March 13, 2007

Welcome all!   Just some quick notes over the last couple of weeks:  Tommy's is so proud to be part of the San Francisco restaurant community.  With all due respect to the many great cities and towns in this amazing country, food industry professionals widely believe there are only 4 true restaurant cities in the USA: New York, where I am at present, Chicago, New Orleans and of course San Francisco.  Again with all due respect to say Las Vegas, which may have the best dining scene on earth because great chefs from these places have opened satelites there Tommy's nevber forgets how special and priveledged we are to serve not only the Richmond district but all who come our way!  Thanks for coming!

As i said, I am in new York City for a few days to help my dear friend Sammy Hagar launch his amazing and new Extra Añejo Tequila, Cabo Uno tonight!!!!!   Many industry professional, chefs, musicians and other friends of Sammy will gather tonight for their first formal tasting of Uno.  I have been priveledged to have tried Uno  several times in the course of its aging to state that it is one of the finest extra añejos I have tried.  Today all who join us will be in for a trea!  More tomorrow!

Also congratulations to Sammy for being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!!!! It is cool to see Sammy recognized for his musical contributions!  Sammy , like he has all of this time on his hands, started cabo Wabo Tequila  many years ago and now has the second largest selling ultra premium Tequila in the United States! 

Everyone have a great St. Patrick's day!!!!!!!!! 

February 9, 2007

I want to thank everyone who prayed and sent positive thoughts to the family of my driver Don Esteban Casillas.  He is now back at his home and will make a full recovery.  A true miracle!   I commmend the entire Casillas family for being so strong during this difficult period.  I told Don Esteban last week at his home in Guadalajara that I expect him to still be my driver.  Afterall he has beeen with me for six years and I expect him to be part of my team for many years to come.  

I have to say that there are many exciting things coming in the world of tequila in terms of advertising. Look for major brands to continue to reach more customers by venturing into the public eye.  As Tequila becomes a more globalized spirit, let's also not forget to show continued support for the small brands that we think are special.  Afterall, we all benefit from the diverse spectrum of tequila flavor.

I would like to thank German Gonzalez again for coming to Tommy's to host our Chinaco Negro event.  There were only 530 bottles of the world of Lot # 15.  There are now considerably less!!!!  

Likewise I would like to thank Eduardo Orendain of Arette for dropping by and helping us with our promotion.  Tommy's was one  of the first places outside of Mexico to carry Arette.  We are extremely proud to call Eduardo a family friend. 

If you are planning to have a party and make margaritas, please try our Tommy's Heavenly Margarita Mix .  Make sure you look at the ingredients.  We are not neon in color, we will not use high fructose corn syrup and we are fresh and natural.  Please compare our product with those our competitors.  If you are in Aneheim for the natural products show come by and see us!

 January 9, 2007

Greetings from Arandas, Jalisco!!!!!   Arandas is im the middle of festival season and the town is on fire!  If you know Demigods of Tequila Reggie Slater or Michael Harter, ask them about festival time in Arandas!   Festival time in Mexico is a time for remembering family, honoring traditon, seeing old friends and making new ones and giving thanks for another year!   Here in Arandas, festival starts on the 4th of January and continues on through the 12.   Though there is some serious drinking taking place poeple are happy and hospitable.   Every year on the 7 of January, the mañanitas are sung to the Virgin of Guadalupe at the Parroquia de Santa Maria.  The town muscian, sponsored by a few businesses and citizens then go off to sing songs at the houses of various sponsors.  All of this starts at 6 am!!!  and normally goes until 1 pm.  Amazing.  

 I also came to clelbrate the 84th birthday of Tequila's most famous bartender, Don Javier.  Don Javier owns Tequila's most famous bar, La Capilla, a place frequented by friends from all over the world and noted locals such as Jaime and Eduardo Orendain, the owners of Arette Tequila.   At la Capilla I was joined by Dre Masso , Henry Besant, Jerod, Anastacia, Eriic, Gianfranco and of course all othe regulars: Don Felipe, Alberto, Don Raul and Jose Luis to name but a  few.   We took a huge birhtday cake and sung the mañanitas to Don javier in Spanish, English, Italian and French!!!!  Don Javier is one of the most giving persons I have ever been acquainted.  He embodies everything that is great about the hospitality business.  It is a pity there are not more people like Don Javier! Feliz Cumpleaños Don javier.  Please remmeber we will keep you to opening our gift on your 99th birthday!!!!!  So after copias Batangas, we had to take off to Guad so we could eventually make it back to Arandas.  This is when I called my dear friend Jaime Orendain.

 Jaime is the consumate family man.  On this 7th of January it was also his son's birhtday, which was why he was not at La Capilla.  However after spending all and most of the evening with his family he still picked up my call and told me to meet him in Guadalajara.  It turns out that guadalajara on a Sunday night is dead.  There are very few options to have a civilized glass of Tequila.  Luckily we found one and proceeded to drink 2 bottles of Arette Añejo in 45 minutes.  Come on there were 9 of us drinking.  And as great as Arette Tequila is, what was more amazing was the company!   This is something money can never buy. Jaime , thank you  and your family yet again!   Feliz Año Nuevo to everyone!  Viva México!!!!! 

