Food and drink
Bars with killer food in San Francisco
As one of the world’s best food cities, many San Francisco bars also serve killer food. Three newcomers to this scene are Movida, Bar Gemini, and Stoa.
By Virginia Miller
San Francisco has long been rife with world’s best cocktail bars: it was one of three cities, alongside New York and New Orleans, that introduced the world to cocktails in the 1800s, after all. Then SF and NYC led the cocktail renaissance of the past three decades.
Many of these bars also serve killer food. While bars like True Laurel and The Snug are shining examples of this combo, there’s a recent wave of new bars where food and drink shine together, but the vibe is fully bar versus restaurant. Three of the most interesting newcomers? Movida, Bar Gemini, and Stoa.
Movida Lounge
555 2nd St.
Website
Movida is the most ambitious of these three 2023 newcomers, opening in South Park near the ballpark in October. As a Persian Mexican fusion lounge, it’s already a rare concept. A stellar consulting team behind the menus increases intrigue. Persian Italian owner Bobby Marhamat grew up in his family’s Mexican restaurants in Nebraska, but this is his first spot, as his day job is CEO of tech company, Raydiant, which makes digital signage used in bars and restaurants. Movida exudes a sleek Vegas lounge vibe with dramatic lighting, velvet blue barstools, rust-colored velvet banquettes and DJs on Saturdays, “Playing your best in Spanish, Farsi, Top 40 Beats.”
Service hiccups afflicted my initial visit, though ultimately hard-working staff tried to make up for a few calling out sick that day and an unexpected big post-work group. Despite waiting a full hour for first bites and 30 minutes for the first cocktail, service was sweet and by the second hour, the group had left and all was coming out quickly.
I sure miss chef Hoss Zaré’s warm spirit and his modern Persian fare at Zaré at Fly Trap, which closed in 2016. As chef adviser at Movida, he worked with chef Afrand Nikoukar to create the menu. Start with “chips and dips.” That’s already one of the ultimate bar snacks but when it’s tortilla and lavash chips dipped in nutty tahini queso, za’atar-spiced guacamole, pomegranate arbol chile salsa or walnut and aleppo pepper salsa macha, it’s too good to resist. The Persian-Mexican theme also shines in dishes like chile relleno stuffed with basmati rice, lamb and Oaxacan cheese in saffron tomato sauce, or crushable jalapeño beef and lamb koobideh “tacos” on little tortilla-like sheets of lavash bread.
But it’s a cocktail lounge first and beverage consultant Carlo Splendorini employs the same Mexico-meets-Middle East vibe in ingredients and themes. The Italy native is a longtime SF bar vet who works wonders at gorgeous Bar Sprezzatura with his elevated Italian cocktails. Another longtime SF bar and spirits vet, Darren Crawford, is also working with the team and on cocktails, confirming a couple decades of honed expertise behind Movida’s menu. The savory, bracing Darya Azul is a top cocktail pick, essentially a Martini variation with Hendrick’s Neptunia and St. George Terroir gins, aquavit, dill, bay leaf, Kina Lillet and drops of dill oil.
Another layered winner is León y Sol, a vibrant drink of tequila, saffron, acidulated orange juice, orange blossom, orgeat, Tajín. On the non-alcoholic (NA) side, Crawford’s take on a classic Tiki Jungle Bird cocktail, the Jungla, stands out with bitter backbone from NA aperitivo, house pineapple shrub, orange, guava and sour cherry.
Bar Gemini
2845 18th St.
Website
The Mission’s Bar Gemini is, yes, a natural wine bar, but one that serves lovely low proof cocktails and irresistible bar snacks. Four blocks from Gemini Bottle Co. shop, it’s opened by the same team of Alex Pomerantz and Dominique Henderson. In the Madelon building on the same block as Michelin-starred Osito, which just debuted The Bar at Osito between the two on January 12, Bar Gemini is blessed with the redwood that lines both Osito spots.
Gemini’s redwood lines walls, booths and bar, concentrated by dark blue-green plastered walls, latticed wood drop ceiling and terrazzo bar. Interior designer Margaret Ruiz of The Strand Design partnered with Henderson, who studied interior design, ensuring a warm, glowing space worth going to for design alone.
Henderson ran wine programs at world-class Quince, A16 and Rich Table, while Pomerantz is founder and winemaker of the delightful Subject to Change Wine Company, and co-founder of Wine From Here, a natural wine festival. Eleven thoughtful wines by the glass and blessedly by the carafe, too, plus a couple pages of bottles, veer heavy on natural, sustainable local and European producers. But this is no snobby natural wine bar, while many wines lean subtle and balanced versus just the funky bombs some complain about. They’ve got both and explain all sans attitude. My kind of natural wine bar.
