Bartender's Choice: What to Drink at Burritt Room and Tavern, San Francisco

[Photographs: Wes Rowe]

Four years ago, Josh Trabulsi, the head bartender at Charlie Palmer's lauded Burritt Room in San Francisco, had something of a cocktail awakening. Having been a 'club bartender' in previous years, he felt he had struck gold when he began drinking and making more serious craft cocktails. "I realized that we can get drunk and enjoy amazing flavors at the same time! Why would you do anything else?!"

Josh Trabulsi and Charlie Palmer.

At the recently revamped Burritt Room and Tavern, a cocktail destination in the Mystic Hotel, Trabulsi is able to put this passion to work. The 26-drink menu he put together with fellow bartender Seth Laufman includes sections dedicated to punch bowls, classic cocktails, and house creations. Named after Burritt Alley (as featured in the classic San Francisco film noir, The Maltese Falcon), the space and the cocktails evoke the quiet glamor of old-school San Francisco.

"We scoured the old cocktail books, looking for classics that were a little more obscure," he said. "I'm okay with cocktails on tap, or modern mixology...but I keep coming back to the classics. I figure, if this drink can make it 100 years, that's pretty good."

We asked Trabulsi to pick his five favorite drinks on the Burritt Room and Tavern menu. His top choices included some of the menu's newer creations (though he couldn't resist including a classic.) Check out Trabulsi's picks (all $12) in the slideshow above.

Hungry for more? Get a first look at some of the food offerings at the Burritt Room and Tavern here.

Burritt Room + Tavern

417 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108 (map) 415-400-0561; charliepalmer.com

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