The Famous Buena Vista Cafe

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For those of you who have never visited the famous Buena Vista Cafe in North Beach/Fisherman's Wharf, this story ought to entertain you. Maybe San Francisco didn’t invent Irish coffee, per se, but the city by the Bay sure popularized this cozy, whipped-creamy, whiskey-spiked coffee drink. The story goes: one November evening in 1952, Pulitzer-Prize-winning travel writer Stanton Delaplane was sitting at the bar of the Buena Vista Café on Hyde Street when the café’s owner, Jack Koeppler, challenged Delaplane to help duplicate the original, which the writer had tasted at Ireland’s Shannon Airport. They tried one concoction after the next, not quite getting it right. Finally, Koeppler returned to Shannon to ask the original inventor, Chef Joe Sheridan, for advice. Eventually, the recipe was perfected. Turns out there are two secrets: The cream needs to be aged for 48 hours before frothing to perfection; and the glass needs to be a clear, six-ounce, heat-treated goblet. It’s still served at Buena Vista Café, to the tune of some 2,000 servings a day. (From Fodor's)
In years past, our out-of-town visitors all wanted to visit the BV. It was a great reason to board the cable car, and head out to the Wharf area. We would down a few Irish coffees, and jump back on the cable car back into the downtown area.
Back in the Seventies, I would go bar hopping a few times a year. I met up with some skiing friends for dinner and some drinks. I do not remember where we had dinner, probably somewhere in North Beach, or Tommy's Joynt would be my guess. After hitting a few bars, we ended up at the Buena Vista.
We thought a few Irish coffees would "sober" us up for the drive back down the Peninsula where we were staying for the night. Several things happened. First, we had too many Irish coffees. Second, we cashed a check for a pretty young woman, who then proceeded to buy us drinks with my money!!! I think you see where this is headed??
The bartender actually ends up taking her home. We stumbled out of the bar, found the car somewhere, and drove down to Burlingame (near SFO). I can tell you that being drunk and wide awake is not a good combination!!! I learned my lesson. I swore I would never do that again! I kept my promise. My skiing buddy and I were late for work that next morning.
Did the check bounce? Surprisingly, it did not!!!

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