Burritt Proof
Cocktailing in a 100-Year-Old Hotel

Hotel bars can be tricky.

On the one hand: hotel rooms upstairs.

On the other hand: that unmistakable convention-goer vibe.

But once in awhile there's that rare place, tucked deep inside a small hotel, that manages to keep things feeling just local enough...

Introducing Burritt Room, your intimate new film noir-esque lounge for cocktails and canned beer, debuting next Thursday a block from Union Square.

Named after the Nob Hill alley just off Bush Street that was the scene of the murder in The Maltese Falcon, Burritt Room is the sort of dimly lit, plush cave that Humphrey Bogart would've tossed back a few gin fizzes in.

Head up to the second floor of the Crescent Hotel (the new SF outpost of New York's Cooper Square and the Crescent Beverly Hills), then follow the exposed brick, worn wood wainscoting and row of crystal chandeliers to the bar. It actually looks like it could be one of the sets from The Maltese Falcon—and that's before you've had their spirituous cocktails, like the whiskey/cognac/amaro Kentucky Stinger.

Take your pick from the 18-deep cocktail list crafted by a Bourbon & Branch vet—it runs the gamut from classics to seasonal takes. But let us suggest the Shibuya Scramble, a Tokyo-inspired gin, St. Germain and green tea punch, which you can take to one of the two-seater nooks by the window—your HQ for the night.

Or at least until you retire to the red velvet sofas.

There's something about red velvet...