San Fran Cocktail Diary: Live Music, Dancing, and Don’t Forget to Hydrate!

Beats are blasting my ears and I’m dancing up a storm to a song that the dance duo (and veteran CHILLED Magazine cover stars) SOFI TUKKER concocted custom, just for me. It’s an amazing way to kick off what will be a weekend of music and revelry here in San Francisco.

In actuality, I’m in a shiny blue booth in an activation thrown by Liquid I.V., the electrolyte-infused drink company, who partnered with the chart-topping act to put together a series of questions about my music listening habits. However I answered, a different song would spit out for me to boogie too. Welcome to the future!

As I dance, I feel miraculously refreshed despite flying in from New York to San Francisco the day before to explore the city and attend Outside Lands, an annual music festival thrown in the city’s massive Golden Gate Park. Perhaps some of my perkiness has to do with the pure excitement of being here, coupled with taking a few shots of Liquid I.V., a dissolvable powder which apparently hydrates you better than water. (I choose the sugar-free concoction, which tastes exactly like lemonade).

Right now the sun is bearing down and I’m planning on spending the day and night on my feet, so I’ll need all the hydration I can get; perhaps that’s why I’ve heard they’ve been mainstays of festival season, including Miami’s Rolling Loud. Little do I know that when the sun sets later tonight and the wind, and mist, picks up, summer will turn to autumn right before my very eyes.

Sea Lions and Margaritas at Fisherman’s Wharf

Such is the misty magic of San Francisco, the city by the Bay that Tony Bennett famously sings his love for (or a lost love, rather). Before arriving at Golden Gate Park, I made sure to explore the city as much as I can, traversing the city’s famous Fisherman’s Wharf on the East Side of the city. It’s a collection of seaside shops and eateries with views of the aforementioned Bay, and docks full of lazy sea lions (they’re a sort-of mascot here) as the infamous Alcatraz looms in the distance. As the waves splash below me on Pier 39, I stop to sit down on the back deck at Taco Cantina and order up a frozen Blood Orange Margarita. It’s very sweet and very cold, but as the crowds gather around me, it sets a party mood that leads straight into my arrival at the festival later in the day.

Outside Lands and Bay Area’s Cocktail Scene

Fueled by my sips of Liquid I.V., I set off to the main stage to catch Maggie Rogers, the singer-songwriter who first shot to fame with the song “Alaska.” She puts on a spirited, sing-along set, which naturally calls for a liquid kind of spirit. Aside from this year’s music (artists include Pearl Jam and Kendrick Lamar), the festival is also well-known for a copious array of food and beverage offerings, many of them local here to San Francisco. That includes partnerships with the cocktail bars like Trick Dog, an acclaimed name in the Bay Area scene which boasts cocktails like the Chinatown (ingredients: TD Private Selection Banhez mezcal, Uruapan, 5-spice falernum, mango, chocolate, salt, lime). The festival also teamed up with The Kon-Tiki, an Oakland bar which features elevated libations like a pineapple rum on draft. The choices are just as inspired at the festival, even down to a spinning wheel that allows you to choose a cocktail for you. One of those possibilities comes in the form of The Woodsman, (bourbon, maple syrup and both Angostura and orange bitters). As the winds whip up, the sky is a warm purple as tonight’s headliner, Lana Del Rey, skillfully croons through her catalog of hits and the crowd sways with her.

White Wine in North Beach

The next day, I decide to check out the city’s North Beach neighborhood, which is essentially their Little Italy, and find blocks of thriving shops, restaurants, and businesses. I zero in on enjoying lunch at Cafe Zoetrope, the famous brainchild of the iconic director Francis Ford Coppola. The Cafe, located in the historic Sentinel Building (a thin, green structure built in 1907 which resembles New York’s Flatiron Building), is where the director is known to work (he did all post-production work on the Godfather films here, for example), and it’s also known as the birthplace of the Caesar Salad. Naturally that’s what I ordered, along with a Mufealleta sandwich piled high with cold cuts on freshly-baked in-house bread. Both are top-notch, and I wash it down with a Chardonnay from Coppola’s own vineyards and named after this very eatery. It’s silky smooth and perfectly chill. The menu also includes the full range of the director’s popular wine, from Diamond Collection Malbecs and Clarets, to a sparkling Rose named after his daughter Sofia.

Palomas and pyrotechniques

Fueled by wine, I head back to Golden Gate Park for one final day which I naturally start with a Liquid I.V. packet dissolved in a paper cup. Today’s performers include the likes of Meghan Thee Stallion and rock band The 1975. As I make my way from one end of the massive park to another, I survive the snaking lines in front of the festival’s many food and drink vendors and ask for a Paloma. Pre-batched, it’s served in a plastic cup with a slice of lime.

The festival itself winds down on this Sunday evening with a performance from the electronic act Odesza. They fill their set with drumline and pyrotechnics which dazzle the crowd as I sip my Paloma. After venturing off the grounds, the next day I head to the aptly-named Round House Cafe, a circular cafe which hawks Equator Coffee, breakfast sandwiches on Sourdough and a view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Goodbye to the city by the Bay

Back at the airport, as the plane back takes off, I gaze out at the landmark and cheer for it with a sparkling glass of dry champagne. Tony Bennett was correct all along: I left my heart here, alright.