Behind the Bar - Complete Review

Full Post of A Locals Design Guide to Bars, Restaurants, and Lounges

Jan 22, 2009

Pimps Paradise



Otis

Neighborhood: Union Square
25 Maiden Ln (between Grant Ave & Kearny St)
San Francisco, CA 94108


In the Know: There are a few lanes and alleys I suggest checking out in San Francisco's financial district; Mark Lane if you want to enjoy a pint with some Irish chaps, Belden Place is a small taste of the french quarter, and then there is Maiden Lane. Upscale boutiques line the pedestrian only walk way. It should be no surprise that hidden amongst these shi-shi stores is an equally upscale watering hole. At least at one point, at some time, hopefully for the owners sake it was a nice place. It is unfortunate that I had to go there at a time when the whole place was going through some "changes." (If you could see me right now I am holding up my hands doing the air bunny ears immediately after writing the word "changes"... wait, yup just did it again) Now, the place kinda looked run down to me. Things were either missing, taken down to get fixed, or just plain messy. While it pains me to be so cavalier with my description, I have a reasonably-ish good reason for it. A couple months back I was walking home from a sh*t show kinda night. (you all know exactly what I am talking about - bar hopping with friends, taking shots with strangers, dancing on top of tables at Taco Bell, picking up a guy after all day wine drinking that you have to card because he looks as though he just went through puberty..you know, those kinda nights) When I rounded the corner to my street I saw a nice gentleman smoking a cigarette, apparently taking a break from his house party. Being the semi in your face kinda girl that I am, not to mention the lead in a 'neighborhood watch' program I set up, I approached him to make sure to keep the streets safe. To make a really long story short I have never picked up a man so efficiently. Seriously though, right outside my apartment... at the end of the night... I even went into the house party and he made me drinks. What a win-win situation. But back to the issue at hand. I finally got a chance to meet my neighbors. It just so happened that the friend and my neighbor, of my cigarette smoking boo was non other than the bartender at Otis. So this understated posting goes out to him!


I should start by saying the size and layout of the space is fantastic! It is extremely intimate (ie. if you go here you must be comfortable with shoulder to shoulder with complete strangers.) I did find the design a but unusual, though. A cluster f*ck of things; separately they are all pretty cool, but once together the theme of the space gets lost. If there even is a theme. The name Otis came from a pimp that used to live in the same neighborhood as the owner. Maybe since pimps are eccentric in life and style the bar had to mirror that? You be the judge. After entering through what only could be described as dungeon doors you would pass a corridor lit by deer antlers. If you decide that you don't want to check your coat or sit on the comfy white bench seating in the hall, you will definitely want to see whats going on with the three vertical and mysteriously lit coral installation wall. This does really look pretty cool but as I said earlier too many random elements can get confusing. The bar is situation right below this. It is actually the perfect size for 2 tenders comfortably. The actual bar itself is pretty eclectic: alligator skin under glass on top of mirrors next to wood. (Come to think of it all that pretty much resembles what I can only assume a pimps palace would contain) All that was missing was the actual pimp. Although, can a bartender be considered a pimp? I mean I am paying him to take care of me for the night (giving me drinks that is;). And what pimp palace would be complete without a large peacock on top of the bar, peering out over the crowd?


What I do really like about the place is it has a mezzanine area overlooking the ground floor. In keeping with the theme of eclecticism, I guess, the upstairs is totally different from the downstairs. Here there is asian style wall paper on top floral sofas. It almost looks like whoever designed the space wanted the whole room to be one pattern but couldn't find anything to match the asian wall paper so just settled on a similar, European looking floral pattern for the sofas. Just because certain styles from certain countries happen to be on the same continent, does not...I repeat, does not mean that they match.

Behind the Bar: As previously mentioned my neighbor is the bartender of this pimps palace. What this means, I pretty much grilled him a lot more than I would have any other person. Apparently it wasn't all that bad because he hasn't egged my house...yet. He said the only thing that he didn't like about the space was the depth of the bar. On the side where the customer sits, the overhanging lip looked like it was only half a foot deep. Not enough room to really comfortably put your legs anywhere. (How I see it, this pushes the bar stool further into the space so the customer doesn't have their knees jammed up against it. Not the wisest of things if the area is already reduced in size.) What I noticed, the height of the seats in comparison to the bar was way off. I did not like the feeling that I could just lean in to sip on my cocktail. Drinks should not be consumed from a horizontal front, they should be approached in an upward and then immediately downward motion.

Who's Who: This would be the absolute perfect place to go if you worked on Maiden Lane. Just think, done with work by 5:30pm...drinking by 5:32pm. And from what it looked like, that is exactly what those Maidenians did. The bar offered a great after work social scene, one that allowed for chatting up people you may or may not know. It also offered an excellent chance to indulge in a little more intimate one-on-one setting. So immediately after you meet someone you can take them upstairs to get away from the hustle and bustle of the folks still in search of their match. Kinda sounds like a cheesy dating reality show, right?

Too Much Information; Take Me Back!

