San Francisco

Alright, now I’m going to talk about the city by the Bay, San Francisco. When I finally made the decision to start living there, the Courtyard got sold, and I finished helping Mario with Olives in Houston. Thank the Lord, I got out of Houston, and to this day, I’ve never had any desire to go back. I returned to Austin—actually, Lakeway—where Chef Ron and I still owned the property. It was the main house where Jeff and his third wife resided, and along the fence was a three-room cottage apartment. I resided in one of them, where I kept some nice antiques, beautiful paintings of Texas landscapes, couches, tables, etc. Nothing fancy, but comfortable.

I was supposed to keep the place clean and secure, but on one of my trips back to Austin, they had moved in one of their cooks, who sold my belongings, and the place was a total disaster. Maybe I should have listened to some of my Austin friends, the majority of whom told me to fire him, but at one time, he used to be my friend, and I just couldn’t do it. I was also very tired of Austin, tired of the toxic atmosphere. Experiencing inner peace in the Bay Area, I was not ready to have another fight.

Even though the many years I worked and lived in Austin didn’t make me a fortune, I found myself again—the person I truly was. And after all, my friend Colin Nelson, our accountant, made sure I did not get ripped off. So I was ready to go and by no means afraid of my future. My motto was “full speed ahead.” So I was happy living in the cellar with Craig and Luan and their two big wolfhounds. I worked at Olives in the Marina District from 7:00 AM until I was finished with the prep. A good exercise was walking up a big hill to get home. During my walks, I sometimes encountered celebrities who lived in the area—there were quite a few of them.

Craig and I took many trips around San Francisco, Marin County, and all the wonderful, beautiful small towns—all the way to San Jose and down the coast to check the area for Olives locations. I tell you, California is absolutely beautiful. It is definitely one of the most beautiful places in the U.S. We talked politics, reminisced about our Wine Skin days, and discussed all the other stuff that was important to us. We had wonderful lunches, and I had a great time—no stress, no toxic atmosphere, just living day-to-day.

I got reacquainted with an old friend from my time in Austin, Helen. When she had time and I had a day off, we visited many places, checked out new restaurants, and drove to the wine country. She loved wine, good food, and was easy to get along with. We were good friends. I probably wanted more from the relationship, but she always kept a cooler head. I will talk more about her later since we took a couple of great trips along the California coast, up and down Highway 1, and to New Zealand and Australia. During my time in California, I also went to New Zealand and Greece with Colin Nelson and Sue.

I cannot forget the influx of visitors who came to see me. It was an endless parade of people, and Helen and I spent time with them. Helen had a very big shop, so she didn’t always have time to do things, but for me, it was no problem. I only worked until noon, so I had much more time for my friends’ visits. Just a few names to mention: Richard Miland, Nancy Newcombe and her parents, the Milbourn’s, the Zatarians, Uli from Atlanta, Becky from Hudson’s Day, my now-wife Cynthia and her husband with their friends, a few of my ex-girlfriends from Austin, Leo, my friend from the Jambalaya days in Austin, and many, many more.

Craig cooked great meals for Christmas and Thanksgiving, and we watched Sunday football games. The 49ers were hot with Joe Montana at the helm. Whenever someone came, we took excursions and dined at the best restaurants in San Francisco. During my time in San Francisco, I ate at every good restaurant in the city. Horst and Karin from New Orleans with some of their department heads to check out what was new in the food and wine business. I can’t forget my school friends from Rotam See—Roland and Roland—who both worked for Lufthansa. They are tragically dead by now, but they were great friends.

You might ask, did he ever work? Yes, I did, but it was not stressful. My job was as a pizza cook, and it was not difficult. Until the day when Craig and I got serious, found the perfect location for Olives in Rockridge, and I had to start getting serious. I left my crazy life behind in Austin—no more getting drunk, no more drugs. It’s amazing how much energy someone has when they’re happy, sober, and not surrounded by people who only want to take advantage of you. Now you can see why I made the right decision to leave that part of my life behind. I’m not saying it was everyone else’s fault—I did this to myself, and I took full responsibility for my actions.

The one thing I regret the most was the failure of my marriage. I loved that woman, and I messed it up. I tried to reach out to her to apologize for my behavior, but she never returned my outreach. I hope she’s happy and content with her life. But then again, one never knows what will be around the corner. Only the gods know, and until today, living in Granada, Nicaragua, they seem to look over me, even though I might not deserve it.

Now, let’s talk about the beautiful town of San Francisco. It’s a town that lives with earthquakes and can forgive almost anything but bad food. Absolutely no other city in America, except maybe New Orleans, takes dining out as seriously as San Francisco. I lived over four years in San Francisco and Oakland. San Francisco is enchanting and charming. It is built across dozens of hills, with its gingerbread houses clinging to the steep hillsides, the golden pagoda roofs of Chinatown, and the constant sight of the ocean. The sound of the bell-clanking cable cars, the highly diversified culture of Chinese, Irish, German, Italian, Filipinos, Mexican, Russians, French, and Japanese are all represented. San Francisco is known as a city for alternative lifestyles. It is the birthplace of the hippie counterculture, and prior to that, the Beat Generation. It is also a liberal oasis for gays and lesbians. The Castro District remains the center of the gay community, while the lesbian stronghold is in Oakland, across the Bay.

