O.K., I’m calling it: pride has officially returned to San Francisco. You’ll feel and find it in our finest hotels. Say what you want about the mean streets of the Tenderloin and the Mission. It’s all true. But the opposite is true, too, and it’s about time.
Monday night marked the grand opening of the Ritz-Carlton’s sumptuous new lounge, Bruma. If the original was a bit dated, this version is classic, artistic, and modern, with its coral-colored velvet sofas, low golden chandeliers, and floral-painted walls. If you want to impress a date or celebrate something special, this bar may well be your best first stop.
Bruma is Spanish for “mist” (a.k.a. fog), and the cocktails play off the “Emotional Geography of San Francisco.” Highlights include Birds of a Feather from the World’s Edge Passage, Pisco Punch from the Open Water Passage, The Karl from the Golden City Passage (my favorite — an icy martini with an absinthe spritz), and Bird’s Eye from the High Ground Passage.
The Ritz’s lounge is one in a series of exciting hotel revamps. Other standouts include the Huntington Hotel, with its cleaned-up Big Four and the jewel-box Arabella’s in the lobby. The Post Room at the Beacon Grand on Powell Street features a stunning bar on the lower level (it’s expensive, but happy hour runs Sunday through Thursday from 1:30 to 4:00 p.m. and offers $10 cocktails, $10 wine, and $2 oysters). Its updated Starlite couldn’t be a prettier place for dancing and drinks. Just down the street, the Westin St. Francis has the see-and-be-seen Bourbon Lounge (part of Bourbon Steak) and The Eighth Rule. Both are so swank they make me almost not miss the former Clock Bar.
As I left the Ritz-Carlton, having tasted each of their signature cocktails, I left behind my usual feelings of agitation and sadness. I knew just down the hill was mayhem. But up here, with a large group of Japanese tourists unloading golf clubs from Escalades and the lovely doormen navigating the crowds, everything was beautiful.
Now it’s your turn. Put on your best, whatever that may be, prepare your budget, and toast to the new old San Francisco. We got this. You will be proud of your city.
Bruma: Monday through Thursday and Sunday 11:30 p.m.–11 p.m.; Friday through Saturday 11:30 a.m.– midnight
