This week's SFist reprint

Staggering Through Fog

A multi-layered 'Pousse-Cafe' of a bar review column by Andrew Lowder

We've been hearing for quite some time now that 'Pirate' is the new 'Tiki'. This hasn't really come to pass, however, and I'm starting to think it never will. After all, there's not really a 'lounge' aspect to pirate culture. There's no fond hipster memories of Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. donning eye-patches and singing "What do you do with a drunken sailor?". So as much as some would try and have you believe, I think pirates pretty much peaked with Hagar the Horrible. Now let's check out this week's barrrrr (Sorry, I had to) ...

Il Pirata, on 16th Street just across from the Old-Safeway-Jamba-Navy-Juice Complex is a classic example of a concept bar that never really bothered to follow the concept. Don't misunderstand, however, this isn't neccessarily a bad thing. Il Pirata will never be in danger of being filled with children's birthday parties or bridge and tunnel crowds eager to overpopulate that 'crazy new pirate bar in town'. Nope, the closest thing you'll find to pirate culture here is loud drunks, forced to walk the plank out of Young's or Sadie's Flying Elephant.

That said, Il Pirata probably isn't the right bar for most people. It seems to consistently be just barely on the wrong side of the razor-thin line that seperates 'fun-dive' from 'Oh god, he's coming over to talk to us-dive'. So unless you're desperate for conversation, enjoy playing 'find the smell', or doing research for a blog, you may want to think twice about the Pirate. Now if you'll excuse us, we have to go get our timbers shivered.

Liver...Out!!