Now–February 28

Black History Month

Celebrate Black History Month by learning about the historic milestones of San Diego’s Black community. The San Diego History Center officially launched an exhibit in honor of Black History Month that features an extensive timeline of local Black accomplishments dating back to 1798.

February 9

History of Balboa Park

San Diego History Center is offering a virtual lesson on our city’s favorite park, showing how what began as wild scrubland has evolved into the cultural center we love today. From the colorful botany to the 17 museums, the famed park has made a name for itself ever since it came to life in 1868. This presentation by Barry Goldlust covers the park’s must-see attractions and its lesser-known charms.

February 10

2021 Festival of Orchestras Drive-in

Musicians of the LA Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony join together to perform for this drive-in concert. Tune in to the orchestra by radio as they dedicate the show to the work of Bach and Mozart. Concertgoers can bring their own lawn chairs and coolers to set up the ideal viewing experience at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

February 12–21

CA Craft Beer Week

Discover all the craft beer California has to offer through this collaboration among local and statewide breweries. AleSmith, Belching Beaver, Second Chance, and Societe are just a few of the local names participating in the 10-day fest, which will feature contests, competitions, and take-home beer packages. The kickoff event will also include special releases from your favorite brewers.

February 17–21

San Diego Bird Festival

Candie Reasoner

San Diego Bird Festival

Learn more about the birds in your backyard through webinars and online exhibits, as well as socially distanced field trips where attendees can meet on-site for live bird viewings. All proceeds of the event will support the conversion and sanctuary programs of the San Diego Audubon Society.

February 19

San Diego Museum of Art Virtual Display & Performance

SDMA’s Art of Elan explores photography and abstractions throughout the 20th century. The streamed exhibit will feature iconic work from acclaimed photographers paired with a live performance from clarinetist Joshua Rubin. The display will be streamed on SDMA’s YouTube channel at 7 p.m.

February 26

San Diego Symphony

The symphony’s upcoming Elegy and Serenades show is the second of their digital season. This month, the performance will feature the work of Carlos Simon, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky. Music director Rafael Payare will lead the orchestra in this show, which is dedicated to the lives lost to police brutality. Tune in to the live stream starting at 7 p.m.

History of Balboa Park

Shutterstock

The post Things to Do in San Diego at a Distance in February appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

January 7–28

Manny Farber On Display at QuintONE Gallery

Quint Gallery’s newest exhibit features a 18-foot panel by local artistic legend Manny Farber. Farber was a respected film critic and painter who created a new art theory: termite art. The term is used to describe works where artists put their heads down and metaphorically chew through whatever is right in front of them without thought for the destination. To keep in line with QuintONE’s “slow art” concept, the 1985 painting on display, which has never been shown to the public before, is the only piece in the gallery and can be viewed by making an appointment for an hourlong visit.

January 8

Arts District Liberty Station’s Virtual Second Friday

Liberty Station’s monthly “First Friday” has gone virtual for the first time this month. On January 8, from 4 to 8 p.m., log on to catch the latest from the arts world, starting with Leah Schaperow of Milk Oolong Studio for a clay coil presentation. The rest of the evening will include demonstrations, talks, and performances from other local artists, including Hakkai Aquascape Design Gallery, Lauren LeVieux Art Studio, and San Diego Dance Theater.

January 8–10

Jurassic Quest Drive Thru

Jurassic Quest Drive Thru

The Del Mar Fairgrounds has gone to the dinos! At the Jurassic Quest Drive Thru, you can make your way through an interactive course with over 70 lifelike moving dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures, including an 80-foot-long Spinosaurus and a 50-foot-long Megalodon. Since its launch last summer, this national touring experience has hosted 250,000 cars and nearly one million visitors.

January 14–17

Falling by Unscripted Learning

Falling, by Drama Desk Award nominee Deanna Jent, is making its way to the virtual world through a Zoom reading presented by Unscripted Learning. Featuring five performers and directed by Jacole Kitchen, local casting director for La Jolla Playhouse, this story explores the multilayered dynamics of the family of a young autisic man. All proceeds from the event will benefit Unscripted Learning, a nonprofit collaboration with National Comedy Theatre, to help kids and teens on the autism spectrum develop social skills through improvisational theater techniques.