Twin Peaks is the geographic center of the city, and at its height of about 900 feet, it offers a beautiful view of moving ships, creeping fog banks on the harbor, and the Golden Gate Bridge. When the fog enters the city, it acts like a gigantic refrigerator. I loved the neighborhoods of North Beach, the city’s Bohemian corridor known for its restaurants and nightlife; Haight-Ashbury, the famed hippie district, still a great place to shop for the latest styles; the Castro, with its gay lifestyle; and Chinatown, one of the Western world’s largest Asian immigrant communities, excellent for strolling, shopping, and eating. The Golden Gate Bridge, one of the world’s most elegant bridges, is a sight to behold. I sailed under it and walked over it—mind-blowing! The Golden Gate Park is where you can easily get lost amidst ponds, trees, and museums. The Presidio, once a big military compound, is another must-see. The city’s hills are each different, and don’t forget the Bay of San Francisco, one of its most important assets.

Other areas worth visiting include Union Square, the home of big hotels and department stores, and the Financial District, with its showpiece, the Transamerica Pyramid, the Embarcadero, a center of complex housing offices, shops, and restaurants, plus, close to it, the World Trade Center, expensive hotels, and Grace Cathedral. One of the city’s dining scene columnists, Herb Caen, once said, “A city has to be a place where you can get Blinis and Caviar fisherman’s spaghetti, white figs and prosciutto, a 1945 Château Mouton Rothschild, or a movie in any of six languages. San Francisco is such a city.” Ethnic labels have a solid history here. Spanish and Mexican cuisines were established long before the Anglos arrived. Many Chinese, French, and Germans who came for the Gold Rush stayed to cook. They were followed by Russians, Italians, Basques, Filipinos, Japanese, Greeks, and Scandinavians. Most of them started by catering to their own compatriots. Vietnamese and Thai immigrants added the newest culinary options. I always felt that San Francisco is the most cuisine-conscious city in the United States. Its citizens take food seriously. One reason might be the wine. San Francisco is within a few miles of some of the most famous vineyards in the world.

So, let’s talk about restaurants during the time I lived there. I’ll start with the best, like Fleur de Lys. It’s a beautiful, visually stunning gastronomic temple of haute cuisine. The chef, Hubert Keller, trained with the greatest of France’s masters, like Roger Vergé, Paul Bocuse, and the Haeberlin brothers. The dishes, such as foie gras, venison with whole-grain mustard, and lamb, are superb. It’s a great place to dine. On one occasion, I had the pleasure of indulging in a long conversation with the chef, and we shared tales about our past in the kitchens of the world.

Masa’s was another great dining spot, with a solid reputation as one of the country’s greatest French restaurants. When it came to bistro fare, Café Claude was the place. Everyone in the joint must have been imported from France. It felt like I was back in Paris. Fringale, which means “a little something to eat” in Breton, is small, with only a few tables, but the French Basque cuisine is perfect, like onion pie with Roquefort cheese, prosciutto, and walnuts, scallops with fennel, and roasted lamb. The food and wine are simple and straightforward. I loved going there with out-of-town friends. If you’re in the mood for more avant-garde food, you could visit Postrio, known for its superlative pizzas by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, or Bix, which looks like a 1913-era speakeasy. It has a great bar, usually with a singer playing the piano, reminding me of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man.”

Rubicon was another one of the restaurants during my time in San Francisco, owned by Francis Ford Coppola and Robert De Niro. Robert De Niro also owned the Tribeca Grill and Montrachet in New York. If you like Italian food, this is your town. You can visit places like Il Fornaio. The portions are huge and straightforward. It has all the classics, like veal and chicken Parmesan, piccata, saltimbocca, and scaloppini. A half dozen pastas with as many sauces, but the special is cioppino, a stew of clams, cod, crab, mussels, and prawns cooked in tomato and garlic sauce. This is a place with no pretentiousness, no hanging salamis or decorative fishnets, just delicious food. The Stinking Rose is a tourist hangout, and most of the food is overpowered by the main ingredient, garlic—well, that’s the name of the restaurant, after all. Enjoy the atmosphere, not the food.

If you like a great focaccia sandwich, such as meatballs or eggplant, have a cappuccino or a Campari, and watch the people stroll by, go to Mario’s Bohemian Cigar Store. I loved hanging out in North Beach, but when friends came into town and wanted Italian, I usually took them to Kulettos. It was reasonably priced. There are hundreds of Italian restaurants in town, but I always loved their northern Italian food preparation. They serve the same menu for lunch and dinner. The antipasti included calamari fritti and roasted garlic, which I squeezed over the crusty Italian bread, Italian sausage and peppers with Parmesan polenta, and duck with cherry sauce. I always loved the fish, which is grilled over hardwoods. It is a great place. It was my favorite of all the Italian places—simply fresh and airy.

