On A Toot!: San Francisco Edition
Competitive Sipping By Day; Recreational Sipping By Night.
Welcome to the latest edition of “On a Toot!,” a feature in which I try to remember some of the liquid highlights of the week, and other highlights in general. “On a Toot!”—which made its debut on March 10, 2023 (accept no imitations!)—will only run on Fridays and will only be available to paid subscribers. We hope you enjoy it.
“The bar is packed all day long with New York debutantes, brokers, Newport dowagers, bad women who walk good dogs on Park Avenue, chic divorcees and college boys on toots.”—Daily News, 1937, describing the scene at the Ritz Bar in Paris.
During my last visit to San Francisco, in October 2023, I had a long list of cocktail bars I wanted to visit. Of course, the bar that I didn’t manage to get to—True Laurel, the work of chef-owner David Barzelay and head bartender Nicolas Torres—ended up being the one that subsequently ended up on all the important “best-of” lists. Ironically, as I was leaving New York, True Laurel was doing a pop-up at Martiny’s. I was unable to attend that, so I went to the real deal soon after I checked into my hotel. The bar is in the Mission District. It was a beautiful day in San Francisco, warm and sunny, so True Laurel had its windows wide open and people were drinking both outside and inside…