January 18–23

MLK Week at UC San Diego

UC San Diego is hosting a weeklong series of free virtual events celebrating the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Kicking off the celebration is a virtual community-building circle led by student dialogue ambassadors that will discuss MLK’s philosophies on racial justice and healing. Later, join the Carrefour Companions workshop to write letters to elderly San Diegans in isolation, or hear local business owner Maya Madsen lead a panel on Black veganism, social entrepreneurship, and how San Diego can support Black-owned businesses.

Multiple Dates

San Diego Symphony Stream

While the symphony has put a pause on in-person shows, you can still tune in to classical performances through their streaming services. Beginning this month and running through May, the San Diego Symphony will be releasing monthly virtual orchestral concerts led by music director Rafael Payare. In between the monthly shows, the symphony will also be regularly uploading interviews and performances on their website.

Manny Farber at QuintONE Gallery

The post Things to Do in San Diego at a Distance in January appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Neighborhood:

Ocean Beach

Occupation:

Principal oboe, San Diego Symphony

Who you’re sheltering with:

My husband, Eric Starr, and our two cats, Miney and Mo

What you’re doing for exercise:

Running on the beach, and now that the water is just barely warm enough, swimming and body surfing too!

Go-to meal:

My husband is an excellent cook, so anything he makes, I’m happy to eat! We just received a bounty of homegrown tomatoes from our friend Andrea Overturf [English hornist in the San Diego Symphony], so we’re eating lots of caprese, and panzanella salads. For local takeout, our go-to is Indian food from Sundara; or the pear, gorgonzola, and arugula pizza from Leucadia Pizzeria.

New show you’ve discovered:

We’ve been doing a lot of reading and listening to music, rather than watching TV or movies. We’ve enjoyed watching the Berlin Philharmonic on Digital Concert Hall throughout this time, and the New York City Ballet performances in May.

Rituals to stay sane:

Always having good reading material on hand and a musical project in the works! Some of my favorite books that I’ve read (or reread) during this time are The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver, The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel, Rodham and Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld, and My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout. Since the San Diego Symphony is not giving concerts at the moment, I’ve used the extra time to learn more solo repertoire for the oboe, and painstakingly record some of it to post on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

What you’ve come to appreciate:

I deeply appreciate my husband, Eric, for his kindness, patience, resourcefulness, and positive, proactive outlook! I also am very grateful to my parents for exposing me to books, music, and art early in my life, as these are exactly the things that I look to for solace and inspiration, especially during times of stress and uncertainty.

Your daily uniform at home:

Jeans, a blouse or T-shirt, earrings. Getting dressed adds structure to the day—I try to save the athleisure wear for exercising only!

What your workspace looks like:

My workspace is my studio, which currently has piles of music (both my own projects, and music that my students are learning) on the floor, and a few bookshelves full of books and scores. I mostly sit at my reed desk (which is an old-fashioned rolltop desk) for reed making or virtual teaching, and keep my music stand nearby for practicing. When I lie on the floor to stretch, my cat Mo comes in to flop on my head and eat my hair!

What you can’t wait to do when it’s safe for everything to reopen:

Play a concert with my friends and colleagues in the San Diego Symphony, of course!

Sheltering at Home / Sarah Skuster

The post Sheltering at Home with… Sarah Skuster, Principal Oboe for the San Diego Symphony appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Neighborhood:

North Park

Occupation:

Founder and Executive/Artistic Director, Art of Élan; Violinist, San Diego Symphony

Who you’re sheltering with:

My husband, Alex, and our two young boys (Max, 4, and Ian, 2)

What you’re doing for exercise:

Back in March when this all began, I tried to implement some short morning yoga sessions with my kiddos, but these days our consistency fluctuates a bit. I’ve also been teaching Max to ride a bike (with no training wheels)! Except now that he’s gotten much more confident, it’s hard for me to keep up!

Go-to meal:

We’ve been allowing the kids to help cook, so making homemade pizzas together has been fun. We have also tried to support our local restaurants, so takeout happens at least once a week too.

New TV show you’ve discovered:

We actually don’t watch a ton of TV, but early on in the quarantine our kids got interested in watching the Met Opera broadcasts. Who knew that toddlers would be interested in opera? We’ve also gotten some good mileage out of the BBC Planet Earth series. That footage is so mesmerizing.

