SFCityBear;842854733 said:

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It worked out real well. Turns out the father was impressed, and years later, I became his patient. Very famous ophthalmologist who rescued my eyesight. As for the girl, I am better off, believe me.

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Seeing is believing. So love your ophthalmologist and happiness will follow.

joe yaks;842854725 said:

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There seems to be a theme here.
The food may not be good, but it's cheap and there's plenty of it.
Eating from the trough.

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One of my childhood friends showed up with his daughter extremely late for recent pre-game beers at the Faculty Club. Was very evasive about prior whereabouts, but finally cracked under withering cross examination and sheepishly admitted they were late because of lunch at Chez Panisse. We howled since all of us had not so faint memories of seeing if six drunks could come up with enough change for one last Manny's pitcher or seeing the same guy as a Young Blue frantically haggling with a guy in a seafood dive for a 55 gallon drum of tuna.

Equally embarrassed that I went to the Faculty Club twice for lunch as an undergrad and had breakfast at I House twice a month, but didnt appreciate them until I was in my late 30s as my culinary and drinking taste at Cal.

For the record, I've only seen the aforementioned out of the closet foodie openly weep twice on the last 40 years: when Edsel Ford Fong died and when Will Kapp romped for a long TD in China Basin (we ran up a healthy pre-game tab at Swan's Oyster Depot).

BearDevil;842854739 said:

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One of my childhood friends showed up with his daughter extremely late for recent pre-game beers at the Faculty Club. Was very evasive about prior whereabouts, but finally cracked under withering cross examination and sheepishly admitted they were late because of lunch at Chez Panisse. We howled since all of us had not so faint memories of seeing if six drunks could come up with enough change for one last Manny's pitcher or seeing the same guy as a Young Blue frantically haggling with a guy in a seafood dive for a 55 gallon drum of tuna.

Equally embarrassed that I went to the Faculty Club twice for lunch as an undergrad and had breakfast at I House twice a month, but didnt appreciate them until I was in my late 30s as my culinary and drinking taste at Cal.

For the record, I've only seen the aforementioned out of the closet foodie openly weep twice on the last 40 years: when Edsel Ford Fong died and when Will Kapp romped for a long TD in China Basin (we ran up a healthy pre-game tab at Swan's Oyster Depot).

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If your college buddy couldn't afford lunch at Chez Panisse by now... this would be an Oregon forum.

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned Sun Hong Kong. Even after my student days I worked in Berkeley and I remember the communal table. Just sit next to a stranger and order your cheap and filling meal.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/sun-hong-kong-restaurant-berkeley-berkeley

Edsel Ford, well connected polit., would turn to a table w the dish you were asking about and spear sample for you, unannounced; beers on the tiny 3rd floor balcony @ 3am, east bay views

the love for Sirloin&Brew?

Bertola's was the essence of Oakland, family-style, cavernous wrap-around bar, jukebox, soup and sourdough, hogs and choppers out front

Reza's for pitchers of Hamm's, Oly, Henry's on back palm-shaded deck abutting Raleigh's patio, as a freshman, not college, Saturday mornings before Cal games

goodtimes

Laaaaate to the party. 1979 Spens-Black group would always hit the Hofbrau on Telegraph Thursday to start the weekend, and after getting lubricated head up to Cookies and Milk on Durant. We fondly called it Cookies and Ale.

Bertolas for Triples the following night for sure!

prospeCt;842854803 said:

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Edsel Ford, well connected polit., would turn to a table w the dish you were asking about and spear sample for you, unannounced; beers on the tiny 3rd floor balcony @ 3am, east bay views

the love for Sirloin&Brew?

Bertola's was the essence of Oakland, family-style, cavernous wrap-around bar, jukebox, soup and sourdough, hogs and choppers out front

Reza's for pitchers of Hamm's, Oly, Henry's on back palm-shaded deck abutting Raleigh's patio, as a freshman, not college, Saturday mornings before Cal games

goodtimes

---

Was wondering if Sirloin & Brew would come up. When friends would order cokes at S&B (Old Milwaukee) or Candlestick (Hamm's) to make the crappy beer taste better, I began to suspect not everyone was purely motivated by the love of the game...,

prospeCt;842854803 said:

---

Edsel Ford, well connected polit., would turn to a table w the dish you were asking about and spear sample for you, unannounced; beers on the tiny 3rd floor balcony @ 3am, east bay views

the love for Sirloin&Brew?

