Behind the Bar

A Locals Design Guide to Bars, Restaurants, and Lounges.

Aug 26, 2008

Here's to you, Fuzzy Foreigner

Foreign Cinema


Neighborhood: Mission
2534 Mission St
(between 21st St & 22nd St)
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 648-7600
www.foreigncinema.com

In the Know: In the past five years, travel overseas by Americans for religious reasons has grown by more than 50 percent; clocking in at around 906,000. Now if you want to get on that train, Foreign Cinema is practically a transplant from Florence. And, believe me when I say it is very much a religious extravaganza. As far as design...

Behind the Bar: All-in-all the place ranked high as a server friendly space. But as with any job, there are going to be qualms. Imagine working in a space resembling MC Eschers' Relativity. (Referring to the different amount of rooms and way to access those rooms and not so much when you enter one of those rooms you'll end up on the ceiling. However, that would be frick'n cool!) The designers...

Who's Who: Recommended for romantic daters, anniversary celebrators, and/or holiday partyers. Oh ya, and if you need a ridiculously large and multi-leveled space to impress people you hardly know.

Gimme More!

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Aug 25, 2008

'Taint'ed Love


Poleng Lounge


Neighborhood: Western Addition/NOPA
1751 Fulton St
(between Central Ave & Masonic Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94117
(415) 441-1751
In the Know: Do not let the outside fool you. This place has depth, quite literally. Housing two rooms, the Fireside Lounge (front room) and the Temple Room (back room), this multi-functional Balinese inspired space shares its time between restaurant, lounge, and nitelife hot spot....

*WARNING* Due to the graphic nature of this post (i.e. I worked here for over a year ) viewer's discretion is advised.

Behind the Bar: As I am sure you know, this section is reserved for the good, the bad, and the fugly in regards to how functional the space is for its patrons. Just as important, if not more, is if the design works for the people that spent hours a day/night there. With this in mind, my negative issues with the space heavily out way the positive.....

Who's Who: There is something here for all. The HH crowd consists of mostly young, cheap USF students and older, even more cheap USF Law students :) Dinner is a great time for young lovers,...

Gimme More!

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Aug 21, 2008

Ground Control to Major Q










Q

Neighborhood: Inner Richmond
225 Clement Street (between 3rd Ave & 4th Ave)S
San Francisco, CA 94118
(415) 752-2298
http://www.qrestaurant.com/

*Disclaimer- Due to the consumption of a certain alcoholic beverage prior to my departure for the restaurant, my camera was left at my apartment; hence the lack of pictures. I have borrowed some from yelp and plan on returning to Q to take my own pictures but for now please sit tight. And if you are not the sitting tight type, there are people you can contact to help you with that.

In the Know: I know you have been losing sleep over it. Don't worry, I have too. How does one combine a gigantic paper mache moon (actually looks more like stucco but in my book paper mache is a $2 word whereas stucco clocks in at $1.23) , an indoor tree (this ain't no fluffy fragrant ficus), and magnetic letters into a cohesive design...

Behind the Bar: One of the servers commented on only having one Micros (or at least I think she said micros-- and to her credit she really liked having just one) system behind the bar for the whole restaurant. Now the space isn't exceptionally large, and to my calculations there was only two servers for the space*, so having multiple point of sales isn't absolutely necessary....

Who's Who: Anyone from the guy that forgot to pull the toilet paper from his razor cut face to the girl that thinks she is the cats meow (who could better be described as the coughed up hairball during that meowing session of this so-called cat) to the fat kid in class, everyone is welcome!...

Gimme More!

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Aug 20, 2008

Ode to the hidden/not so hidden gem

B Restaurant & Bar

Neighborhood: SOMA Yerba Buena Gardens - Upper Terrace
720 Howard St
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 495-9800


In the Know: As I am sure you all know (statement directed towards the SF locals), if the weather is nice, enjoying a glass of wine outside is a real treat. Of course, unless you want to be shunned while wearing your best business casual...


Who's Who: PG rating. You can pretty much enjoy this spot for all ages. Could even be nice to take your kids to during the day; you enjoy a sip of wine, they frolic around the water fountain...

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Aug 19, 2008

Oh Johnny!














BAR JOHNNY
Neighborhood: Russian Hill
2209 Polk St (between Bonita St & Vallejo St)
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 268-0140
http://www.barjohnny.com/

In the Know: What a cute and quaint little joint. Designer Sheri Sheridan (of Otis and Salt House) did a fantastic job in regards to space planning. She complimented ...

Behind the Bar: Missing that extra couple feet in your space? Wanna separate the entrance from the the patrons that are dining next to your entrance?

Who's Who: This space is pretty user friendly. That is, if the user is in their late 20's all the way to early 40's.

Gimme More!

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Aug 18, 2008

Metal and wood and brick, oh my!

District
Neighborhood: SOMA
216 Townsend St (at 3rd St)
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 896-2120
http://www.districtsf.com/

If you have ever met me or know anything about me, you would have already guessed that this spot encapsulates pretty much everything I love. Dominating brick walls (originals no doubt), structurally sound metal/wood beams soaring overhead, finished off with dramatic wood accents all over. Ya, pretty 'oh my' worthy.

In the Know: The closest to intimate setting in a not so intimate place. Purely the size alone can be fairly intimidating but all in all the designers did an excellent job getting the rustic, wine lounge theme across. I might have added a few more colors to the palate, perhaps a purple of sorts. It does work, however, going more monochromatic because now you could focus more on the hanging art installations.

Behind the Scene: A very nice bartender had nothing bad to say about the place other than the lack of ventilation. I agree, sweating over my $13 glass of wine was not all it cracked up to be. Should have ordered a white wine.

Who's Who: Recommended for the upper escalon of folks. What this means to you... if you work in SOMA/downtown area and have a nice job, take your friends out for a drink. If you happen to find you are close to this location yet painfully unemployed, and lacking in the friend department, go here for one beer to see what it is you are missing and continue on with the rest of your adventures.

Gimme more!

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