Swanky happy hour

San Francisco has way too many places for one gal with a non-profit salary to eat and drink at. Trying to eat at all the places within a five-block radius of my house has even proved to be challenge. But, I was able to cross two more off my list.

We had a workplace happy hour at Jade Bar on Gough. This was one of those places I walk by all the time but never venture into. For some reason (possibly the neon green sign), I always thought this bar to be too swanky for my faux-Mission-hipster tastes.

It was nicer than the places I usually frequent and, with it, came all the nice amenities: waterfall/pond thing with lights, a clean and well-lighted bathroom, and fruity cocktails. I ordered the Sumo-Jito, which is their version of a mojito, and it tasted like a Sprite with a touch of mint. It was much too gooey sweet and not nearly strong enough. I thought I’d try again with another one of the special cocktails and ordered something with mango that came in an oversized martini class (apparently, the Sumo-Jito was strong enough for me to not remember names) on the next round. The mango drink was stronger than the first but still sticky sweet.

We were forced to leave earlier than we had planned, so we moved our drinking to Soluna. It’s a lounge-y restaurant with an impressive-looking menu, but I wanted to keep things simple this time and stuck to what I know and love: vodka gimlets (just typing that made me salivate). I like my drinks tart and strong, and this one was a bit too much of both. The drink was so acidic that I could feel the enamel on my teeth start to wear. I began to feel wobbly after a few sips, craved fried carbohydrates, and applauded the arrival of our garlic fries, which were spectacular. The fries were so crisp that you could hear your teeth bite into them, thick cut, flaky hot inside, and covered with so much freshly chopped garlic that I was surprised we could still stand talking to each other in such close proximity. Those fries made everything perfect.