Rituals to stay sane:

Daily guided meditations, thanks to my Headspace app. Even doing a one-minute meditation can help offset some of the collective anxiety. My husband also spoils us with daily offerings of Bach—he’s a classical cellist—so that’s also a nice way to start our days.

What you’ve come to appreciate:

I’ve definitely come to appreciate the few moments I can carve out for practicing my violin. I’m also embracing the slower pace, and the ability to do things like taking family bike rides and walking to the grocery store, instead of driving. I’ve also personally been working on becoming more accepting of the uncertainty in life, as opposed to always needing to have it all planned out or strategized. Allowing myself to really be in the moment has been a healthy shift, both for me and my family.

Daily uniform at home:

Black loungewear looks decent on Zoom and hides any toddler-created stains.

What you can’t wait to do when it’s safe for everything to reopen:

Hear live music! And play live music with my colleagues!

What your workspace looks like:

It changes all the time. Our North Park home isn’t that large, and my husband is still trying to teach cello lessons on Zoom, so we sort of trade off rooms depending on who needs a quieter environment. But mostly you can find me at the dining room table, surrounded by my kids’ art table and play kitchen. It really is a whole “new normal.”

Sheltering at Home / Kate Hatmaker

The post Sheltering at Home With… Kate Hatmaker, Violinist for the San Diego Symphony appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

“Every piece I’ve chosen for this season is close to my heart, whether that’s Mahler or Mozart or Schumann or Debussy or Beethoven or Shostakovich,” Payare says. The maestro’s led dozens of orchestras around the globe, from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and also won first prize at Denmark’s 2012 Malko Conducting Competition. He’ll be the 13th music director of our symphony.

Of his inaugural season, he says, “I thought of this musical journey as a long train ride, where the audience can stop off at stations along the way and discover other things, like Strauss, French music, a special production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

And if that weren’t enough music to our ears, the symphony just broke ground on its new waterfront venue downtown, Bayside Performance Park, slated to open in summer 2020. All aboard, this train’s leaving the station!

San Diego Symphony Opening Weekend

October 5–6

Jacobs Music Center, Downtown sandiegosymphony

Rafael Payare’s San Diego Symphony Debut

The post Rafael Payare’s San Diego Symphony Debut appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Tux ‘n Tennies Summer Bash on the Bay Kicks Off Summer Pops 2015

Dave Siccardi

Dress up, dress down!  Come fun, festive or formal.  It’s San Diego Symphony’s annual summer fundraiser and kick off to the Summer Pops: Tux ‘n Tennies at Embarcadero Marina Park South on Saturday, June 27; 6pm.  With each year’s event there is a different theme—this one being an ideal Southern California summer with a tribute to The Beach Boys featuring the band, Papa Doo Run Run.

The evening starts off with a beach-themed cocktail hour with hors d’oeuvres, live music, photographs, vintage Woodies and activities to capture the magic of the summer.  Cocktails will be followed by dinner catered by Sycuan.  Seating includes tables of 10 at varying price levels.  The sounds of summer will carry the audience into the evening as Papa Doo Run Run takes to the stage to salute The Beach Boys.  The nearly two-hour concert with intermission will also include classic rock sounds from the ’60, ‘70s and ‘80s.  The evening concludes with a brilliant fireworks display over the Bay.

Papa Doo Run Run has been performing together for four decades.  In the early 1970s, they caught the attention of surf icons Jan & Dean and ended up as the duo’s opening act and back-up band.  In the early 1980s, they performed and recorded with member of The Beach Boys.  They have also appeared in concert with recording legends Roy Orbison, Fleetwood Mac, Kenny Loggins, Chicago and Jimmy Buffett just to name a few.

For more information and to purchase tickets to Tux ‘n Tennies, please contact Malina Baker at 619.615.3906; [email protected].  Event proceeds support San Diego Symphony’s music education and outreach programs.

Grab a ticket here

EVENT DETAILS:

Tux ‘n Tennies

June 27th, 6pm

Embarcadero Marina Park South

Tux ‘n Tennies Summer Bash on the Bay Kicks Off Summer Pops 2015

Douglas Gates

The post Tux ‘n Tennies Summer Bash on the Bay Kicks Off Summer Pops 2015 appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

San Diego’s Snake Oil Cocktail Company was one of San Diego’s first. Started by Ian Ward and Lucien Conner at La Jolla’s Whisknladle, they eventually brought on business mind Michael Esposito and moved to align themselves with Enlightened Hospitality and its nationally known restaurant, Searsucker.

