VinDivine - Living it Up John & Janine Style

Bamboo Hut - North Beach

You know this place. Located in the midst of the strip clubs on Broadway. "Where? Strip clubs?? On Broadway??? You must be mistaken, my kind sir. Well, I'd never..." Yeah, that place, sucka. Don't try to pull that innocent, pure as the driven snow crap with us.

Anyhoo, we love love love the 'Hut. As much we as we aren't that turned on by the specific area (B&T'ers, a-holes blowing off way too much steam in North Beach, perverts coming and going from the strip clubs...no that wasn't me!) BH is a destination for VdV. Word.

And here's why: It's a cool Tiki Bar. And what red-blooded American doesn't like a good Tiki Bar? Hey you! I saw that look. Damn Fascist Pig! Plus we are facing somewhat of a Tiki Bar shortage, with the closing of the Tonga Room by those capitalistic pigs that don't want their home prices to suffer, or have the wrong crowd hanging around their ritzy-ritz Fairmont Hotel Condos.

Anyway, Bamboo Hut has an awesome vibe, people! Hell, it's called the Bamboo Hut! Kinda divey (in a good way), a little of that Trader Sam's going on (in a good way) but apart from the laid back island-ish ambiance (sand on the floors, tikis, island decor), it's the fun crowd (well, mostly but on the wrong night you'll get huge amounts of d-bags and even a few d-hags) but mostly killer folks like Mario (behind the bar, cool, fun, always laughing, kickin' it always), James (GM, cool, a crack-up but keeps shit in line) that keep it real; from bringing in some awesome DJs, mixing some drinks that'll turn ya retarded, and in general just making for a rockin' good par-tay scene. There's drinkin', dancin' and...wait, what's that redneck joke?

Redneck: 'Hey boy, we're having a party tonight. There's gonna be a lot of drinkin', dancing' and screwin' goin' on'.

Boy (not really a 'boy' per sé. More like a young man. Of legal age. A little nervous but trying to be polite): 'Hey mister redneck, sounds like fun. What should I bring?'

Redneck: 'Don't make much difference to me, boy. It's only gonna be the two of us.'

Anyhoo, apologies for the diversion. And no, the Hut is not a redneck place. This was a tangent. Just go with it. 

So, ya got your tropical tiki-ish drinks like the Giant Flaming Bowl of Fire (Seriously. I cannot recall the actual name, but ask for the Giant Flaming Bowl of Fire and I'm sure they'll know what you mean), the Chi Chi, buckets of brew for cheap, awesome happy hours and great tunes. No matter what mood you're in when you walk in, you'll have a smile on that face of yours in no time.

BTW Mario does not promote himself strongly enough. On the side he's also an accomplished artist, with some kick-ass hip-hop-ish tunes. Look for Wreckelekt on MySace. Or check him out on iTunes. Or hell, better yet just go to Bamboo Hut and see him in person. Bam.

OK, I think this review sets the record for most use of (parenthesis) and 'ish'-es. Wow.

VdV Rating: 4.5

Hours:
Tue. 8:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Wed-Fri. 5:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Sat. 7:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.

Bamboo Hut
479 Broadway (near Kearney)
San Francisco, CA 94133-4513
(415) 989-8555

15 Romolo - North Beach

So Scott Baird (formerly mixologist at CoCo 500 and lots of other experience, but that's where we met him) and Aaron Smith took this place over about a year or so ago and have kicked some serious ass, giving an already pretty cool bar, a cool redesign and even better drink and bar food menu. we've been there several times.

15 Romolo is tucked away in the midst of all the B'Way strip clubs, and it's cool that not that many people know about it. It's cool in the way that it's almost like Romolo wants to be kept secret...but not really. Let's just say Romolo plays hard to get. 

The space is a good sized rectangle that can hold plenty of people. Tables around the perimeter, a bar against one corner and a lot of space in the middle of the room. Seems like they could add a couple high tables in the middle part, then just remove them when the partyin' gets goin. But hey, whom am I to say.  It's nice and dark even during the afternoon, and a cool mix of kind of chic, but not too fancy and just slightly down-and-dirty. Whatdya call that? A paradox? Kinda like a model that's not the most glam, but hotter because of it. Anyway, on your request I'll move on.