Bertola's was the essence of Oakland, family-style, cavernous wrap-around bar, jukebox, soup and sourdough, hogs and choppers out front

Reza's for pitchers of Hamm's, Oly, Henry's on back palm-shaded deck abutting Raleigh's patio, as a freshman, not college, Saturday mornings before Cal games

goodtimes

---

"A friend and regular reader sent me this old photograph of the Hamm’s brewery sign at night, taken in San Francisco around 1954, the year the Hamm’s Brewery opened. It’s a nighttime shot of the iconic Hamm’s sign on the roof of the brewery that was located at 1550 Bryant Street. When it was built, “it was the largest commercial sign on the West Coast.” The brewery closed in 1972, and sign taken down three years later, in 1975. According to Wikipedia, it was a “20-by-80 foot sign, with a 3-dimensional 13-foot beer chalice on top, [and] appeared in the first Dirty Harry film. " BY JAY BROOKS

I remember watching the sign from baseball games in Seals stadium, Seals then Giants until Candlestick opened. Probably one of the last private industrial ventures in San Francisco. And their furry trademark was a BEAR.

bearister;842854820 said:

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"A friend and regular reader sent me this old photograph of the Hamm's brewery sign at night, taken in San Francisco around 1954, the year the Hamm's Brewery opened. It's a nighttime shot of the iconic Hamm's sign on the roof of the brewery that was located at 1550 Bryant Street. When it was built, "it was the largest commercial sign on the West Coast." The brewery closed in 1972, and sign taken down three years later, in 1975. According to Wikipedia, it was a "20-by-80 foot sign, with a 3-dimensional 13-foot beer chalice on top, [and] appeared in the first Dirty Harry film. " BY JAY BROOKS

---

Late in Life I discovered Basque Hotels, boarding room hotels with exceptional meals catering to an older single clientele of
Basque shepherds away from their flocks.
Since then I have encountered more than one mother of a college student who mandated that their son attend a college with a
Basque Hotel nearby. The first two I dined at were in Fresno, Over the years I have dined at dozens on both sides of the Sierras.
As far south as Yuma and Boulevard and North to Reno, East To Fallon and West to Hanford and Lemoore. Once you started looking
they were strung along 99 and 395. Many were named "Santa Fe Hotel" although a couple were next to a Southern Pacific RR station;
maybe Fred Harvey loaned the start-up funds to ****-off the old SP.
When I worked in San Bruno, for special business lunches we headed to the nearby Basque Cultural Center. I think the food was better
at the hotels, but then when on TDY to remote bases like Fallon, China Lake, Yuma, El Centro, Lemoore, Pickle Meadows the competition
was let's say sub-standard. I don't remember a Santa Fe Hotel in Berkeley although the Santa Fe was close to campus. A Quick Google
check for Basque food in Berkeley revealed none, but did list the Basque Cultural Center in South SF as #1.

If you are recruiting a well fed player from a town with a Basque Hotel, his mom wouldn't let him attend Berkeley since it is Basque deficient...

bearister;842854820 said:

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"A friend and regular reader sent me this old photograph of the Hamm's brewery sign at night, taken in San Francisco around 1954, the year the Hamm's Brewery opened. It's a nighttime shot of the iconic Hamm's sign on the roof of the brewery that was located at 1550 Bryant Street. When it was built, "it was the largest commercial sign on the West Coast." The brewery closed in 1972, and sign taken down three years later, in 1975. According to Wikipedia, it was a "20-by-80 foot sign, with a 3-dimensional 13-foot beer chalice on top, [and] appeared in the first Dirty Harry film. " BY JAY BROOKS

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That's a great photo. My wife works in that building. There's a cool little exhibit about the brewery in the lobby.

grandmastapoop;842854832 said:

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That's a great photo. My wife works in that building. There's a cool little exhibit about the brewery in the lobby.

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http://brookstonbeerbulletin.com/hamms-in-san-francisco/

From the land of sky blue waters...



