Brunch is Best At The Expanded Naked Lunch

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The Dapper Diner
Naked Lunch's superlative burger.
At the start of the year, Ryan Maxey and chef Ian Begg decided it was time to make a change to Txoko, their North Beach Spanish tapas restaurant located in the heart of strip club row on Broadway. Closing the restaurant down, the duo replaced the space with a much more relaxed pub and grill, extending their revered North Beach sandwich shop, Naked Lunch, into the spot. It's a very distinct conceptual change from Txoko, with two billiard tables, a Pop-A-Shot basketball arcade game, counter ordering service (a fact I wish was made more prominent upon entry), and an all day menu.

See also: Naked Lunch Expands Into Txoko Space
Naked Lunch Now Serves a Burger -- and Dinner


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Capo's Italian Beef Sandwich Sticks To Chicagoland Simplicity

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Alex Hochman
Close your eyes and you could be in Elmwood Park.

Bombacigno's. Pop's. Johnnie's. In Chicagoland, legendary Italian beef sandwich joints dot the junk food landscape. Here in the bay area? Not so much. Rosamunde used to serve a stellar version that lost its menu spot due to lack of interest. Both street cart Da Beef and SOMA neighbor The Grill do respectable renditions using the tried and true Vienna brand but neither are exactly destination worthy. So leave it to Tony Gemignani, who pulls off serving 13 styles of pizza between his two sit-down eateries, to take on an authentic Italian beef sandwich ($11) at the Chicago themed Capo's.

See also: Capo's: A Pizza Master's New Shrine to Chicago-Style Pies
Don't Fear Deli Board's Breakfast Sandwich
Where To Find Southern BBQ? Hint: Not In San Francisco


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Drink of the Week: Sipping Like Our Forefathers at the Hancock Room

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Lou Bustamante
The rabid nature of modern politics, with its zealous "with us or against us" rhetoric, and increasing complexity that requires studious investments simply to decipher any true agendas, has sadly made patriotism a divisive political sentiment. Perhaps this is the reason for the recent popularity of American history movies referencing past political heroes like Lincoln (ironically pivotal to the most politically divided time in our nation's history)--as repositories of our national pride. Those political heroes, no matter our voting preferences, are the union points where we can agree to feel patriotic.

In some ways, that is part of the appeal of the Hancock Room, a bar themed with decorations, drinks, and images of the founding fathers; it offers a sanctuary to celebrate that collective pride with cocktails and, at least a few moments, asks you to check your politics at the door and agree on one thing: cocktails are delicious.

See also: Drink of the Week: The Viceroy at Cantina
Drink of the Week: Seduced by the Moroccan Cosmopolitan at OneUp


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Drink of the Week: Drink Like a Big Shot at Capo's

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Lou Bustamante
The oregano spiked Wise Guys cocktail
If there's one thing you can say about Tony Gemignani, pizza champ and owner of Capo's and nearby Tony's Pizza Napoletana, is that the guy knows how to entertain. From his dough whirling days on the pizza competition circuit, to his ability to articulate regional styles of pizza pies into ideal studies in cheese and crust, it's no wonder he manages to stand out in a pizza-saturated town. At Tony's Pizza Napoletana, it's largely his food and iconic North Beach location that set the mood, but at Capo's, it's the decor, retro dishes, and whiskey cocktails that generate the atmosphere of a Mafioso red sauce Italian joint from Chicago.

See Also:
- Capo's: A Pizza Master's New Shrine to Chicago-Style Pies
- Capo's Quattro Forni Gets Four Times The Love
- Drink of the Week: The Oaxacan Cross at Lolinda


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Drink of the Week: Puttin' on the Bix

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Lou Bustamante
The Sazerac at Bix
Veering off Montgomery onto Gold Street, a little, almost nondescript alley, feels like slipping into a hidden passageway. Walking along it I get the thrill of being in on a secret, what I imagine was half the fun of Prohibition-era speakeasies. The tidy little street doesn't stand out for any particular reason, except for the neon sign that marks the entrance to Bix. It may not be a secret, but the dramatic shift from street to 1930's jazz joint sure feels like one.