This place always has some killer tunes blasting from the jukebox. That is, unless some dude with no musical taste pumps in $10 worth. But typically the tunes are jammin', and the jukebox has a humongous selection. The libations, you ask? Well, darlin', let's just say they know how to concoct a cocktail. Here's just a couple winners:

• Rio Grande - Made with our fave tequila, Siete Leguas Reposado, Old Grand Dad 100 proof bourbon, lemon and lime juices with a chili/salt rim. Yeowsa!

• Spaghetti Western - A definite hangover special, kittens. Made with (lots of) Rye, some Campari, tomatoes, salt and Pilsner. Kind of like a Red Eye but better.

• Golden Triangle (proceeds the AIDS Foundation)  - Made with Scotch, Ginger Liqueur, Apricot Liqueur, lemon, orange and egg whites.

Need some soakage with that? Well, Scott whips up an awesome, inventive menu to go along with the awesome, inventive cocktails. He actually spends almost all his time back in the kitchen. And it shows. I think he's put on a pound or ten since he started Romolo. Hey's it's 'cuz his food is good!

Ya gotta gotta gotta try the Chicken Wings 'Boricuas' - BIG wings, tossed in home made chili sauce, w/ coconut milk, scallions and cilantro. No dipping sauce, but saucy enough. You saucy wing, you. These are f'ing incredible. What else? The Jambalini, bitches! Ya get 5 jambalaya croquettes, ping-pong sized rice-based balls with excellent creole spices then deep fried and served with a spicy creole aioli. And no visit to Romolo is complete without snarfing down the Smoked Pork Sliders, yummy little rascals served with slaw and smoky slider sauce. And of course, finish with the Funnel Cake. Wait. WTF?! Funnel cake? What type of post-state-fair-stoned-outta-your-mind creation is that!? We'll save that for the next visit. It's served with bourbon cream in it, so there's 1/2 a chance I'll try it!

And, to summarize: this is one of the best bars in North Beach without a doubt.

VdV Rating:
Overall: 9

Hours:
Sun-Sat 5p-2a

15 Romolo
15 Romolo Place (betw. Broadway & Fresno)
San Francisco
(415) 398-1359

Mangarosa - North Beach

Our friend Loren took us here one night. He squeezed us in between his dating frenzy and his Arabic class. C'mon Loren, do you need to be ANY smarter?

Anyhoo, while he's frolicking in Iceland and Norway we're in sunny Tahoe blogging away about what? Good Italian-Brazilian grub....huh?

This place is RIGHT next to one of our favorite bars Tony Niks. So we walk in and belly up to the bar and look at the drink menu. "The best margarita" is what they tout! NO WAY. How do you do that? Being the experts we are we ordered up a round and while they don't get those exact kudos, they do brew up a decent one.

We decided to stay up at the bar to eat and glad we did. For starters, Loren orders up the cheese bread. Cheese bread? Hmmmm. No hmmm's about it this stuff ROCKS. They deep fry these dough balls and inject them with cheese. So what if they lodge themselves in your arteries? They Taste Good. Continuing the Heart Health theme, we also ordered up some yucca fries, which I thought were going to be weird but we gobbled them up. Not Enough Carbs Yet! So we went in for the pastries, which are to die for: 6 of them in all, 2 cheese, 2 chicken and 2 beef...trifecta! Then we finished up with the steak which I know everyone says is the bomb, trust everyone, it is. Rare, as usual.

Everyone here seems real nice and they even have valet parking (woo hoo!). Of course we finished up the night with too many 'tinis at Tony Niks. An awesome night! Taxi!

Mangarosa
548 Stockton St
San Francisco, CA 94133

Rosewood Bar - North Beach

This bar is G-R-E-A-T! It really gets going in the later hours. Bartenders are awesome and the place is MOD. A great place to add to your bar crawl or end up from. It's about 2 blocks off the main drag of the hustle and bustle of North Beach so much so that you say to your drunken friends, "Are you sure we're going to the right place?"

Small dance floor in the back and a nice patio outdoors for you smokers to enjoy. How come the smokers get all the cool outdoor places?

