the alembic bar

Friday night Andrew convinced me to go up to the city with Waynn and Shayan (two of Andrew's high school friends). I was already in my PJs and unwilling to go out (despite the fact it was only 8:30pm...on a Friday night...I accept the fact I am slightly lame at times). Anyway, I was only convinced to go, because Waynn wanted to try out the Alembic Bar, which was mentioned in the New York Times article "In San Francisco, a Cocktail Is Not Just a Drink". I decided to go since I like trying new places, and I can be a pretentious food snob. So we left from Waynn's apartment and drove to Haight & Ashbury.

There weren't any open seating when we got there, so one of the servers put Waynn's name down and said she would call once a table opened up. We headed over to Escape from New York - a New York pizza place that was a couple stores down from the bar. We bought some slices and pizza and ate there while we waited for space to open up at Alembic. About 40 minutes later, we got a call and headed over.

We were seated at a table at the back of the bar (it was two smaller tables pushed together). They had a menu of "Nibbles" and "Local Love" for small appetizers a menu of "cocktails" and "drinks". We each ordered a cocktail, since that was what Alembic was known for. I ordered the Jack Rose, which is a mixture of Applejack, grenadine, and lemon juice. It was pretty good, fruity and not to bitter. Andrew ended up drinking it since he really didn't like his. Andrew ordered the Gilded Lily, which is a mixture of plymouth gin, yellow chartreuse, orange flower water, and sparkling demi-sec (a sweet wine), and a little flake of gold leaf. I liked it, despite it being made from gin. It has somewhat of a bite to it, but the flavors mixed really well together, and I the orange flower water was a nice touch. Shayan ordered The Poopdeck Cocktail, which was a mixture of cognac, port win, and blackberry brandy. It tasted delicious, probably because of the blackberry brandy. Waynn ordered the Bourbon Old-Fashioned, which is a classic cocktail made from whiskey, bitters, sugar, and a twist of lemon peel. It tasted terrible, I think I really don't like bourbon - I totally gagged when I tried it. Later Waynn ordered the Vice Grip, which was a mixture of araku coffee rum liqueur, brachetto d'aqui (a wine), and porter foam (beer). It sounds weird and strange, but tasted so delicious. It was my favorite drink by far.

We also tried some of their nibbles and local loves. I ordered the goat cheese croquettes with romesco. they were these fried goat cheese balls, that was served on the romesco in an escargot plate. I also ordered crispy pork belly, which was extremely fattening but also delicious. It was served with black trumpet mushrooms (my favorite part of the dish), brussels sprouts, and hot mustard. We also ordered the togarashi popcorn (spiced popcorn), za'atar potato chips (baked potato chips served with a herbed yogurt sauce, marinated olives with roasted nuts, and little fried fish (wasabi-ikura aioli covered fish served with lemon and tartar sauce). I enjoyed the fried fish a lot, the others were okay (since I'm not a big fan of popcorn, chips, or olives).

All in all, it was a pretty cool place. Reasonably priced for what they are. Unfortunately I didn't try their dessert menu, which I found out about later, as well as their daytime cocktails. I really want to try a mint julep sometime, ever since we read the The Great Gatsby in English AP senior year. (My friends and I acted out that scene where Daisy makes Tom a mint julep - somewhere around chapter 7).