Low ABV and non-alcoholic (NA) cocktails also delight, created by David Ruiz, who ran notable SF bars over the years and whose wife is the interior designer. Served in vintage glassware, order Chit Chat (Cocchi Torino Extra Dry vermouth, amontillado sherry, Mattei Cap Corse Quinquina Blanc, lemon) or savory NA beauty, Head in the Clouds (NA Bitter Aperitif, tonic, orange, olive).
Neighboring Ernest chef Brandon Rice — a restaurant that should have a Michelin star already — creates irresistible snacks for them, impressive considering Gemini doesn’t have a kitchen. Delights start with cacio e pepe deviled eggs and superb marinated Rancho Gordo gigante beans in lemon, fennel, olive oil and roasted garlic. Move on to tinned fish or cheese and charcuterie from Lady & Larder. But house dips with Rize Up’s fab bread star. Smoked salmon dip was touch over-salted on my visit, but a labneh yogurt dip intriguingly laced with ginger oil and scallion with Rize Up ‘everything bagel’ bread was irresistible.
The other top taste, besides the labneh and gigante beans, is the killer pressed grilled cheese on Rize Up pan loaf. Laden with pickled onions, Oaxacan, raclette and cheddar cheeses — add Olympia Provisions mortadella or sweetheart ham, if you wish — it’s a dream grilled cheese, ideal with a dry, robust glass of 2021 Quarticello ‘Barbacane’ Lambrusco di Maestri from Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region.
Stoa
701 Haight St.
Website
Stoa opened September 2023 in Lower Haight from the strong team of Gonzalo Guzmán, Allyson Jossel, Joji Sumi and Yanni Kehagiaras behind greats like Nopa and Nopalito, with bartenders from notable bars and restaurants. The former brewpub space is now sleek and warm with woods, a couple large booths up front and a long bar. Ordering at the counter is a bit annoying in terms of getting up every time you want an additional drink or dish so it doesn’t all come at once. But it keeps it casual and the process ran smoothly on my visit.
Kehagiaras was the bar director at longtime great Nopa, working at other greats: Nopalito, Liholiho Yacht Club and Louie’s Gen-Gen Room. The cocktail list is unfussy, without garnishes and simple at first glance, but clean, elegant and expertly mixed. Cocktails are the highlight at Stoa, divided into three categories: “Low Octane, Yet Complex” for low proof sherry cocktails; “Stern, but Fair,” featuring gin and mezcal drinks; “Lean & Mean” whiskey cocktails.
As a longtime sherry fanatic, the Low Octane section holds my favorites, served in wine glasses, including the subtle nuance of Holy Smoke (Manzanilla sherry, Benedictine, a whisper of super-peaty Ardbeg Scotch) and the intriguing Castaway (Manzanilla sherry, almond hit of salted velvet falernum, Green Chartreuse). I wish the Rickey Ricardo (gin, lime, soda, Pernod) had noticeable anise licorice notes from the Pernod vs. just tasting like basic gin and soda. On the gin tip, I prefer the vegetal, bracing yet light Hedge Maze of St. George Terroir Gin, Dolin Blanc vermouth, Green Chartreuse.
Unexpectedly, as it all looked and sounded like dream bar food, the food was uneven. Chef Sumi was former chef de cuisine at Nopalito, weaving together a menu that feels proper SF, from Asian to Mexican influences. The most realized dish of five I tried? Tender chicken wings with a proper contrast of makrut lime, honey, fish sauce, chilies and cilantro. Next, a salmon tostada in black bean sauce, fermented garlic aioli, scallions, radishes, Asian pear and serrano chile, another example of contrast and balance.
But what should be an easy bar winner of potato chips dusted in aonori seaweed powder with miso onion dip was instead an onion dip that seemed to be missing much onion. A gorgeous little gem salad was bland, begging for some contrasting ingredients. As a massive mochi lover, their grilled mochi dish ended up being a gloopy mess of sometimes sticky-hard gelatin layered in bacon, shimeji mushrooms, winter squash and chipotle adobo. The amount and texture of the mochi was overwhelming and the dish felt like it needed honing. Yet for drinks and selected bites, Stoa is a winning newcomer to Lower Haight.
Virginia Miller is a San Francisco-based food & drink writer.
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