Last night was the kick-off event for cocktail week. It took place at the Starlight Room, where many of SF's best and brightest (like Marco Dionysus, pictured here) got behind the bar, making drinks for the masses.

As a fitting gesture to launch the week, local bartenders honored Tony Abou-Ganim (below), the opening bar manager of the Starlight and one of the people who really got the SF cocktail scene rolling. Now Abou-Ganim is a Vegas bigshot with books and videos and consulting projects all over the country. But his spirit still infuses the mania for creative cocktailing in the SF bar world, which reveres him as a tribal elder. One of the drinks being mixed last night was the Cable  Car, Abou-Ganim's signature drink of his San Francisco years.



Visit the San Francisco Cocktail Week website for the event schedule; there are great things going on every day until next Monday.

Here's the recipe for the Cable Car:

Ingredients:
•    1 ½ ounce Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
•    ¾ ounce Marie Brizard orange curaçao
•    1 ½ ounce fresh lemon sour *

To an ice-filled mixing glass add Captain Morgan, orange curaçao and fresh sour; shake until well blended. Strain into a chilled sugar-cinnamon frosted cocktail glass* and garnish with an orange spiral. (Orange spirals can be easily cut fresh using a citrus zester, also known as a channel knife.)

Hint: To sugar-cinnamon frost a cocktail glass, first chill the glass, rub the rim’s circumference approximately ¾ inch in depth with a lemon wedge, then dip into a bowl of superfine sugar (regular granulated sugar does not adhere as well).

*Mixing 2 parts fresh squeezed lemon juice with one part simple syrup will easily make fresh lemon sour.