Magazine 1 | Pg. 31
Magazine 1 | Pg. 32
San Francisco Living - February 2011
San Francisco Living - February 2011
THE BUBBLE LOUNGE The economy’s tanking, the stock market’s teetering and your portfolio – well, don’t look. Fortunately for the national mood, at least the bartenders are in denial. Judging by the rage for Champagne cocktails at Bay Area bars and a trio of new books on the topic, bubbly beverages are the new m ojitos. And with home holiday parties looming, it’s a fine time to steal some ideas. “Ten years ago, the Champagne cocktail was a foreign thing in the city,” says Sabawun Kakar, wine director for the Bubble Lounge in San Francisco. Now the decade-old downtown bar has a menu that includes 10 Champagne cocktails, and Kakar says that many of his bartender colleagues in the restaurant business are following suit. That unfettered spirit lies behind the Bubble Lounge’s Caribbean Contessa, a fusion of sparkling wine, Cointreau, cranberry juice, orange juice and vodka. For Conduit in San Francisco, bar manager Reza Esmaili has developed the Shadduck, incorporating sparkling wine, gin, elder flower liqueur and Ruby Red grapefruit juice. The Chanteuse, another Esmaili composition, features gin, yellow Chartreuse, lemon juice, honey syrup and sparkling wine. Image Left: (Bubblelounge.com)