Balboa Cafe - OPEN!

We are six bars into the book, and we have our first one that is still open!

www.balboacafesf.com

The Balboa Cafe is a San Francisco Legacy restaurant certified by SF Heritage. It's a local favorite serving up the the famous Balboa Burger that "sits on many lists as one of the best burgers in San Francisco." They also have a wine program and live music every Tuesday.

The menu, quite simply, is to die for and the photography on the website is mouth-watering. You don't often seen deviled eggs as an appetizer, so these must be pretty special. Oh, and the steaks...

I have not seen nearly enough of the United States, so we make an effort to move vacations around to experience more of our country. San Francisco is one of the few locations I would love to return to, if not to enjoy the heritage at the Balboa. 

The B&H book features two recipes, and the California Root Beer Float stands out.

California Root Beer Float

• 1 oz. Galliano
• 1 oz. Mexican coffee liqueur
• 3 oz. half and half
• 1 oz. club soda

Put everything except club soda in a blender with some ice. Blend until smooth. Strain into a 7 oz. wineglass and top with club soda. 

Arnie's - closed

Found this bit from a t-shirt shop, of all places. You never know where good information will come from:

Arnie's Restaurant, 1050 N. State St., Chicago, IL. Arnold "Arnie" Morton (1922–2005) was a restaurateur that opened his first restaurant, the Walton Walk, between Rush Street and Michigan Avenue in 1952. This paved the way for a partnership with Victor Lownes and Hugh Hefner, the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy Magazine. 

Morton was the right-hand man of Hugh Hefner when he launched the Playboy Empire on February 29, 1960. He was largely involved in the opening of the first Playboy Club with Hefner and Lownes in 1960. He served as Executive Vice President of Playboy Enterprises, where he developed the worldwide chain of Playboy Clubs. 

Over the course of 20 years, Morton created his flagship namesake restaurant, Arnie's, in Chicago's Gold Coast; Zorine's; and Morton's of Chicago Steakhouses. In 1978, Morton's of Chicago opened in the basement of a Near North Side high-rise in Chicago adjacent to the existing Arnie's restaurant. The menu consisted simply of giant potatoes and large steaks. It was slow at the beginning, but gained a boost when Frank Sinatra arrived at the restaurant and became a regular. 

This original Morton's of Chicago became the stepping stone for 65 other Morton's locations in the United States, Hongkong, Singapore, and Canada. During the 70s and 80s, his other ventures included Arnie's Restaurant, Arnie's Cafe, Maple Street Pier, Arnie's First Street Pier, Arnie's North, Morton's Marketplace, the Institute and an exclusive Club, Zorine's (discothèque). 

Morton met Klaus Fritsch while working alongside Hugh Hefner. Then, Fritsch was food and beverage director of the Playboy Clubs. Morton left Playboy in the early 1970s as did Fritsch to begin a 20-year run of working together. Morton once teamed with chef Jean Banchet to open an elegant French seafood restaurant, Zorine's Club La Mer. Morton sold his Morton's Steakhouses in 1987.

The whole block appears to be Morton's now. I may have even gone there for a wedding back in 2002. A peek at the menu  https://www.mortons.com/statestreet/bar/ doesn't feature a Cafe Freeze, Peach Treat, or an Ice Palace, so that's where I come in. A simple, refreshing drink I remember being served...

Cafe Freeze

• 1 1/2 oz. rum
• 8 oz. lime sherbet
• 3 oz. pineapple juice

Place all ingredients in a blender, blend until smooth. Pour in 13 oz. wine glass.

Archibald's - closed

Scant information can be found about Archibald's, formerly of Birmingham, Michigan. An internet search for the restaurant instead pulls up the usual matchbooks that are 40+ years old, bygone stories of fine dining in the Motor City, and a place called the Triple Nickel, ran by the same family that used to run Archibald's.

It looks like the real story is in the drink itself. The Hummer was created in 1968 by Jerome Adams, a bartender at the Detroit Bayview Yacht Club. It quickly became a popular beverage around the world. Many stories appear on food and drink websites: Forbes magazine, Detroit Free Press, Metro Times, and more. From Detroit's Hour magazine:

In early 1968, he concocted the Hummer, a libation that would become a hit around the globe. One man who had a couple of them at the Bayview bar in early ’68 asked Adams what the drink was called. He said it didn’t have a name. “Well, it kind of makes you want to hum,” the man said. The Hummer was born. It has the consistency of a milkshake, but it’s not kid’s stuff. In England, it’s known as a Detroit Hummer. But Adams likes the name it has in Germany. “Over there, the call it Sir Jerome — after me.”

This was another family favorite, and the drink I ordered on my first official date with Dave.

Hummer

• 3-5 ice cubes
• 1½ ounces of light rum (Adams likes Bacardi or Castillo)
• 1½ ounces Kahlúa coffee-flavored liqueur
• 2 scoops of good-quality vanilla ice cream
• whipped cream
• chocolate shavings

Place all ingredients in a blender, except whipped cream. Mix, pour, add dollop of whipped cream and chocolate, drink, and start humming.

The Apple Tree... Disco? - closed

A search for 1225 19th ST SW in Washington DC reveals an office complex with no stories to tell. Dupont Coffee Shop out back, place called I Ricchi that makes deliveries.

