Calypso, Cotogna

Cotogna is located in the Jackson Square neighborhood of San Francisco. It's one of my go to restaurant choices when friends want to meet for lunch. I hadn't been there in a while and my research partner for the day had never been. It's been so long, that I hadn't realized there was so much road construction in the area. So the place I normally don't have trouble finding street parking, it actually took me about 20 minutes to find it. Note to...

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Lazy Lover, Employees Only

  Employees Only is located in the West Village neighborhood of New York City. They have such fun named cocktails on the menu such as Billionaire, Quiet Storm, and Mata Hari. From the Fancy Cocktails ($16) section of the cocktail menu, I originally overlooked the Lazy Lover cocktail because of the name. But upon reading through the menu again, the jalapeno infusion caught my eye. I normally would not like a lazy lover,...

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Satan's Circus, NOMAD

NoMad is located in the NoMad Hotel in the NoMad (North of Madison) neighborhood of New York City. I ended my lunch with Elaine, our NY correspondent, with the Satan's Circus. WOW, what a way to end an amazing lunch. This was definitely my favorite drink on this particular NYC visit. I loved the color, loved the spice and loved the bold flavor. If you have one to many of these, you will definitely end up as one of the cast of characters in Satan's...

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Bluestem Smash, Bluestem Brasserie

Bluestem Brasserie is located in the South of Market (SOMA) neighborhood of San Francisco. With the Bluestem Smash, you get to pick your poison of vodka or whisky. Since I had a tequila drink earlier in the day, I decided to avoid getting "smashed" and opted for vodka (pictured above). This smash is refreshing. It reminded me of a lighter version of a mojito. They have a great deal at Happy Hour, beer on draft or select bottled beer, $3, wine...

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La Pina, NOMAD

NoMad is located in the NoMad Hotel in the NoMad (North of Madison) neighborhood of New York City. Our NY correspondent couldn't have a cocktail at lunch since she had to return to her job abter lunch, so she opted for La Pina from the Soft Cocktails (non-alcoholic) section. Both of our reactions, "Yum, sweet yet spicy." I can easily see this as a cocktail vodka or tequila. The 3 other Soft Cocktails (non-alcoholic) drinks looked interesting...

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Blood Orange Margarita, Bluestem

Bluestem Brasserie is located in the South of Market (SOMA) neighborhood of San Francisco. It's been a while since I've been there. I had to organize a small happy hour event for a group and chose Bluestem Brasserie. The lounge offers the perfect meeting space and a good selection of happy hour drinks from $1 to $7. After having a delicious Blood Orange Margarita at Oola a few weeks ago, I just had to try Bluestem's version. What a beautiful...

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The Guillotine, Nopa

Nopa is located in the Nopa (North of the Panhandle) neighborhood of San Francisco. The name and the mezcal drew me to the Guillotine cocktail. MmmMmmMmm, what a bold smokey cocktail to sip the night away. Don't drink too many, otherwise you'll wish for a guillotine the next day. Just love this glass! The Drink, The Guillotine, $10 Del Maguey Mezcal, Cynar, Dolin Dry Vermouth The Place - Nopa San Francisco, Nopa Dinner nightly, weekend...

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Hot Lips, NOMAD

Nomad is located in The NoMad Hotel which is located in the NoMad (North of Madison) neighborhood of New York City. I had our NY correspondent, Elaine, chose a place for us to finally do some research together. I loved the drink names in the Classics (Morning Glory Fizz, Widow's Kiss), Aperitifs(The Haymarket, Star and Garter), Soft cocktails (non-alcoholic), Light Spirited (Argyle, Elefante) and Dark Spirited (Start me up, Fortune Teller) sections...

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El Burro Ruso, Tipsy Pig

The Tipsy Pig is located in the Marina District of San Francisco. I have always enjoyed the cocktails and food here. It's been awhile since I've been so I was glad to see a few of my favorite drinks still on the menu and then some new ones. El Burro Ruso is a twist on a Moscow Mule(vodka based). El Burro Ruso translates from Spanish to English as the Russian Donkey. The drink was light and refreshing. Since I love cocktails that pop with flavor,...

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Christmas Island, AQ

AQ Restaurant and Bar is located in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco. I had a difficult time deciding what drink to start off with for dinner. Both the cocktails on the Seasonal Cocktail and Originals section read so interesting. I asked our server what sweet woodruff tincture was. So without answering my question, he responded "THAT cocktail is amazing. We make all of our tinctures in house." With a response like that I had...

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South for the Winter, AQ

I've been wanting to try AQ Restaurant in the South of Market (SOMA) neighborhood of San Francisco since it opened in late 2011. I just haven't been able to get one of those coveted reservations. Fortunately I was able to get a reservation the day after Valentine's Day this year. I had a tough time deciding if I should a cocktail from the Seasonal Classics menu or from the Originals menu. I ended up choosing the South for the Winter cocktail...

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Grasshopper, The Corner Store

The Corner Store is located in the Inner Richmond neighborhood of San Francisco. I've been wanting to try the Fountain Inspired shakes there for some time, but have always been distracted with cocktail offerings. Since it's National Chocolate Mint Day today, what better way to celebrate with a Grasshopper from the Fountain Inspired section of their drink menu? Two things I loved about this Grasshopper were the petite size (not a full size milk...

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