Best Hot Bar Street

The Mission bar scene is thriving, SOMA still has it going on, and the Lower Haight continues to be the city's premier bohemian drinking enclave. But if you want to know where it's fucking happening, man, get your ass down Polk. From the Civic Center to Russian Hill, Polk offers something for every type of drinker: yuppie bars, dive bars, rocker bars, a piano bar, and the most hopping gay scene outside the Castro. From the "gulch" section, you can wander into the nearby Tendernob and find still more bars (the venerable Overflo, the spanking new Julip, Edinburgh Castle, Ha Ra, An Sibin, we could go on). To honor the blistering torridness of the Polk Street bar scene, we've decided to run a one-time promotion: Mention this item to Rainy the bartender at the Bigfoot Lodge (1750 Polk) and she'll flip you off, free of charge, then pour you one of the finest Maker's Mark Manhattans in town (of course, you'll have to pay for the drink).