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Tokyo-SF Bartender Salon
On Sunday 3/11, the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami in Northern Japan, Yoko and I helped organize a cross-cultural exchange between bartenders from Japan and San Francisco. Held at...
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Skankynavia: L’Etoile
A new cocktail bar opened in Copenhagen in the spring of 2012. The creation of the bar had been in the making for years. The owner is a friend of mine, who is an impressively ambitious and creative...
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Ask a Bartender from Japan: The Art of Cleaning the Bar
*We asked our friend, Mr. Tomokazu Kai of Heuga Bar in Gifu City, “What types of towels and products do you use to clean your bar?” Mr. Kai, ever the thorough and serious bar professional, responded...
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Tokyo JUNKtion: Dessert Le Comptoir (Fukasawa)
The art of perfection is everywhere in Japan. In its laquerware, electronics and especially in its food. Dessert Le Comptoir in Fukasawa, Tokyo is an example of food perfection. A 10 minute bus-ride...
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Adventures in Nakano: Hitomi Bar
Male bartenders in Japan are full of themselves. There, I said it. From the few “star” bars we visited during our trip to Tokyo, I felt miffed by the arrogance and general unfriendliness of the...
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Meet Masako Ikegami of Bar Shake (Ginza)
We met the gracious Masako Ikegami in 2010, before we opened our shop in Oakland, at the Tokyo-SF Bartender Salon we helped host at Prizefighter. A few bartenders from Japan who had won the coveted...
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Akio Watanabe of Bar EST! (Tokyo)
Looking back on our trip to Japan in February, the most memorable cocktail was at Bar EST!. A short distance from the Yushima train station in Tokyo, EST! is a dark, tavernous space filled with men...
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Tokyo JUNKtion: Entering the Womb at Bar Caesarean
The name Caesarean derives from all things related to Caesar, the Roman general whose actions led to the rise of the Roman Empire. It does not derive from the caesarean section, which might have been...
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Postcard from Shanghai: Speakeasy Secret
*Yoko is in China for 10 days! And with no access to Facebook or Instagram, she is sending us photos the old school way — via postcards. We’ll be featuring these snapshots from Yoko in Chengdu and...
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Bar Owl in Niigata City
When we mentioned to Mr. Akio Watanabe, owner of Bar EST! in Tokyo that we were heading to Niigata, he recommended that we visit Bar Owl. It was one of those things that we told him we would do but...
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