Driftwood

Imagine you've stumbled upon the rusted and battered wreck of a 19th century clipper ship on a northern California beach. The air is chilly outside. You make a fire under the arch of the hull and find a bottle of booze buried in the sand. You drink.

Who says that San Francisco doesn't have seasons? As fall turns to winter, it's gotten decidedly chillier hereabouts, and that can only mean one thing: the hunt is on for a cozy fireplace near you. From dark and toasty neighborhood bars to classy restaurants, here are our picks for the 17 warmest spots in town, each with a fireplace to keep up spirits during dark winter days.

It's been a while since we updated the Eater Cocktail Heatmap, and so here we are, bringing you the very best of new bars and restaurant bar programs that have debuted in the late spring and summer (including a couple of major revamps at existing places). Consider it your back-pocket guide to the coolest new cocktail programs all over the city. As always, this list is in no particular order;...

Driftwood, a laid-back cocktail den in the former home of gay leather fixture Kok Bar, has officially opened on Folsom Street. Owners Chris Milstead and Shawn Magee (who also owns Amnesia) were inspired by their mutual love of surfing and the Northern California coast, which they discovered 15 years ago as neighbors in the Mission.

The space is designed to evoke a cozy, coastal hideout,...

SOMA—Grub Street brings word that Kok Bar, the Folsom Street leather bar that's been around in one incarnation or another since the '70s (it was previously Ramrod and Chaps II), is changing owners and names; the new moniker will be Driftwood, suggesting that the bar may be changing direction from its current gay-bar status into something a little more generic, and one of the owners also owns...