Equal Parts
Charles Phan matches superb Chinese food with stellar cocktails at Heaven's Dog
For years, The Slanted Door's Charles Phan has shown San Franciscans just how well cocktails can complement upscale Vietnamese food. With his latest venture, Heaven's Dog, Phan has turned his attention to Chinese cuisine--and as with the Slanted Door, the drinks at Heaven's Dog demand as much attention as the food.
Run by the uncompromising Erik Adkins, the drinks program features cocktails from Charles H. Baker Jr.'s 1939 book, The Gentleman's Companion--a historical road map for present-day mixology. Plus, Adkins has recruited many of the city's top bartenders to take turns behind the bar, which was crafted from a single slab of reclaimed cypress.
One of the bar's standouts is the Biarritz Monk Buck, a zippy mix of Armagnac, Chartreuse and ginger. Try it with a bowl of house-made noodles with beef and ginger or a basket of soup dumplings and you'll see why Phan never lets cocktails get too far away from his food.
Biarritz Monk Buck
Recipe from Erik Adkins, Heaven's Dog
Makes 1 drink
Ice
2 ounces Armagnac
1 ounce fresh lemon juice
¾ ounce simple syrup (1 part sugar dissolved in 1 part simmering water)
½ ounce yellow Chartreuse
½ ounce ginger solution*
1 ounce soda water
Lemon wheel, for garnish
Fill a shaker with ice. Add the Armagnac, lemon juice, simple syrup, Chartreuse and ginger solution and shake for 10 seconds. Strain into an ice-filled Collins glass and top with the soda water. Garnish with a lemon wheel.
*To make ginger solution, stir 1 part sugar into 1 part ginger juice made by squeezing freshly grated ginger through a paper towel.
Heaven's Dog, 1148 Mission St., San Francisco; 415-863-6008 or heavensdog.com
