The Inner Not-Souckset

Last night I voyaged to the Inner Sunset district of San Francisco for beer and revelry. The Inner Sunset, clustered around the 9th and Irving intersection, is known most for its proximity to UCSF and thus has a healthy overrun of nerdy med students in the area. We visited two bars that were virtually dead before settling on the Mucky Duck which was less dead due to four main factors: darts, strange beer, gambling dice games, and illegal nonenforcement of the smoking ban.

I had a great time at the M.D., and enjoyed several interesting, new beers, including Death & Taxes, which is made by one dude in some small town in Cali, and, of course, is unavoidable. Darts was also fun, and I'm proud to report that I overcame an accidentally self-imposed dart stab to come back and win the day for S&M (Scott & Matt) with two bull's-eyes in a row.

However, smoking in bars is the pits. I don't really mind the smell all that much (although I do mind it), but I hate how it makes my clothes stink and renders them unwearable without a thorough washing. I know there's some exception to the rules, wherein if all the employees are co-owners of the bar, smoking is okay if all the co-owners sign off on it (the ban is largely in place to protect the employees who inhale the smoke all day). But in the case of the Mucky Duck, where there are numerous No Smoking signs posted around the establishment, I think they just break the law to get more customers. Probably not the best business plan for the long haul, but they were pushing their Desperate Housewives party on Sunday nights, so perhaps they're trying to tap an alternate (and sweeter smelling) source of income...?