The bar’s milk-punchified take on the Mai Tai, the Mai O Mai.
• The cocktails on their own are worth a visit, but pair this with Barzelay’s take on bar food (including a not-to-be-missed patty melt) and True Laurel is truly the full package.
NICE TO KNOW
A few steps away is Lost Resort, which opened in 2020 with a playful, easy-to-like menu of tropical drinks. If you’re in the mood for wine, not far is Heirloom Café, which has an excellent wine list full of well-aged wines under $100 lovingly curated over the course of a decade.
NOTABLE AND NEARBY
When True Laurel arrived in the Mission in 2017, it offered a completely new vision of the West Coast–style cocktail. An intimate spinoff of chef David Barzelay’s two-Michelin-starred Lazy Bear, the bar is a collaboration between Barzelay and bar director and partner Nicolas Torres. The space takes inspiration from midcentury design and architecture, and its minimalism feels right at home within a stretch of the neighborhood dominated by warehouses, many of which had already been converted to various expressions of industrial chic by the time they arrived (Trick Dog is around the corner). Torres’ drinks take inspiration from the bounty of California, like many enterprising San Francisco bartenders who’ve come before, but are funneled through the modernist lens. They are beautiful to look at, exuberant, but tidy. While the menu changes frequently based on what is in season, a few staples remain fixed, like the bar’s milk-punchified take on the Mai Tai, the Mai O Mai, and the In the Pines, Under the Palms, a spin on the Martinez that roots the drink to the 21st century, and to the Bay Area. Both are excellent introductions to Torres and the team’s vision of California.
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Cocktails at True Laurel take inspiration from the bounty of California, funneled through the modernist lens.
Around the corner on Grand Street, Fresh Kills (from Richie Boccato) has been quietly serving some of the best cocktails in Brooklyn for nearly a decade.
NOTABLE AND NEARBY
• When outdoor seating is available, the wisteria-draped garden (book ahead on Resy) might fool you into thinking you’re somewhere between Louisiana and Provence.
• While Maison excels at the A-list classics, look closely and you’ll find lovingly executed takes on B-side hits, like the Yellow Parrot and the Obituary, that make the case for revival.
NICE TO KNOW
The bar’s milk-punchified take on the Mai Tai, the Mai O Mai.
Cocktails at True Laurel take inspiration from the bounty of California, funneled through the modernist lens.