Bar reviewer Kristen Haney seeks to separate hipster wannabes from real-life dives in this weekly column. Check out her last installment here.
Hold the fancy schmancy mixers. At Butter, strawberry soda is better.
Themed establishments frequently leave a bad taste in my mouth. Images of Disneyland and their exorbitant prices, or that one time I had a drunk waitress at Rainforest Café who checked my I.D. by listening to it, do little to dispel my notion that themed equals over-hyped-waste-of-time. However, introduce alcohol, reduce prices, grime it up a bit, and you’ve got me singing a different tune. There are a few places that keep it kitsch without coming across as hokey, and where you don’t have to pay extra for novelty décor and drinks. And that’s a theme I can jump aboard.
Butter:
Finally, a place where you can celebrate trailer park chic and the white trash within. Quality mixers for cocktails include Tang, Sunny D, and grape and strawberry sodas. If you’re more of a purist, you can sip the ubiquitous award-winning Pabst on draft, or opt for a tall boy, complete with paper bag. The food includes a number of microwaved specialties, like tater tots and Frito pie, or you can go really gourmet and get a deep fried PB & J or Twinkie. Go before 10 p.m. any Thursday through Sunday for happy hour prices and to avoid a cover charge.
354 11th St, SF
(415) 863-5964
http://www.smoothasbutter.com/
Watch hipsters at Double Dutch try to figure out how kids in the ’80s attached their iPods to boom boxes like these.
Double Dutch
Vintage ghetto blasters, ‘80s kicks, and street art adorn the interior of this bar and dance spot. Designed to bring to mind the New York street scene of the same decade that brought us hair metal and acid wash jeans, Double Dutch is a fun take on the traditional nightclub. The dance floor gets packed and sweaty with patrons dancing along to hip hop tracks from a decade they were just old enough to experience the end of, imitating the same break dance moves featured in the pictures of the people plastered to the wall. If you’re nostalgic for house parties where your friend DJing knew how to cut it better than the jokes spinning in the clubs, Double Dutch is more than happy to give you a pleasant case of déjà vu.
3192 16th St, SF
(415) 346-5699
http://www.thedoubledutch.com