Hamms....I remember anticipating that amazing sign on our way to SF. That's when there was 2-traffic on the upper deck. And the Union Oil tower with the clock, and the lights of the Schmidt Lithography Tower right next to the bridge.

:beer:

BearDevil;842854816 said:

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Was wondering if Sirloin & Brew would come up. When friends would order cokes at S&B (Old Milwaukee) or Candlestick (Hamm's) to make the crappy beer taste better, I began to suspect not everyone was purely motivated by the love of the game...,

---

OMG, Sirloin & Brew... I guess they had a company policy where "unlimited brew" meant just that (I can see how they are no longer in business). I was there once with a couple of buddies, one of whom DETERMINED to test their policy and not exactly behave like a gentleman during the testing process. Towards the end of our meal, the young waiter came over to ask us to please stop throwing chunks of bread at some of the other tables (I swear it was not me; I was actually embarrassed.) My friend says to him, "We'll make you a deal: If you bring us ONE last pitcher of beer... wait, TWO last pitchers of beer, we absolutely promise to be on our way within 15 minutes." The poor waiter looks at us and says, "Why are you doing this to me?" But then he brought the two last pitchers. My friend, after 15 minutes, suggested we leave w/o paying, since he only promised the waiter that we would leave, he never promised we would pay pay. I had to draw the line at that.

Of course, we drove home. Times were different back then. Lucky nobody got hurt and, in retrospect, the waiter, if he was savvy enough, could've/should've peed in our beer, or worse.

bearister;842854833 said:

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http://brookstonbeerbulletin.com/hamms-in-san-francisco/

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That's an incredible story. Thanks for the link.

BearClause;842854787 said:

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I'm surprised that nobody mentioned Sun Hong Kong. Even after my student days I worked in Berkeley and I remember the communal table. Just sit next to a stranger and order your cheap and filling meal.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/sun-hong-kong-restaurant-berkeley-berkeley

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We used to goto Sun Hong Kong all the time when they were on Shattuck! I still miss their saday beef chow fun. I would occasionally swing by their "newer" location below Kips but that's been closed for a few years now too.

sp4149;842854826 said:

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Late in Life I discovered Basque Hotels, boarding room hotels with exceptional meals catering to an older single clientele of
Basque shepherds away from their flocks.
Since then I have encountered more than one mother of a college student who mandated that their son attend a college with a
Basque Hotel nearby. The first two I dined at were in Fresno, Over the years I have dined at dozens on both sides of the Sierras.
As far south as Yuma and Boulevard and North to Reno, East To Fallon and West to Hanford and Lemoore. Once you started looking
they were strung along 99 and 395. Many were named "Santa Fe Hotel" although a couple were next to a Southern Pacific RR station;
maybe Fred Harvey loaned the start-up funds to ****-off the old SP.
When I worked in San Bruno, for special business lunches we headed to the nearby Basque Cultural Center. I think the food was better
at the hotels, but then when on TDY to remote bases like Fallon, China Lake, Yuma, El Centro, Lemoore, Pickle Meadows the competition
was let's say sub-standard. I don't remember a Santa Fe Hotel in Berkeley although the Santa Fe was close to campus. A Quick Google
check for Basque food in Berkeley revealed none, but did list the Basque Cultural Center in South SF as #1.

If you are recruiting a well fed player from a town with a Basque Hotel, his mom wouldn't let him attend Berkeley since it is Basque deficient...

---

Great stuff.

My favorite Basque place in Nevada is in Winnemucca. I can't remember the name, but I can drive right to it. Wonderful food and service. Polished brass fixtures in the men's room.

San Francisco has plenty of Basque places, some more on the Spanish Basque side, and some on the French Basque. My current favorite is Patio Espanol on Alemany. Beautiful dcor. Dinner most nights and brunch to die for on Sundays. Great for banquets.

