Spring Has Sprung: New Cocktails At Tony’s Pizza Napoletana
by Joe Bonadio
As just about anyone can tell you, North Beach is a very special neighborhood, for more reasons than one can count. But probably chief among them is the friendliness of our people: in North Beach, you might say the entire neighborhood is on a first-name basis. The baristas know the cops, the musicians know the chefs—and of course, we all know the bartenders.
Nowhere in North Beach is that spirit more on display than at the bar at Tony’s Pizza Napoletana. While some still insist upon calling the restaurant a tourist haunt, it’s anything but; the place is continuously jam-packed with regulars, many of whom reside right here in the 94133. That’s especially true on Mondays, when the lunch crowd at the bar is a veritable who’s-who of North Beach luminaries. I spend a good bit of time at Tony’s, and I can honestly say there’s probably not another bar in San Francisco where I’ve met more people.
Of course, some of those people are the ones responsible for keeping that bar humming—that is, the bartenders themselves. One of them is Nick Lawlor, whom I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing several times since he joined the staff back in 2021. Lawlor took over as Bar Manager almost exactly three years ago, and every so often he does me the courtesy of tasting through his most recent cocktail creations. It’s admittedly a heavy responsibility—but alas, that time has come once again. We met at Tony’s on a sunny afternoon last week, and our conversation is below.
Joe Bonadio (JB): Greetings Nick. So what do you have for me today?
Nick Lawlor (NL): So we’re going to start out with the Bouquet. It’s Mission Brucato Gin with lavender syrup, actually a lavender haze syrup from HipStirs, which is a company out of Texas. Then just a little bit of elderflower liqueur and lemon. Brucato is a local company down in the Mission, they mostly do amaros.
JB: Yeah, that’s the new tasting room down on Van Ness.
NL: 100%.
JB: Weren’t we talking about going there?
NL: Yes, exactly. We started doing some work with them because we liked the amaros, and then we tasted their gin, and it’s great. It’s really herbal, which I like. And it really plays well with just about anything. You know, you could do that gin with just lemon and a little sugar and it’d be great. But with the lavender and the elderflower you get a very fresh, very clean flavor that I love.
JB: So would you say this cocktail is inspired by that gin?
NL: Yes, I would definitely say that.
JB: That really is delicious, Nick.
NL: Thanks buddy.
JB: All right, what’s up next?
NL: Next up is the Clear Skies. This one is rum, guava, lime, and a little bit of agave, clarified with Greek yogurt. This is what you tasted the other day when you guys came in.
JB: Oh, that’s right.
NL: We finish it with just a touch of Fever Tree club soda.
JB: Just to lighten it up a little bit?
NL: Yeah. When you clarify the drink with yogurt, not only does it remove all the color to make it translucent, but it also affects the mouthfeel. So it tastes a little fatty, almost viscous in the mouth.
JB: Kind of like a malolactic chardonnay.
NL: Yes, exactly. It also rounds out the louder flavors, the lime and the guava. They still come through, but they’re restrained and rounded out.
JB: I love this.
NL: We use Fever Tree Soda because it has a really high concentration of bubbles, so it really makes the drink effervescent as it glides across your tongue.
JB: That lime and guava combination is killer. So what’s this next one?
NL: This one’s called the Loverboy.
JB: That is a sexy looking drink.
NL: Yes it is. The Loverboy is passionate, it’s sweet—but it’s also a little bitter. We start with Wild Turkey bourbon, and we actually use an Amaro that’s from Natale’s hometown in Calabria called Amaro Joachin. Then a little bit of egg white and passion fruit. Amaro Joachim is similar to Cynar, so it’s very bitter, and more herbal than anything else. But it gives the cocktail a nice finish. The mouthfeel is really good, and it foams up really nice.
JB: That’s very nice. You know I like bourbon.
NL: Yep. That’s dehydrated passion fruit on top.
JB: Gorgeous presentation. I’m disinclined to share this one. (Laughter)
NL: Now, this last one Joe is the Easy Come, Easy Go. It starts with Mijenta tequila, which is an all woman-owned tequila brand. Really clean stuff. We infuse it with basil in-house, and we pair that with a kumquat liqueur from Brucato, then some strawberry puree and lime juice. It’s really fresh tasting, and it has that cooling basil effect.
JB: Wow, savory.
NL: Yeah, it works really well with the kumquat. I like trying to get the basil in there so the flavor is front and center.
JB: Oh, you get the basil for sure. How do you do that?
NL: We have to let it sit for a long time, like three days.
JB: Do you chop the basil up?
NL: No, we just beat it up, bruise it. It takes at least three days to change the color and scent.
JB: That’s really nice, I like that a lot. Quite a creative collection this time!
NL: Thanks, man.
JB: Thank you, Nick.
The new lineup of Spring cocktails is currently available at Tony’s Pizza Napoletana.