See Also:
- Best Swanky Bar - Bix
- Drink of the Week: Best Winter Cocktails

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Drink of the Week: Best Winter Cocktails

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Lou Bustamante
With the rain last week, the cold snap this one, and the holiday visitors streaming in, chances are, you're going to need some liquid cheer sooner or later. This week, I'm rounding up a few of the best drinks to enjoy this winter around town, whether you need a post-shopping nerve-soother, or to ward off the cold (or even a cold).

Drink: Rock & Rye
Where: Rye Bar, 688 Geary (at Leavenworth), 474-4448

Why: The beauty of this drink is that it's one that works both hot as a toddy or cold as a stirred Old Fashioned style drink. The base is rye whiskey infused with citrus and spices, sweetened by horehound candy (with alleged medicinal properties) developed by bar owners Greg Lindgren and Jon Gasparini, based on a classic American liqueur. Rock & Rye may no longer be prescribed by doctors for colds, but trust us, 100 years later, there's still no better cure.

See Also:
- Drink of the Week: Best Warm Weather Cocktails
- Drink of the Week: The Port Au Prince at Smuggler's Cove
- Drink of the Week: The Orient at Michael Mina

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Buyer's Best Friend Expanding to North Beach

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Christina Spittler
A couple months back we wrote about the interesting new Buyer's Best Friend specialty food shop in the Upper Haight, where customers can sample any product in the store. The owners recently announced they're expanding to a second location in North Beach, on Columbus between Green and Vallejo, which will have special emphasis on the neighborhood's Italian-American roots.

See also:
- At Buyer's Best Friend, You Can Sample Any Food in the Store
- Off hte Grid Adds North Beach Market
- Cookin': Helping You in the Kitchen Since 1981


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We Tried the Three-Martini Lunch at Park Tavern and Lived to Tell the Tale

Categories: North Beach

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Anna Roth
As soon as I heard about Park Tavern's new three-martini lunch, I took it as a Mad Men-style challenge. The North Beach restaurant recently began offering a three-course prix-fixe lunch menu on Fridays that features farmers' market produce and special cocktail pairings with each course (there are rose pairings, too, for the weak; the lunch runs $37 without drinks, $50 with). So some other media folks -- the only ones I could convince to drink three martinis in the middle of the day with me -- headed over with me last Friday to see what would become of us after such an undertaking.

See also:
- Park Tavern's McLaren Cocktail
- Park Tavern: Casual Dining for the Wealthy
- Park Tavern Brunch Strikes It Rich


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In Which Our Italian Sub Craving Takes Us to Molinari's

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Anna Roth
If you're a food person, restaurants are right up there with friends as the hardest things to leave behind when you move. I've been in San Francisco for a few months now, just enough time to develop a serious craving for the glorious Godmother sandwich from Bay Cities Deli in Santa Monica. It's an Italian sub at its finest, and in search of a satisfying NorCal substitute I headed to Molinari Delicatessen in North Beach, which has been owned and operated by the Molinari family for more than 100 years.

See also:
- First Bite at Mau: Two Inventive Takes on the Bahn Mi
- Happy Hour: Cheap Beer and a Moroccan Lamb Sandwich at L'Acajou
- The Corner Store's Fried Green Tomato Sandwich Makes a Cal-Southern Spectacle


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Cocktail Week Events for Wednesday, Sept. 19

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Balthazar Digital Media
Day three of the extravaganza begins and is building some steam with six events on the schedule tonight. The main event will showcase bartender talents from Oregon to San Diego, and an assortment of happy hours, seminars, and plenty of cocktails, even in the food. Oh, yes, there's also a great FREE party tonight if you're quick!

See Also:
- Cocktail Week Events for Tuesday, Sept. 18

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