Ippuku is my kind of pub, mostly because nothing about it resembles the pubs I know. Also because it's one of those places that makes drinking alone feel dignified.
To be fair, Ippuku is not quite a pub, it's an izakaya -- Japan's rough equivalent to our sticky-floored, dark parlors, a cleaner rendition of the places we go to roll up our shirtsleeves and throw a few back after work. Inside Ippuku, the lines are clean, geometric, the lighting gentle and warm.
See also: East Bay Bite of the Week: Fried Chicken Rice Bowl at Hawker Fare
East Bay Bite of the Week: Sriracha Honey Brussels Sprouts at Osmanthus
When you picked up your print newspaper this week, you may have noticed a slim, attractive insert slip out of it. That was our annual DRINK issue, 34 pages dedicated to adult beverages and the places we love to consume them.
In it you'll find an essay on the integration of bar bites and cocktails by Lou Bustamante, a meditation on beer's coming hopaissance by Jason Henry, a study of the new wine trend of "kitchen sink blends" by Mary Ladd, a 24/7 party schedule by Derek Opperman, and an ode to nightlife by Benjamin Wachs.
To celebrate the issue and its subject matter, SF Weekly is throwing a party on Saturday at the Old Mint. $35 gets you all-you-can-drink booze and all-you-can-eat food from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Plus there will be a cocktail competition judged by me and music editor Ian S. Port (who is very well-versed in both drinking cocktails and judging things), a DJ, and more fun. Tickets are available here; the full list of vendors is after the jump.
First up: Padrecito, the Cole Valley spot from the folks behind Mamacita, just announced its brunch menu. Eater SF has the goods on what looks like a delicious list of breakfast items: sopes with braised beef and slow-cooked egg, polenta-plantain pancakes, and breakfast tacos and quesadillas, along with Bloody Marys and sangria.
If there were ever a bar that I really, really wish did not have a wall-mounted flatscreen TV in it, it would be Topsy's Fun House, which is otherwise a wonderful experience from top to bottom. Art-directed within an inch of its life, the Financial District cocktail spot is neither clownish nor self-serious, just well thought-out. And the drinks are very good.
See Also: Archive Bar & Kitchen, a Cozy Den of Inebriation Newly Open Downtown
