Best Piano Bar

Seasons Bar

Four Seasons Hotel, 757 Market (at Fourth Street), 633-3000, www.fourseasons.com/sanfrancisco

Opened in the autumn of 2001, the Seasons Bar filled the void created by the Redwood Room's descent into cacophonous hipsterism a few months earlier. Once again San Francisco had a piano bar in the grand tradition of Chicago's Pump Room or New York's King Cole Bar: elegant, intimately lit surroundings, exquisite service, ice-cold libations, and a Gershwin-disposed pianist noodling away on the baby grand in the corner. In addition to perfectly mixed Mojitos, martinis, and Manhattans, the bar offers a few exclusive house cocktails: the Frostbite, Cîroc vodka and oak-aged Inniskillin ice wine with a hint of cassis; the Gingertini, lemongrass- and ginger-infused vodka with lime zest, candied ginger, and a salt-and-sugar rim; and our favorite, the Adam & Eve, fig-infused vodka with 10-year-old tawny port and miniature Fig Newtons on the side. There are also high-end snacks like ahi tuna tartare with grilled rice-paper crisps and caviar-wasabi relish to munch on while you sip, listen, and luxuriate.