Velvet Cantina calls out to people from its cozy little corner spot in the Mission district like shiny objects call out to giraffes on a safari. Once you’ve seen it and experienced it, you want to continually go back. In a word, it’s irresistible. Hands down one of the best places to grab a cocktail (and incidentally, the best place to forget you had only intended to stay for happy hour — and here it is closing time). We decided to get better-acquainted with bartender Peter Zimmer. His family moved him out here from Boston when he was just a lad so they could groove on The City’s art scene. His dad is a published poet and his mom a sculptor. Not surprisingly, his upbringing has made him quite the connoisseur, but not necessarily in one of those hoity-toity senses. When he witnessed a makeshift mural being dismantled by a work crew, he walked over, grabbed a slab of it and now it’s hanging in his apartment. We’ll drink to that!
Velvet Cantina
3349 23rd St., San Francisco,
(415) 648-4142, www.velvetcantina.com