January 5, 2007

 Feliz Año Nuevo!!!!!   I hope everyone out there had a great new year's!  I rarely go out on New Year's as I prefer to spend it with my favorite people and not 10 million people.  However I hope eveyone spent time with their loved ones and hoisted a glass of 100% agave!

 Our annual demigod trip of tequila will be on the 14th of January.  Those lucky few on the trip will fall in love with Jalisco and the Tequila country.   If you are interested in U.S." premier tequila club please check out another part of the website for info on how you one day can go to jalisco with us!

If you like Chinaco tequila, Tommy;s will host German Gonzalez.  German and his brothers own Chinaco but it is defianltely German who runs the show.   He will be talking  about Chicaco Negro on January21, 2007 at a private dinner.  If you woulod like to attend, please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   Space is limited to 25 people.  We will start at 4:30.  For details go to our events section.

Talk soon!  Have a great weekend! 

December 7, 2006

 

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to all.  Now that the shopping season is in full swing, I think we can pronounce that the holidays are the happiest time of the year!!!  I hope everyone takes this time to surround themselves with the people you most care about and give thanks for the past year and for the upcoming one.

 

After Tokyo, we headed off to Singapore to see Demigod of Tequila Devin K. and visit his operations: Wine Garage, Brewerkz and the amazing Cafe Iguana.  Obviously, if you need a tequila fix in Singapore, head over to River Road and sample some of Chef Dan's fine cuisine, great margies and a fine selection of 100% agave.  If you are in luck and you are nice, you may meet the legendary Johnnie Walker!  To quote Lisa Stansfield, "been around the world" and have met many who claimed to be able to drink but Johnny Walker claims nothing.  He does.  After drinking a copious amount of 100% agave Tequila with the ambassador of Mexico at Cafe Iguana, several of us then drank bottles of Patrón Añejo (thanks Michale!!), Siete Leguas Añejo, El Tesoro Añejo (you're welcome!) and JW's own Sol beers and some amazing cigars (thank you again Michale), a chosen few of us went out drinking. There, Johnny Walker had us consume 4 shots of Jaeger and San Miguel expresses.  Needless to say it was a strong performance.

 

Did I mention the amazing beer being brewed by Master brewer Scott and his assistint Kim.  Brewerkz makes amazing beer.  Thank you Scott and Kim for un unforgettable time .   Devin also took us to Sin Huat, a favorite of Anthony Bourdain.  Very solid.  However I think we will forever be in debt to Devin and Scott for taking us to the Shanghai dumpling place on Orchard road.  Mindblowing would be an understatement!  Thank you!!!

 

In Kualla Lumpur, we met up with Idris S. who lives in Frankfurt.  Back in Germany we were supposed to hang out with some serious folks from Malaysia but some people, believe it or not not me, missed thier flights!!!  Anyway in KL, we hooked up with some Datos and the amazing Ronnie C.  Ronnie is one of the most progressive and successful  bar operators in KL.  And fortunately for us, he just opened Mexique 52, KL's first tequila bar and Mexican restaurant.  He has a superstar chef from Houston by the name of Larry.  His food is strong and his passion is high.  Please check out Mezquite 52 next time you are in KL!  Thank you Larry and Ronnie!  

 

Hong Kong kicks ass.  It is that simple. Hong Kong has the best skyline in Asia, never sleeps nor powernaps!  Open 24/7.  Vibrant people, fun people.  Incredible food and shopping. Agave in Lan Kwai Fong and now Wanchai are the best Tequila bars in Asia.  Thanks to Sherman, Grant and Luis for making our stay amazing. The Star Ferry is the best public transport bargain on Earth!

 

Hey, please read our Tommy's Blue Agave Club section.  We finally updated our list and would like to replace every Blue Agave Card out there.  So if you have an old Tommy's Blue Agave card or Ph.D. card come in anytime and we will give you a replacement card and get you back up to speed!  Remember those cards never expire and are now worth $10!!!  So make a New Year's resolution to graduate from the most prestigious Tequila school on Earth!!!

 

Thanks to Henry and Dre of Green & Red London and the World Wide Cocktail Club for sending Cesar G. our way.  Jacques brought him to Tommy's and a few other places and then both of us took to several more. He said he enjoyed San Francisco and its vibrant cocktail culture.  Remember even though SF is tiny we easily hold our own with NYC!

 

Hopefully German Gonzalez will be able to visit us on the 17th, Sunday of December for a Chinaco Negro dinner. There will be only 25 place.   He just released Chinaco negro officially at Bacar on the 8th of November.  However it is yet to be available to the general public. Tommy's hopes to be the first place to make it available!  Our dinner will be similar to the one we had for Chinaco 30th anniversary.  Email Julio at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it if you would like to attend.  

 

Do not forget to buy your Tommy's Mix for all of your holiday parties!  Ciao, bellas & bellos!