Rite Spot Cafe Backhandedly Makes NY Times' 10 Favorite SF Bars List

In an obvious attempt to gin up their alt cred, the New York Times recently swung through the Mission during an otherwise “old news” San Francisco bar crawl. (Unless you haven't heard of Vesuvio and Tosca, in which case it is most definitely new news.)  The result?  Rite Spot, a beloved but thankfully sparsely trafficked bar, made their favorites list.  And their enthusiasm jumped off the page:

Rite Spot Cafe looks like a white tablecloth Italian restaurant about to breathe its last.

Normally I'd criticize them for this sorry observation, but if anyone knows anything about having one foot in the grave, it's The Times.

Does this mean fancy, borderline-discerning Times readers will start flocking to an our favorite Italian restaurant that serves $4 whiskey shots?  Is Rite Spot over? (Also, did I really just link to a clip from Portlandia? Can someone start a Change.org petition to have me banned from life?)  We can only hope not.

[via Grub Street | Photo by Ariel Dovas]

Comments (3)

Dear NYT and all other East Coast publications,

Please stop calling Zeitgeist a bike messenger bar. Just because you see a beater fixie outside doesn’t mean it’s a mess-bar. I get that you going to a “gritty bar” with bikes outside and people with tattoos manning the bar makes you seem “super hip” to your readers, but you just sound like, well, a tourist. Which you are. Sigh.

That’s all.

But then they’d actually have to go to the venues in question instead of re-phrasing Yelp reviews.

Fine with me, they can have it. My favorite Italian restaurant/bar is just down the street from there. I won’t spoil it by telling you the name, but it starts with a J and ends with a B.