Now that CURRY UP NOW on Valencia has a beer and wine license, they are serving low-proof craft cocktails (created by Bittercube in the Midwest) plus 14 microbrews on tap and California wines. You’ll find an Indian-inspired “Manhattan” with an oak-infused vermouth and an Italian Chinato, plus wine-based aperitifs, spritzers, cobblers, sangrias, punches, Champagne cocktails, and shandies. There are also some craft-bottled sodas, like a pineapple-vanilla phosphate and mango chai soda. 659 Valencia St. at 17th St., 415-504-3631.
Meanwhile, over at NICO, Maz Naba has come over from Rich Table and is the restaurant’s director of operations and beverage director. He’ll be busy overseeing service elements and developing the wine and beer lists, in addition to adding a rosé wine program, starting with 15-20 different rosés on the bottle list, and offering about 5 by the glass (you can even opt for an all-rosé wine pairing with a future tasting menu). Cheers to that! Nico is also known for opening a magnum of sparkling wine each evening to pour by the glass, which includes vintage Champagne. Cheers to that, too. 3228 Sacramento St. at Lyon, 415-359-1000.
Did you know that Foreign Cinema’s Gayle Pirie is an avid vinyl collector, and her collection now includes more than 50 years of classics, many from her family? We’re talking jazz, funk, Mississippi blues, and way, way more—if you’re interested, here’s a compiled library. She’ll be debuting the collection at ~FOREIGN CINEMA~ Tuesday June 10th (tonight), when DJs will be playing records every evening from 6pm-9:30pm. At LASZLO, the vinyl will also be on display on Thursday evenings from 6pm-9:30pm for Vinyl Side Thursdays. Album sides will be selected and paired with a special beverage that fits the album’s themes, mood, and style. The first Thursday, on June 12th, will pay tribute to the classic voices of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin with a classic, simple martini. 2526 Mission St. at 21st St., 415-401-0810.
Awhile back, we gave away a very cool Coravin unit on tablehopper, and just in case you haven’t heard the recent news about the Coravin system, I wanted to make sure you knew the latest. It ends up that in very rare circumstances, damaged or flawed wine bottles may burst, even under low pressure. Coravin has had seven reports of burst bottles, one involving an injury. In all but one incident, bottles burst into two pieces and in the remaining incidents into four pieces. They believe that the rate of bottle rupture is about 1:78,000, and the rate of injury less than 1:500,000, however Coravin wants to take a careful approach and has decided to advise users to always use a neoprene wine bottle sleeve when pouring with the Coravin System. The company will provide all existing and future customers with a remedy package that includes a neoprene wine bottle sleeve, and they hope to be receiving, processing, and beginning to ship remedy packages to customers in the next 30 days. Here is an updated safeguards sheet to look at.