Jan 15, 2009

I love your glowing globes





Neighborhoods: Union Square, Nob Hill
6 Claude Ln(between Bush St & Sutter St)
San Francisco, CA 94108
(415) 788-6686

In the Know: Let me just start out by saying, WOW! Where the hell has this kinda design in San Francisco been? I mean everything was spectacular, spectacular! And I am not just saying that because one of my favorite local SF designers (Mr. Important) did it. Oh, no no no. Each and every minor detail was attended to as if it was a cuddly bunny nestled in the bossom of a rock star design. From the colored menus to the lighting scheme to the multi-leveled dining/bar areas to the incredible bathroom, Mr. Important left no proverbial stone unturned. Lets begin at the bar as that is obviously my favorite place to be: When first doing my research (i.e. looking at their website gallery) I immediately thought it was over designed with a cluster f*ck of materials. Not the case at all. Since it is two times higher than it is wide all the elements really start complimenting eachother superbly. What can only be described as wavy herringbone wood panels ran into red alligator skin walls (not real) butted up against rough brick covered by foe metal panels. On top of that, gigantic theateresque curtains hung from the ceiling framing two classical in form but modern in theme tapestries. It seems no one does that anymore. I felt like I was in some sort of uber modern castle with the sexy foreign bartender as my girlfriends and my prince. She loves the accent; i love the baldies ;) (could have been a King if he showed a little more skin. Just something to keep in mind for next time.) Illuminating everything was two orbiting globe chandeliers. While the glowing globes are extremely unique and interesting, it was the base they were hanging from that caught my attention. It looked like some sort of circular rock formation. So if you are keeping track, that makes it rock, brick, metal, wood, alligator skin, and fabric. What's missing? Glass. Do not dismay, they had that too. At the end of the bar was an interesting stripped glass wall. On the customers side it was a door that opened up to the street. On the bar side it was a sliding window that once opened looked like a drive up window. What a genius way to let in air if the space gets stuffy. Could also be pretty fantastic for a cocktail to go...yes?


But wait! Don't think that is the end of it. After a bottle of wine, the design went from great to a-mazing as I ventured around the rest of the space. The upstairs dining area had a completely different feel than the bar. The brick walls surrounding the space were illuminated from the bottom, a fantastic effect called grazing. What I love most about the walls is they were encased behind glass. It made it look as though the whole wall was its own art piece. This gave the upstairs a very dark and vibrant ambiance. I usually do not put dark and vibrant in the same sentence because they kinda contradict each other but the use of colors created a sort of intense intimacy. At least I am sure that is exactly what the 4 business gentleman were thinking when they were enjoying their marinated local sardine filets, with herbed crostini, tapenade, pickled vegetables, and caper berries. Allst while staring warmly into eachothers eyes. Brilliant! What's even more brilliant, since the dining area was so small, Mr. Important used a semi-reflecive ceiling that really makes the space appear larger than in is. Now tell me, who wouldn't want mirrors on the ceiling, hmmm?


Last and most certainly the most important design goes towards the bathroom. The hypnotic white and black tiling worked wonders set against a semi-opaque glass wall. One very interesting feature was the addition of the urinal. This is not something usually found in a unisex bathroom. I absolutely love this idea! Why the heck would I want to share the same toilet with guys that for the life of them have some sort of problem aiming into the bowl. Is it honestly that hard to miss? The thing is like a foot wide.



Behind the Bar: Enough with the technical side, lets get to the juicy stuff. Our bartender (the sexy foreign prince previously mentioned) gave Lindsay and I a pretty good insight into why European bars are better than American. He explained that size matters. (Sport, I couldn't agree with you more;) The bar was too spread out. Apparently in Europe all the amenities you need, i.e. shakers, glasses, bottles, etc. are within arms distance away from each other. No need to go from one side to the next to grab a cherry. Here, however, everything was so spread out. In order to shake up a Gypsy cocktail he had to pace the lot(and in this case the bar). I can't say that I completely agree with him on spreading out the bar. I mean he is a European for gods sake, they have no concept of spatial boundaries. They don't mind things being uncomfortably close. He also mentioned that the shelving system was dangerously narrow. Generally, bars have some sort of counter space separating the hip of the bartender from the neatly stacked and freshly polished glassware. This helps avoid accidents as well as give added counterspace. But I must admit, not having that extra ledge does make it look pretty swanky.

*Here we pause for a moment. You have no idea how hard that was for me to decipher what the heck this fuzzy foreigner was saying. The fact of the matter is I am one of those 'hears what she wants to hear' type of person. It is devastatingly hard to do this when you only understand a fraction of what the guy is actually saying. So lets do the math: I maybe understood 1/2 of what he was saying. Now take into account that I chose to hear probably 1/2 of the 1/2 said to me. So after a 10 minute conversation with this gentleman I really only got a solid minute'ish' of information from him. It also probably didn't help that he gave Lindsay and I a free round of Sherry whilst explaining his view on the design. More drinks will do nothing but make it harder for me to process the information. Come to think of it, Sherry is a very interesting choice when giving free rounds. Some delicious mixed cocktail, most likely. A shot of jaegar, possibly. But sherry? I guess they are going for the 'we are European and different. We drink sherry as only real men can.' Gentleman, it was a nice touch :)

Who's Who: As much as I love going out, I have this weird thing about waiting outside a restaurant for it to open just so I can start drinking. If it was a minute before I got there that's totally fine. It was open, im cool. But waiting for them to open the doors and invite me in, sucks. This, of course, happened at Gitane because for some reason they don't even open until 5:30pm. (If they only knew how many people they could pull in if they opened just 30 min. earlier. Think about it boys...sitting outside in the 70 degree weather in the middle of the winter, kinda priceless) Luckily, I was not the first in line. A nice group had gathered outside. From what I saw, an impressive after work crowd. Ages looked from mid 20's to late 40's. Mostly all dressed up. Mostly all needing a break from a hard days work. Everyone kinda had their own thing going on which made it pleasant to sip on some wine in the presence of great company. But I suggest making a reservation or arriving shortly after it opens before embarking on this visual extravaganza. Space is limited.

And to you, chatty Cathy sitting next to me: Guy, I am trying to discuss politics, religion, and sex with my girl friend and most certainly do not need to hear another peep outta you about your sweet digs in Tahoe or your workout regime or how much coke you just finish doing. All those things is better kept to yourself.

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