Astrid Kane

San Francisco

Senior Editor at The San Francisco Standard

Articles

This is the tiniest town you can fly to from the Bay Area

1 week ago | sfstandard.com | Astrid Kane

Crescent City is as far north as you can go on the coast before hitting Oregon. It’s a strange place worth visiting. The tiniest town you can fly to from a major Bay Area airport isn’t some Colorado ski destination or Hawaiian resort community. It’s right here in California: Crescent City, the tsunami capital of North America and the northernmost place on the coast before you hit Oregon. And I did it for less than a hundred bucks.
Mechanical bull, disco bison, and small crowds at "Downtown Hoedown"

1 week ago | sfstandard.com | Astrid Kane

At San Francisco’s first-ever Downtown Hoedown on Thursday evening, denim-clad wannabe cowboys and cowgirls hooted and hollered as they rode the mechanical bull. Most fell on their butts after about 30 seconds and got up grinning. Yeehaw! Country had come to the Financial District. A spinoff of Downtown First Thursdays, the hoedown took place in the year-old alcohol-friendly Front Street Entertainment Zone, a centerpiece of the city’s efforts to breathe new life into the Financial District.
San Francisco’s quietest cocktail bar is downtown’s RM 212

1 week ago | sfstandard.com | Astrid Kane

Classic cocktails, quiet jazz: RM 212 is going on all on the idea that some people like it quiet. For all the effort to make downtown San Francisco come alive with noise and energy, at least one place is banking on the opposite idea. The maverick is RM 212, a lounge on the border of the Financial District and Chinatown where the ceiling is punched tin, the walls are exposed brick, and the soundtrack is jazz on a low volume.
The Hot List: Our favorite restaurants and bars in SF right now

2 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Lauren Saria |Sara Deseran |Astrid Kane

You need some new ideas for where to go out. We have some really delicious answers. You need some new ideas for where to go out. We have some really delicious answers. For anyone prepared to ask us, “Where should I eat tonight?” here’s our answer: the Hot List, our opinionated guide to the top restaurants and bars in San Francisco right now. Some of the picks are new and noteworthy; others are rediscovered favorites.
Marina cocktail bar will become a Jewish deli with high-ABV cocktails

2 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Astrid Kane

Lilah, a low-ABV cocktail bar that opened in October in the Marina, will close next month and become a Jewish restaurant and cocktail bar, Super Mensch. Co-owner Elmer Mejicanos, a 20-year veteran of San Francisco’s bar scene, said the pivot has nothing to do with Lilah’s format, which saw low-proof sours and shaved-ice concoctions share menu space with crispy duck tacos and Taiwanese pork-belly buns.
Hot dogs are all over San Francisco

2 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Astrid Kane

Glizzies have never been so glitzy as nostalgia for quintessential American fare reaches new heights. Costco may sell quarter-pound, all-beef hot dogs for $1.50 until the end of time. But for the past year, grander, more elaborate, and less fluorescently lit dogs are seemingly everywhere in San Francisco. A proletarian staple of American food culture since it was popularized at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, the once-humble hot dog now embodies affordable luxury.
Who needs IPA? At new Sunset brewpub, lager and Pilsner steal the show

2 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Astrid Kane

Welcome to Swig City, highlighting the can’t-miss cocktails at the city’s best bars, restaurants, and clubs. Sometimes, all you want is a simple meal with no surprises — say, an unfussy pork chop washed down with a pint of Pilsner. A dinner like that can be hard to find in San Francisco, where the middle tier of neighborhood restaurants has been hollowed out to make room for fast-casual on one end and tasting menus on the other.
“Hunky Jesus” winner rides to victory atop fiberglass disco bison

3 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Astrid Kane

Pulled to the stage atop a giant fiberglass bison covered with disco mirrorball tiles and holding a rainbow Pride flag, “Cowboy Carter Jesus” delivered a brief barn-burner of a sermon and won this year’s Hunky Jesus competition by one of the most lopsided margins in memory.
9 best places to eat and drink during a day at the Sunset Dunes

3 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Lauren Saria |Astrid Kane |Sara Deseran

San Francisco’s newest park may have split the city before it debuted, but now that Sunset Dunes is open for strolling and skating, even haters can’t resist the allure. The beachfront stretch of what used to be the Great Highway now has a giant octopus, a skateboard track and bike ramp, colorful murals, and stadium-style benches — which is to say, plenty to explore beyond the beach and attractions at nearby Golden Gate Park. What it doesn’t have is on-site food and drink.
North Beach gets a new arcade bar with an in-house taqueria

3 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Astrid Kane

Bar Next Door is a spinoff of Columbus Cafe, but the two couldn’t look and feel more different. A boozy block in one of San Francisco’s biggest nightlife neighborhoods just got another spot for cocktails, beer, arcade games, and one decidedly unusual amenity: an in-house taqueria. Bar Next Door opened Wednesday on lively Green Street in North Beach, adjacent to Columbus Cafe, to which its name refers. The connection goes deep.