Then, Snake Oil split up. It was reportedly contentious, the details of which are their concern. Ward and Conner went on to join with Jen Queen to form Queen-Ward-Connor Collective. Feeling the Snake Oil brand still had legs, Esposito bought his partners out. He lost the Searsucker account, but worked with then-George’s by the Cove bartender Frankie Thaheld to create new connections. Now, a fresh infusion of capital and five full-time employees, Esposito and Thaheld have reestablished Snake Oil as one of the top names in the cocktail experience—on both sides of the border.

They’re designing cocktail programs for San Diego restaurants (like the new Tidal at Paradise Point) and Tijuana/Baja spots (chef Chad White’s La Justina, and an upcoming new project at Encuentro AntiResort in Valle de Guadalupe). They partnered with the once-staid San Diego Symphony, designing specific drinks for the individual artists and performances. They also helped launch craft cocktails in Bogota, Columbia and created the drinks menu at Yankee Stadium for the 2012-2013 season.

I spoke with Esposito about what exactly a cocktail brand does, how bartending became a business, and where it’s headed.

You’re expanding into Baja and Tijuana. Why?

I met Rick Bayless at Mision 19—Javier Plascencia’s restaurant in Tijuana. He brought his entire team. I invited him to San Diego, and he said, “Well, I don’t usually stay in San Diego. It’s usually just a stop on my way to Tijuana.” That’s not a slag on San Diego. It’s more just a show of how exciting Tijuana is right now. I’m watching Anthony Bourdain and the hype about (Baja wine region) Valle de Guadalupe. The Mexican government is pushing the culinary tourism. For me, all of the action in San Diego used to be focused near Downtown. Now it’s Mexico or North County—like Carlsbad and Oceanside.

It’s also got to be a lower economic barrier for entry for young, creative restaurateurs who don’t have a ton of capital…

The pricing model and the labor structure is different. Things work way faster in Mexico. They don’t have the same kinds of bureaucratic bullshit. Think about all the hoops you have to jump through in the US—just getting a grease trap approved can take you six months. But it’s also really high end. I went to La Justina and felt really underdressed. People don’t realize that. People have in their heads a version of Tijuana that existed in the 80s.

Encuentro Guadalupe Antiresort is building a new restaurant called Resguardo with local chef Flor Franco. And you’re doing the bar program?

The hotel is so beautiful. Each room is a freestanding pod that’s tucked into nature. There’s an infinity pool tucked into the side of a mountain that overlooks the valley. There’s a wine cave. The architecture is outstanding. They have an outdoor bar that’s going to be turned into a restaurant called Resguardo—the infinity pool has a huge area around there and Flor is going to be the executive chef. They have a farm, so we’ll be working with things they’re growing. Chef Flor has some really fun ideas. The main thing is that it’s slow-food driven. That’s exactly the stuff we want to work on.

What is the Snake Oil experience?

We’re not doing Prohibition style cocktails. It’s based around fresh produce and a culinary produce. It’s about understanding food. That makes a huge difference.

It seems like no bartender is just a bartender anymore. They’re almost cocktail agencies.

Every bartender in America is looking to get a business card and move into the mixology stage. It’s a sort of creative revolution. In the past, it was just understood that a bartender had to be personable and had to make a bunch of drinks.

Why would a bar or restaurant hire you instead of just hiring a bartender and paying them minimum wage?

We’re providing tasty cocktails, and we’re also offering a verification of quality. You also get a team. If you hire one person, you could end up losing that person. You get our relationships we’ve built with liquor brands and distributors.

How does a liquor relationship help?

A lot of restaurateurs look at it the liquor industry as a financial resource—they want to get stuff cheaper, or get freebies. But we look at how you tap into the full resource of someone like Bacardi. They have X amounts of millions of people on their Facebook pages. We can get restaurants to be part of their special events, and use their social media to help local restaurants. A perfect example is when we do Aston Martin events. All of the owners of hotels and restaurants are there looking to buy an Aston Martin. We bring our clients to those events, and relationships are made. We’re putting ourselves in a network that everybody benefits from.