Janine had her company holiday party there, awesome place to rent out for one. Hoo boy, this is a pretty good recollection of the place since everyone got their drink and dance on THAT night.

Ask for Jon Gasparini, owner. Awesome guy and a friend of ours. He also partly owns A16 and Romolo, wow, trifecta success!

Rosewood Bar
732 Broadway
San Francisco, 94133
(415) 951-4886

Bubble Lounge - North Beach

What could be better than bubbles? LOTS O' BUBBLES! This champagne bar takes the bubble. Bubblicious? Puddles of Bubbles? Yes, yes and yes. Dress HOT (no shorts and tees here chic people), get past the doorman, grab an oversized couch or chair with your posse or date, order up your $20+ glass o' bubbly and start sippin' not trippin' cuz this place packs 'em in.

You can get some CRAZY champagne in this place by the glass! Gosset, Taittinger, Krug all great vintages. They even have MORE THAN ONE choice of rosé! How extravagant!

You may need to grease the palms of the hostess to grab your space but hell, who cares when you're ponying up BUCKS for the glass.

Oh and if it's dinner you're cravin' fuggetaboutit. You want cheese, sushi rolls, foie gras, or shrimp? NP. Anything other than that go to Bix, Myth, or Bocadillos next door.

John had his 40th bday party downstairs and they do it up right. Great space, great catering and you're sure to leave with a killer buzz, I think we ended up dancing at the Comet Club all night afterwards - THAT'S how much we had to drink:-)

Bubble Lounge
714 Montgomery St.
San Francisco, CA 94111
415-434-4204

Tony Niks - North Beach

This is a BAR people, no food in here unless you count Liquid Lunch. And it's a damn good one, these 'mixologists' make some of the best sidecars and lemon drops and purple hooters you'll ever have. The Manhattans look pretty serious too.They know their stuff. Go RETRO here folks, they sure do. It's like stepping back into the 50s, (and it looks like some of the folks sitting at the bar showed up on opening day and never left!). It's got a low lit deco decor, you can hide out in the back seats and no one will know you're there. Watch out though the low lites and music can overtake your mood and you never know who has a camera around ;-)

It's small and very cozy. Go later in the evening when you want to put a cap on ya nite. We went with our friends Josh and Julia after a party, woo, what an end to a great night.

Stockton - cross is Union. No valet, but eat at Citizen Thai down the street first. Park at Romolo. Afterward, stumble over to Golden Boy Pizza around the corner for some soakage. And then, call a taxi;)

Tony Niks
1534 Stockton St
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 693-0990

 

Citizen Thai and The Monkey

This ain't no take out Thai my friend, no way. This place is great. It's got a few floors to it and frankly we've never been off of the bottom floor and we love it. In the heart of North Beach where the ole' Basta Pasta was, it's upscale Thai Restaurant and the people that work there rock. Our friend Loren introduced us to it and we're HOOKED.

Side note - It's actually TWO restaurants, "Citizen Thai" is "supposedly" a different place than "The Monkey" which is why you see two different menus. WHY you ask? Some idiotic planning rule that says in North Beach you can't have a big place.

Anyhoo, The Monkey menu is basically a noodle menu, the menu you want is the Citizen menu. Start ordering almost everything on this menu. Crying Tiger salad made us freakin weep with joy, Bags of Gold Chicken and Prawn in rice paper, are awesome. Note for couples: There are 5, make sure you split the last one or your chick will kick your ass for it. Oh, and you can't leave without ordering the Chicken Pumpkin curry, it actually comes IN a pumpkin!

We had some specialty cocktails too, try the watermelon mojito, or the red monkey...refreshinnnnnn. The wine list rocks for a Thai place, Gruner Veltliner by the glass or half bottle of Murphy Goode Fume Blanc.

No valet, but a secret, there is parking on Romolo behind the Romolo bar, but you have to be ok with driving your car up a 90 degree angle. Oh and don't tell too many people, that's OUR parking secret.

After dinner you can walk over to Romolo, Tony Niks, or the Rosewood and get your bomb on!

Citizen Thai and The Monkey
1268 Grant St.
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 364-0008