The Lush

On Thursday April 18th, check out a special wine tasting with wines from Napa’s Vare Vineyard at ~ARLEQUIN WINE MERCHANT~. The vineyard was the first in California to plant the ribolla gialla grape, a Friulian variety rarely seen in the New World. Winemakers from Arnot-Roberts, Ryme, Grassi, Massican, Forlorn…

Good news: ~SAISON~ landed its hard liquor license, so the cocktails are now a-flowin’ in the lounge. Grub Street has a peek at the menu. Meanwhile, MISS OLLIE’S in Oakland now has its liquor license, so you can come in for a Cuba Libre, rum punch, or a shandy…

A bunch of Lower Haight folks were mourning the passing last week of the legendary Lady T, a well-known character in the neighborhood, whether she was freaking you on the dancefloor at Underground SF (I recall having a few turns on the dancefloor with her back when it was The…

There are a few big beer projects coming up soon, starting with the new taproom in SoMa from Connor Casey (Press Club, Marin Brewing) and Tim Sciascia (Marin Brewing and Samuel Adams in Boston) called CELLARMAKER BREWING COMPANY. Grub Street reports that the pair is looking to make some unusual…

On Thursday March 28th, join Jasmine Hirsch of Hirsch Vineyards at ~FOREIGN CINEMA~ for a special tasting, where she’ll be playing sommelier for the evening. Glasses and bottles of Hirsch’s 2010 (San Andreas) and 2011 (Bohan Dillon) pinot noir will be available for purchase, as well as a…

Join bar expert Carlos Yturria at E&O KITCHEN on Sunday March 24th for a cocktail class called Infuse Your Booze: Get Spicy with E&O, which, as the name suggests, is all about infusing liquor with flavah. The focus here will be on spicy infusions (courtesy of…

The fine folks at Dishcrawl are putting on a BrewBenefit on Sunday April 14th. The event is a self-guided tour along Polk St. from 2pm-5pm. You’ll get to taste two different beers at six different bars, and compare them. Plus, a portion of the proceeds go to Meals on…

With the departure of ~ABSINTHE BRASSERIE & BAR~ bar manager Matt Conway, who will be opening his own project on Hayes (in the former Marlena’s), the restaurant has named a new bar manager: Jared Schmidt. Jared was most recently the bar manager at Quince and starts tonight! Pub change:…

Raise a glass to San Francisco’s shady past on Thursday March 14th at the Hooch, Harlots, and History Party at the Old Mint. The event, which is a fundraiser for FlipSide, a San Francisco history and event group, will feature stories from local history buffs (like Cantina’s Duggan…

ABC permits reveal Lower Nob Hill/Union Square dive bar YONG SAN LOUNGE is being taken over by the Duncan Ley/Benjamin Bleiman gang (Bullitt, Tonic, Dr. Teeth, Lightning Tavern, and more). I am beginning to fear for bona fide barflies in this town—with every seedy corner dive bar…