And you help in branding?

It’s the first thing I do. I have a team who works on the Facebook and social media side for all of our clients. We take all the photos of the drinks. That way when people like you call asking for a photo, the restaurant has it. We’re also doing it from an angle that’s responsible. We have full insurance. We’re a full LLC. We’re not just two bartenders—and there’s a lot of risk in the alcohol industry that needs to be managed.

What’s the advantage of having multiple bars under your direction?

We realize what’s profitable and what sells. Most bartenders don’t have a sense of what works across restaurants, in different parts of the city. What works in North Park isn’t necessarily going to work in Del Mar. Someone will come to us and say they want whiskey-heavy cocktails. We can say, “That’s really awesome, but that’s not right for your clientele.” We look at the bottom line of the sales of the restaurant. We don’t come into it and say every bartender should be wearing a bow tie and suspenders, or all of your cocktails should all have Frenet Branca in them. Take Neighborhood’s policy of not offering vodka. That works perfectly for them, because customers understand it’s a cocktail experience of classic cocktails. But I can’t export a concept like that to the Symphony. We’re elevating the Symphony’s experience through the culinary side of it with fresh juices and ingredients—but we can’t ignore vodka. Sales of vodka are almost double what they are of whiskey. And I can’t look at Cinepolis and say we’ need to make this more bitters forward.

What trends are you seeing in cocktails?

A lot of stuff with gins right now. It’s a little more approachable. Also a lot of focus on Mezcal. Obviously with Mexico right here, that part of it is no brainer. But liquor reps are also pushing it in an innovative way. On its own, Mezcal can be hard to take. But it can give a cocktail this great smokiness. Also seeing a lot of Manhattans. Whereas before it was only high-end, classic cocktail places where people ordered them—now you can walk into a bar in PB and see people drinking them.

Your partnership with the San Diego Symphony was kind of inspiring, and odd. I pictured it to be much more of a beer/wine/Cape Cod crowd.

The involvement with the Symphony has been amazing. They got $100 million endowment from the Jacobs to build and renovate the hall. They want to change the way people experience the Symphony. On the one hand they have the charter that’s about preserving this incredible classical music tradition. But how do they bring new people into this fold?

You customized drinks for performances?

We have a different cocktail for each performance. The most recent one was Dave Mustaine (of Megadeth). He completely sold out the Symphony. We found out he was working with the Fallbrook Winery for his own wine. We bought some of their wines and made some cocktails with them. We showcased his wine with his performance. The name of the wine was Symphony Interrupted. One of the cocktails was Symphony of Destruction.

I hear you’re giving away free Uber rides?

I just really love what Uber’s doing—promoting safe rides and safe responsible drinking. People not to get in their car. So we have a VIP black card that we can give out to guests. They have a code that says Snake Oil. They’ll give you a free $20 ride on your first ride. We don’t over-serve anyone. But we can’t control what people are doing after they visit the bar, or what they sneak into an event. Whenever anyone uses our black VIP card, Uber gives us credits back. I get a commission as a company. Then that allows me to give it to my employees as a perk. Every bar in San Diego should do this.

I also heard something about Tron, Columbia and craft cocktails. Tell me a story.

So we’re at TED Active conference in Palm Springs last year. We’re making these cocktails allowing people to choose all the ingredients. Every night you’d get a totally different cocktail. This guy comes up and the third night and says, “I really like what you’re doing I’d like to take you to our country.” Two weeks later we’re on a plane to Bogota. He owns over 200 restaurants—including this series of high-end Buffalo wings restaurants. We get down there, he opens this secret door and there’s this room where he’s created a totally 1980s restaurant. Servers are wearing LED Tron suits. They didn’t have craft cocktails in Bogota at the time. They had flair and bartenders who could juggle, but no craft cocktails. So we taught this guy. And now he’s in the bartenders around the world contest he’s one of the finalists.  It feels great that we were able to help empower that.

What’s the future? You don’t get capital investment without having some grander plan…

We definitely want to get a retail product on the shelves. But it definitely won’t be alcohol. We’re working on a few things now.

