Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Perfectly pulled pints, thick-cut fries with malt vinegar, and sausages with lashings of
mustard are staples at this genuinely friendly Irish pub. Cozy snugs are great for conversa-
tion, but tables under alley awnings appeal to smokers.
Chinatown & North Beach
Caffe Trieste
CAFE
415-392-6739;
www.caffetrieste.com
; 601 Vallejo St;
6:30am-11pm Sun-
Thu, to midnight Fri & Sat; ; 8X, 10, 12, 30, 41, 45)
Poetry on bathroom walls, opera on the jukebox, live accordion jams weekly and sightings
of Beat poet laureate Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Trieste has been a North Beach landmark
since the 1950s. Sip espresso under the Sicilian mural, where Francis Ford Coppola draf-
ted
The Godfather.
Cash only.
Comstock Saloon
BAR
415-617-0071;
www.comstocksaloon.com
;
155 Columbus Ave;
noon to
2am Mon-Fri, from 4pm Sat, 4pm to midnight Sun; 8X, 10, 12, 30, 45, Powell-Mason)
Cocktails at this Victorian saloon remain period-perfect: Pisco Punch is made with pine-
apple gum and martini-precursor Martinez features gin, vermouth, bitters and maraschino
liqueur. Call ahead for booths or tufted-velvet parlor seating and to get dates when
mezzanine ragtime-jazz bands play while you dine on superior bar bites.
Specs'
BAR
( 415-421-4112; 12 William Saroyan Pl; 4:30pm-2am Mon-Fri, from 5pm Sat & Sun)
What do you do with a drunken sailor? Here's your answer: order pitchers of Anchor
Steam, admire walls plastered with merchant-marine memorabilia, and join salty old-
timers plotting mutinies against last call.
Li Po
BAR
415-982-0072;
www.lipolounge.com
;
916 Grant Ave;
2pm-2am;
8X,
30, 45,
Powell-Mason, Powell-Hyde)