Tosca Cafe
The Verdict
"Order the house cappuccino: brandy, chocolate, steamed milk, no coffee."
What you need to know
Tosca opened in 1919, the same year Prohibition started. The bar’s house cappuccino was created to work around the alcohol ban: chocolate, steamed milk, and brandy in a coffee cup, with no actual coffee. The drink is still on the menu over a century later.
The History
The bar has been on Columbus Avenue for over 100 years. Original owners were Italian immigrants. Red leather booths, an antique espresso machine, a jukebox stocked with opera.
The bar’s celebrity history includes Hunter S. Thompson, Sam Shepard, Francis Ford Coppola, Bono, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Sean Penn and Kid Rock reportedly got into a fistfight at the bar.
Tosca was close to closing in 2012. New York chef April Bloomfield and her partner Ken Friedman took over in 2013 and added a kitchen while keeping the room intact. They sold the bar in 2019, and it is now run by a group led by restaurateur Anna Weinberg. The booths, the jukebox, and the cappuccino recipe are unchanged.
What to Expect
The room has not changed substantially since the 1950s. Red vinyl booths line the walls. The original Brunswick bar runs along one side. The jukebox plays Puccini and Verdi.
What to Order
The house cappuccino is the signature drink. The cocktail menu expanded after the kitchen opened.
The food is Italian-American: meatballs, chicken liver toast, pasta, burger.
When to Go
Weeknight evenings are easier for a booth. Weekends fill after 10pm. Open 5 PM to 2 AM.
Filmed here
Productions the city recorded shooting at or beside Tosca Cafe.
- Tosca Cafu00e95m awayUntil the End of the World 1991/The Assassination of Richard Nixon 2004/Big Sur 2013/Basic Instinct 1992
- 238 Columbus7m awayVenom: Let There Be Carnage 2021
- Roaring Twenties Nightclub11m awayExperiment in Terror 1962
- SPECS' Twelve Adler Museum Cafu00e912m awayThe Diary of a Teenage Girl 2015
From the San Francisco Film Commission permit record.
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What to drink
House cappuccino (brandy, chocolate, steamed milk — no coffee), classic cocktails, Italian American bar food and late-night burger