Snake Oil co-founder Michael Esposito

The post RAISING THE BAR appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

San Diego’s Snake Oil Cocktail Company was one of San Diego’s first. Started by Ian Ward and Lucien Conner at La Jolla’s Whisknladle, they eventually brought on business mind Michael Esposito and moved to align themselves with Enlightened Hospitality and its nationally known restaurant, Searsucker.

Then, Snake Oil split up. It was reportedly contentious, the details of which are their concern. Ward and Conner went on to join with Jen Queen to form Queen-Ward-Connor Collective. Feeling the Snake Oil brand still had legs, Esposito bought his partners out. He lost the Searsucker account, but worked with then-George’s by the Cove bartender Frankie Thaheld to create new connections. Now, a fresh infusion of capital and five full-time employees, Esposito and Thaheld have reestablished Snake Oil as one of the top names in the cocktail experience—on both sides of the border.

They’re designing cocktail programs for San Diego restaurants (like the new Tidal at Paradise Point) and Tijuana/Baja spots (chef Chad White’s La Justina, and an upcoming new project at Encuentro AntiResort in Valle de Guadalupe). They partnered with the once-staid San Diego Symphony, designing specific drinks for the individual artists and performances. They also helped launch craft cocktails in Bogota, Columbia and created the drinks menu at Yankee Stadium for the 2012-2013 season.

I spoke with Esposito about what exactly a cocktail brand does, how bartending became a business, and where it’s headed.

You’re expanding into Baja and Tijuana. Why?

I met Rick Bayless at Mision 19—Javier Plascencia’s restaurant in Tijuana. He brought his entire team. I invited him to San Diego, and he said, “Well, I don’t usually stay in San Diego. It’s usually just a stop on my way to Tijuana.” That’s not a slag on San Diego. It’s more just a show of how exciting Tijuana is right now. I’m watching Anthony Bourdain and the hype about (Baja wine region) Valle de Guadalupe. The Mexican government is pushing the culinary tourism. For me, all of the action in San Diego used to be focused near Downtown. Now it’s Mexico or North County—like Carlsbad and Oceanside.

It’s also got to be a lower economic barrier for entry for young, creative restaurateurs who don’t have a ton of capital…

The pricing model and the labor structure is different. Things work way faster in Mexico. They don’t have the same kinds of bureaucratic bullshit. Think about all the hoops you have to jump through in the US—just getting a grease trap approved can take you six months. But it’s also really high end. I went to La Justina and felt really underdressed. People don’t realize that. People have in their heads a version of Tijuana that existed in the 80s.

Encuentro Guadalupe Antiresort is building a new restaurant called Resguardo with local chef Flor Franco. And you’re doing the bar program?

The hotel is so beautiful. Each room is a freestanding pod that’s tucked into nature. There’s an infinity pool tucked into the side of a mountain that overlooks the valley. There’s a wine cave. The architecture is outstanding. They have an outdoor bar that’s going to be turned into a restaurant called Resguardo—the infinity pool has a huge area around there and Flor is going to be the executive chef. They have a farm, so we’ll be working with things they’re growing. Chef Flor has some really fun ideas. The main thing is that it’s slow-food driven. That’s exactly the stuff we want to work on.

What is the Snake Oil experience?

We’re not doing Prohibition style cocktails. It’s based around fresh produce and a culinary produce. It’s about understanding food. That makes a huge difference.

It seems like no bartender is just a bartender anymore. They’re almost cocktail agencies.

Every bartender in America is looking to get a business card and move into the mixology stage. It’s a sort of creative revolution. In the past, it was just understood that a bartender had to be personable and had to make a bunch of drinks.

Why would a bar or restaurant hire you instead of just hiring a bartender and paying them minimum wage?

We’re providing tasty cocktails, and we’re also offering a verification of quality. You also get a team. If you hire one person, you could end up losing that person. You get our relationships we’ve built with liquor brands and distributors.

How does a liquor relationship help?

A lot of restaurateurs look at it the liquor industry as a financial resource—they want to get stuff cheaper, or get freebies. But we look at how you tap into the full resource of someone like Bacardi. They have X amounts of millions of people on their Facebook pages. We can get restaurants to be part of their special events, and use their social media to help local restaurants. A perfect example is when we do Aston Martin events. All of the owners of hotels and restaurants are there looking to buy an Aston Martin. We bring our clients to those events, and relationships are made. We’re putting ourselves in a network that everybody benefits from.