Back in my student days, there was the Basque Hotel on Broadway, and the Hotel Obrero on Stockton in Chinatown, where the dining room was on the second floor. It seated about 10-15 people, reservations only. Bambi, a real hippie and the Obrero owner, did all the cooking herself, and then ate dinner with us. Years later, when I was down and out, she put me up in her apartment in the Haight for a few weeks while she was out of town. She passed away a few years ago, and so did the Obrero. Bambi was a special friend.

sp4149;842854826 said:

---

Late in Life I discovered Basque Hotels, boarding room hotels with exceptional meals catering to an older single clientele of
Basque shepherds away from their flocks.
Since then I have encountered more than one mother of a college student who mandated that their son attend a college with a
Basque Hotel nearby. The first two I dined at were in Fresno, Over the years I have dined at dozens on both sides of the Sierras.
As far south as Yuma and Boulevard and North to Reno, East To Fallon and West to Hanford and Lemoore. Once you started looking
they were strung along 99 and 395. Many were named "Santa Fe Hotel" although a couple were next to a Southern Pacific RR station;
maybe Fred Harvey loaned the start-up funds to ****-off the old SP.
When I worked in San Bruno, for special business lunches we headed to the nearby Basque Cultural Center. I think the food was better
at the hotels, but then when on TDY to remote bases like Fallon, China Lake, Yuma, El Centro, Lemoore, Pickle Meadows the competition
was let's say sub-standard. I don't remember a Santa Fe Hotel in Berkeley although the Santa Fe was close to campus. A Quick Google
check for Basque food in Berkeley revealed none, but did list the Basque Cultural Center in South SF as #1.

If you are recruiting a well fed player from a town with a Basque Hotel, his mom wouldn't let him attend Berkeley since it is Basque deficient...

---

There are still some around-Bakersfield and Los Banos- but to me they were like those family restaurants in North Beach. The charm was that they were cheap and old world. I think the food was better in retrospect

SFCityBear;842855066 said:

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Great stuff.

My favorite Basque place in Nevada is in Winnemucca. I can’t remember the name, but I can drive right to it. Wonderful food and service. Polished brass fixtures in the men’s room.

San Francisco has plenty of Basque places, some more on the Spanish Basque side, and some on the French Basque. My current favorite is Patio Espanol on Alemany. Beautiful dcor. Dinner most nights and brunch to die for on Sundays. Great for banquets.

Back in my student days, there was the Basque Hotel on Broadway, and the Hotel Obrero on Stockton in Chinatown, where the dining room was on the second floor. It seated about 10-15 people, reservations only. Bambi, a real hippie and the Obrero owner, did all the cooking herself, and then ate dinner with us. Years later, when I was down and out, she put me up in her apartment in the Haight for a few weeks while she was out of town. She passed away a few years ago, and so did the Obrero. Bambi was a special friend.

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JT Basque Bar and Dining in Gardnerville, NV. Check it out.

Lunch menu:
Basque family-style lunch includes: Soup, Salad, Stew, Beans, French Fries, Bottle of Red Wine, Coffee & Ice Cream.
CHOICE OF ENTRE:
Top Sirloin Steak
Lamb Shoulder Steak
Basque Chicken
Sweetbreads
Pigs Feet with Tripe
Lamb Chops

Dinner menu:
Basque family-style dinner includes: Soup, Salad, Stew, Beans, French Fries, Bottle of Red Wine, Coffee & Ice Cream.
CHOICE OF ENTRE:
Top Sirloin Steak
Lamb Shoulder Steak
Basque Chicken
Sweetbreads
Pigs Feet with Tripe
Lamb Chops
Shrimp Scampi Fri. & Sat. Night Special
Roasted Rabbit Fri. & Sat. Night Special

Side Orders:
SIDE ORDERS
Soup of the Day -- All one person can eat served in a tureen with bread & butter
Stew of the Day -- All one person can eat served with bread & butter
Sweetbreads -- Served with bread and butter
Pigs Feet with Tripe -- Served with bread and butter
Half Salad & Half French Fries
Salad for One
French Fries for One
Basket of Bread & Butter
Cup of Soup
Cup of Stew
Cup of Sweetbreads
Cup of Beans

Gardnerville, south of Carson City, has been a mecca for Basque food for a long time. But I could never pry the wife from South Shore for dinner there. We did get to a Basque restaurant in Reno, when we were staying in Reno. I enjoyed the family style service, a lot of natives eating there and got the low down on Graeagle.

For me most of them were consistent in that they all had:
Excellent green salad with sweet and sour dressing
Fresh vegetable soup,
Fresh bread,
Legume dish,
entree of the day
and then whatever you ordered.