But back in the 70s, that was where you could find the Apple Tree. It was where the movers and shakers could move and shake with enthusiasm, if not style, to the hottest disco classics. From The Washington Post, February 1979:

"The downtown Apple Tree has a lot of everything: a lot of youngsters, a lot of oldsters, a lot of blacks, a lot of whites, a lot of Arabs, a lot of Americans. The one thing it does not have a lot of is space. Most of it is used for bar and lounges, and on weekends the Apple Tree is a meat market, with men and women eyeing, actually surveying each other. 

The disco floors are off to the side, one large, the other small and far from the music so that the sounds are faint for dancing. The large one is a mirrored cave in which the music echoes. Most of the dancers are terrible, as if they wandered into the bar and found they had nothing to do with the partner they picked up but dance. The few extraordinarily good dancers we saw on Saturday night were tourists who wandered in, and the Apple Tree's dance instructor, who gave a demonstration that would make it worthwhile for even John Travolta to pay the $5 admission. The disco jockey plays five fast songs, then three slow ones, so if the floor is too crowded, you'll have a chance after the transition."

Banana Tree

• 1 oz. creme de bananas
• 1/2 oz. white creme de cacao
• 1/2 oz. Galliano
• 1/2 banana peeled and sliced
• 6 oz. vanilla ice cream
• 4 drops vanilla extract
• 2 oz pineapple juice
• banana slice

Place all ingredients except banana slice and pineapple juice in blender. Blend until thick and creamy. Pour into 14 oz. serving glass. Serve with banana garnish dipped in pineapple juice.

This is one of the recipes I distinctly remember my dad making. I'll bet the white creme de cacao or the creme de bananas is still in the liquor cabinet.

Annie's Santa Fe: Sex - Mex! closed

The two drinks offered by the B&H book - Pina Colada and Strawberry Margarita - certainly contribute to the party reputation I discovered in what used to be Annie's Santa Fe. Quotes from the KC Guys blog:

Annie’s Santa Fe was a Kansas City Mexican food restaurant chain that was very popular in the 80’s and 90’s. Annie’s was a lot of things to a lot of people and you might not have known that Annie’s also had a wild side, a very wild side.

At sundown this lovable Mexican restaurant turned into a disco scene that introduced Kansas City to margaritas, tequila shots and bad pickup lines. Annie’s Santa Fe was a wild swinging suburban yuppie disco “Sex-Mex” bar. The bar scene at Annie’s was rad and regularly featured Royal players, power drinkers, brawls, big-haired women, stonewashed jeans and mullets on proud parade. Chiefs players took over the bar on Sunday nights. If you know anyone that is currently in their late 40’s they probably have an Annie’s war story for you.

Regretfully, Annie's Santa Fe is no longer. Details hazy, but it appears the restaurant closed up shop in the mid-90s, and the only traces that exist now are stories, matchbooks for sale on eBay, and a beef empanada recipe.

Annie's Frozen Strawberry Margarita

• 1 1/2 oz. gold tequila
• 1/2 oz. triple sec
• 1 oz. lemon or 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice (edit: why not both!?)
• 4 oz. frozen strawberries in sugar and juice
• 1 fresh strawberry

Place all but the fresh strawberry in a blender with a handful of crushed ice. Blend until almost frozen. Pour in 13 oz. glass.

The Alta Mira Bar - evolved

The Alta Mira Bar kicks off the Benson & Hedges (from now on B&H) Drink Recipes from 100 of the Greatest Bars.

This charming place was located within the Alta Mira Hotel in Sausalito, California, across the bay from San Francisco. An internet search reveals the hotel is no longer, yet has new life as a private pay recovery center.

Feels blasphemous to post a drink recipe from a hotel that is now a treatment center, but all things in moderation:

Coffee Alta Mira

• 1 1/2 oz. orange cognac brandy
• hot black coffee
• whipped cream

Pour brandy into 6 oz. wineglass. Fill with coffee and stir. Swirl in dollop of whipped cream. Avoid breaking glass by pouring hot coffee gently into glass over a metal spoon.

The Drink Book

 The book!

Life was pretty limited for a midwestern girl growing up in a smallish town that was maybe the quarter to third way point between Detroit and Chicago. Our town was small enough that it was a big deal when a Wendy's opened with a salad bar. Going to Red Lobster was the height of fine dining.

I wonder if that's why this book, the Benson & Hedges 100s Drink Recipes from 100 of the Greatest Bars was such a hit in my family. My dad got it for free in a carton of smokes. Within the book, the drinks were shot in full ambiance, glowing with sophistication and guaranteeing a good time. I think I fell in love with logos for the first time reading this book, character shining through.

My dad would take the book to my grandma prior to a holiday and ask her to pick a drink for him to make. The he would go get the liquor, ice cream, bananas, garnishes, rock salt, etc. needed to create said drink. And she always picked the ones that were big alcoholic desserts that could easily be made into virgin drinks for the kids.

My mom gave me the book after a purge of the house after my dad died. I cherish it, but admit I haven't made any of the drinks within since obtaining it.

Since I and the rest of civilization is living life in quarantine, the book made an unexpected return to my desktop. With so many bars and restaurants working hard to stay afloat during the current COVID-19 crisis, I wondered how many of these locations were still in business 40 years later? The book is an amazing resource, with pictures and addresses. That, coupled with google maps and the internet, makes this an easy and quick research project.

Not sure how many of these recipes I will sample along the way. Can't go out except for essential items, and I doubt a fifth of orange brandy counts.