And you help in branding?

It’s the first thing I do. I have a team who works on the Facebook and social media side for all of our clients. We take all the photos of the drinks. That way when people like you call asking for a photo, the restaurant has it. We’re also doing it from an angle that’s responsible. We have full insurance. We’re a full LLC. We’re not just two bartenders—and there’s a lot of risk in the alcohol industry that needs to be managed.

What’s the advantage of having multiple bars under your direction?

We realize what’s profitable and what sells. Most bartenders don’t have a sense of what works across restaurants, in different parts of the city. What works in North Park isn’t necessarily going to work in Del Mar. Someone will come to us and say they want whiskey-heavy cocktails. We can say, “That’s really awesome, but that’s not right for your clientele.” We look at the bottom line of the sales of the restaurant. We don’t come into it and say every bartender should be wearing a bow tie and suspenders, or all of your cocktails should all have Frenet Branca in them. Take Neighborhood’s policy of not offering vodka. That works perfectly for them, because customers understand it’s a cocktail experience of classic cocktails. But I can’t export a concept like that to the Symphony. We’re elevating the Symphony’s experience through the culinary side of it with fresh juices and ingredients—but we can’t ignore vodka. Sales of vodka are almost double what they are of whiskey. And I can’t look at Cinepolis and say we’ need to make this more bitters forward.

What trends are you seeing in cocktails?

A lot of stuff with gins right now. It’s a little more approachable. Also a lot of focus on Mezcal. Obviously with Mexico right here, that part of it is no brainer. But liquor reps are also pushing it in an innovative way. On its own, Mezcal can be hard to take. But it can give a cocktail this great smokiness. Also seeing a lot of Manhattans. Whereas before it was only high-end, classic cocktail places where people ordered them—now you can walk into a bar in PB and see people drinking them.

Your partnership with the San Diego Symphony was kind of inspiring, and odd. I pictured it to be much more of a beer/wine/Cape Cod crowd.

The involvement with the Symphony has been amazing. They got $100 million endowment from the Jacobs to build and renovate the hall. They want to change the way people experience the Symphony. On the one hand they have the charter that’s about preserving this incredible classical music tradition. But how do they bring new people into this fold?

You customized drinks for performances?

We have a different cocktail for each performance. The most recent one was Dave Mustaine (of Megadeth). He completely sold out the Symphony. We found out he was working with the Fallbrook Winery for his own wine. We bought some of their wines and made some cocktails with them. We showcased his wine with his performance. The name of the wine was Symphony Interrupted. One of the cocktails was Symphony of Destruction.

I hear you’re giving away free Uber rides?

I just really love what Uber’s doing—promoting safe rides and safe responsible drinking. People not to get in their car. So we have a VIP black card that we can give out to guests. They have a code that says Snake Oil. They’ll give you a free $20 ride on your first ride. We don’t over-serve anyone. But we can’t control what people are doing after they visit the bar, or what they sneak into an event. Whenever anyone uses our black VIP card, Uber gives us credits back. I get a commission as a company. Then that allows me to give it to my employees as a perk. Every bar in San Diego should do this.

I also heard something about Tron, Columbia and craft cocktails. Tell me a story.

So we’re at TED Active conference in Palm Springs last year. We’re making these cocktails allowing people to choose all the ingredients. Every night you’d get a totally different cocktail. This guy comes up and the third night and says, “I really like what you’re doing I’d like to take you to our country.” Two weeks later we’re on a plane to Bogota. He owns over 200 restaurants—including this series of high-end Buffalo wings restaurants. We get down there, he opens this secret door and there’s this room where he’s created a totally 1980s restaurant. Servers are wearing LED Tron suits. They didn’t have craft cocktails in Bogota at the time. They had flair and bartenders who could juggle, but no craft cocktails. So we taught this guy. And now he’s in the bartenders around the world contest he’s one of the finalists.  It feels great that we were able to help empower that.

What’s the future? You don’t get capital investment without having some grander plan…

We definitely want to get a retail product on the shelves. But it definitely won’t be alcohol. We’re working on a few things now.

Snake Oil co-founder Michael Esposito

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