant.com/oakland.html 

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