Nightlife

A NOTE ON MUSIC

The city's best music venues include:

Local bands and nationally known acts are featured at Bimbo's 365 Club 1025 Columbus Ave. at Chestnut Street; (415) 474-0365, near the waterfront.

Some of the finest cabaret in the city is at Empire Plush Room 940 Sutter Street; (415) 885-6800.

A LITTLE BAR-HOPPING

Across the street at Tosca Cafe 242 Columbus Ave.; (415) 986-9651, you can listen to the jukebox and drink coffee or hot chocolate laced with brandy.

Try the Buena Vista Cafe 2765 Hyde St.; (415) 474-5044, for a great Irish coffee.

The Redwood Room Clift Hotel, 495 Geary St.; (415) 775-4700, in the Theater District provides an elegant art deco setting for that after-theater drink.

AN EVENING AT TEATRO ZINZANNI

Promising Love, Chaos and Dinner to all who come, Teatro ZinZanni Pier 29, The Embarcadero at Battery Street; (415) 438-2668, delivers an unusual theatrical hybrid combining spectacle, comedy, vaudeville revue, interactive theater, dance, music and magic in a dizzying and colorful new form. The show changes seasonally, with new international stars, world-class practitioners of circus and aerial arts, cabaret, balance and juggling acts, tap dance, clowning, illusion and physical comedy.