Carnivals are usually tons of fun, that is until you wake up the next morning looking like Tom Hanks. Hooking Hayes Valley up with a carnival experience that won't make Mom chase you with a knife, Straw.Opening to the public in two weeks time (Jan 24th), Straw is an over-the-top-playful, carny-themed eatery imagined by a quartet of former Outside Lands concession-eers, with a festive 30-seat interior anchored by a booth built from an actual Tilt-a-Whirl car, plus framed Coney Island photography, light fixtures made of Exeter mason jars, and a bathroom full of funhouse mirrors, also what Kirstie Alley calls normal mirrors in an effort to avoid a shame spiral. 36 half-classic, half-carny sandwich options include The Ring Master (ground chuck burger on a Krispy Kreme donut); they've also got awesome apps like truffle oil popcorn, plus a life-altering brunch with savory/sweet options that include a French toast cut into rectangles and Jenga-stacked, but not Jenga-jacked, as that's just what you call a dude with great deltoids and vertigo. Drink-wise, you can lounge out front at two street-side tables and enjoy Sangria Slushies or an Inverted Root Beer Float (vanilla soda/root beer ice cream), or saddle up to a 6-stooled bronze-finished bar inside that'll have Coney Island Brewing Co. beers and'll be stocked with sugar-rich classic candies like Gobstoppers, Fun Dip, and Ropes, which you'll be on if you get hooked on the Dip again.And because no one likes waiting for the carnival to come to town, Straw'll be doing a pre-opening preview of their Hopscotch Happy Hour ($2 beers, $3 wines, $4 cocktails, $5 apps) just for Thrillist on Jan 20th, complete with carnival games pitching restaurant freebies like Bar Top Skeeball or Arm Wrestling the Owners, but not Zoltar Speaks, though that's clearly a Big letdown.