Newbies were frequently full before the main course arrived...

Once Hotel had a great shrimp and potato salad along with the green salad
I rarely had room for dessert, but one day I managed to save room for a traditional Basque specialty of the house dessert.
Light, rich, delicious, I never wanted to leave.

AS one would expect they frequently had lamb dishes, but one day the entree was beef tongue in a tomato sauce.
Another time it was pork short ribs, the only time I have ever had pork short ribs. I might never have ordered them
but as the entree of the day they were there for all to share, I tried and enjoyed and remembered.

GB54;842855113 said:

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There are still some around-Bakersfield and Los Banos- but to me they were like those family restaurants in North Beach. The charm was that they were cheap and old world. I think the food was better in retrospect

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I had a great Basque meal at the Star Hotel in Elko NV a few years ago. Elko also known as the home of Cowboy Poetry (well, and some casinos and houses of ill repute).

It has indeed. Pizza has really gotten better as of late. Brick oven pizza is remarkable stuff.

A well known North Tahoe ski resort was constructed on land that had been used for decades as a summer camp of Basque shepherds. Nearby was an aspen grove. Aspen ahs a lovely white bark, but when it is cut the wound turns black. The result was some pornographic Basque drawings made by lonely horny shepherds. During construction of the resort, executives took a tour of the property with their families. A woman in the group noticed the black on white bark drawings, investigated and was offended. The grove of aspens was cut down the next day. That was 40 years ago, the trees will have regrown but a bit of cultural heritage disappeared forever.

MSaviolives;842855161 said:

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I had a great Basque meal at the Star Hotel in Elko NV a few years ago. Elko also known as the home of Cowboy Poetry (well, and some casinos and houses of ill repute).

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sp4149;842855281 said:

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A well known North Tahoe ski resort was constructed on land that had been used for decades as a summer camp of Basque shepherds. Nearby was an aspen grove. Aspen ahs a lovely white bark, but when it is cut the wound turns black. The result was some pornographic Basque drawings made by lonely horny shepherds. During construction of the resort, executives took a tour of the property with their families. A woman in the group noticed the black on white bark drawings, investigated and was offended. The grove of aspens was cut down the next day. That was 40 years ago, the trees will have regrown but a bit of cultural heritage disappeared forever.

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Shepherds need love, too.

joe yaks;842855285 said:

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Shepherds need love, too.

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Is it love if it isn't consensual?

Sheep are so damn seductive

GB54;842855300 said:

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Sheep are so damn seductive

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What now

The carvings weren't of sheep, ewe know what I mean...

GB54;842855300 said:

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Sheep are so damn seductive

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There used to be a place called "Angelo's Restaurant and Bar" on the SW corner of San Pablo Ave and Park Ave in Emeryville, across the street from the old Oaks Ball Park on the site that is currently the casino.

Angelo's was another place that served family style with the large terrine of vegetable pastina soup, a platter of pasta and a big green salad plus an entree (steaks, chicken, other). Spumoni was the ice cream dessert of choice. This place overlapped the time period of the Bertola's and was still in business after the Giants moved to SF and the Oaks moved to Vancouver...1956-57.

The bar was a meeting place for ball players and others after the games. The restaurant was very much a family style place though you entered the restaurant through the bar. The ambience was loud jocularity and lots of food.

To get there from campus you could take a bus OR take the old Key System light rail train from downtown Berkeley which went down Shattuck to Adeline and to the Santa Fe RR yard at 40th and San Pablo and walk two blocks to Angelo's.

Then there was the Khyber Pass, a great Afghan restaurant with quaint little booths and white tablecloths. It was just off Telegraph near MacArthur Blvd. Great kababs, and a delicious rice pudding for dessert. It was the first and only Afghanistan restaurant in the Bay Area in the 1960s. Now there are many, and a town, Fremont, full of them. I don't know if any of them have the elegance and atmosphere of the old Khyber Pass, however.

Too lazy to read through all the posts, but did anyone mention Giant Burger or Hunger Pang (cheap chinese combos) on the southside?

okaydo, Great pictures!

Best Basque restaurant ever was Woolgrowers in Bakersfield. Almost worth going to Bakersfield for the experience. Picon punch will get you joyfully shitfaced.

Still there