The Mexican food in the Mission District was fabulous, but the Mission was not where I hung out during my time there. It was quite shabby, but it slowly became gentrified. Let’s talk about seafood again. There are many, many seafood places to choose from. The gigantic seafood restaurants on the wharf were not my favorites. First of all, I really did not know many people or friends who frequented these restaurants. One chain by the name of Scott’s Seafood Grill and Bar was very popular, but I did not feel it could hold a candle to our South Point restaurant in Austin. But then again, they are in business, and we are not—sour grapes, maybe. But there are others, like Sam’s Grill and Seafood Restaurant. It has been an institution for over 40 years. It has great chowder and some good charcoal-broiled fish—a dish that every seafood restaurant in San Francisco must have, and the foodies will tell you they prepare it best.

If you like steaks, Harris’s Restaurant and Vaness have it all. Like all great steakhouses, the wine list is wonderful. The marbled, corn-fed beef is tempting, hanging in glass-cooled aging rooms. They also feature lamb chops, pork tenderloin, fresh fish, and lobster. It is a meat lover’s dream. I only went once because most of my friends wanted to experience more unusual food. If you’re a vegetarian, Greens Restaurant at Fort Mason is a must. Locals swear by Greens, one of natural food’s best ambassadors. When you eat there, you will love their pizza with shiitake and porcini mushrooms, African vegetable stews, grilled tofu, and veggie cheese polenta with compote. They have an unusual concept: à la carte is served through the week, but on Friday and Saturday nights, a single fixed-price menu is offered. I love vegetables, harking back to my youth. We were poor; it was after the war, and meat was scarce, so please don’t fault me for my love of vegetables. After all, we are formed by our early life experiences.

I can’t forget Chinese food. There are hundreds of Chinese restaurants in the Bay Area, like the Mandarin, which offers exceptional Peking-style cookery. The rice soup is delicious, as are the walnut chicken, mint squid, and particularly the smoked tea duck. The dim sum, served from 11:30 AM to 3:00 PM, is also delicious. If you crave Chinese food 24 hours a day, go to Sam Wo, which is packed and cramped all day. Their Chinese donuts are famous.

If you like breakfast, go to Dottie’s. The eggs Benedict may be the best you ever taste. For a standard American breakfast, go to Eddie’s True Blue Café. The name alone says “America.” If you prefer high tea, go to the Fairmont Hotel or The Four Seasons, The Cliff Hotel, the Sheraton Palace Hotel, or Neiman Marcus. They try to make you feel English, and they succeed.

During my time, the most talked-about restaurant was Stars, which Jeremiah Tower owned. There was always the discussion of who the real founder of the American cuisine movement was: Alice Waters of Chez Panisse fame or Tower, who worked at Chez Panisse before opening Stars. I admire both of them, but I’m sure their egos—or perhaps their insecurities—caused their fallout. This is just speculation on my part, and what do I really know, and do I really care? No. Regardless, they both did a great job and gave credit to the farmers, growers, and producers of food. The only thing I will never understand is why it was such a big deal—this has happened all over Europe for hundreds of years. But let’s not forget American arrogance. We are, after all, superior and better than the rest of the world, right? At Stars, all the ingredients were listed on the menu, along with information about where they came from, who grew them, what fish was caught where, and where the rabbits, beef, chicken, lamb, or other animals were raised. It is a great idea, and the customer should know. I loved Stars; it was a great American bistro. The burgers were incredible, and the most elaborate dinners were cooked to perfection. Shortly after I arrived, Jeremiah disappeared, and Stars lost some of its appeal. I wonder if it still exists today—probably not.

Another great place was Aqua, a temple of high-end seafood. It reminded me of La Bernardin in New York. I loved it. The sturgeon and tuna tartare were fantastic. Craig loved the place too, so when someone came to town, we went there. For someone who was broke, I sure had a great time eating. San Francisco is such a beautiful town, and everyone wants to visit, so there is no shortage of visitors.

Boulevard, a new French brasserie, opened, and the architect did a hell of a job. It felt like you were being transformed into Paris. I never felt anything like it when it came to the restaurant scene—San Francisco and the Bay Area are unique. Chefs are treated like movie stars, but even in this city, they come and they go.

One place I always enjoyed was the Fog City Diner. The restaurant looks like a genuine metallic diner from the outside, but the polished wood and well-stocked raw bar tell you this is not a short-order cook’s domain. There are gourmet chili dogs, salads, pork chops, and pot roasts. Everything is cooked as it should be, with grilled fish as fresh as it gets and steaks that are corn-fed and perfectly grilled. Their homemade American pies are flaky and delicious. It is America uplifted to a high cuisine, and it was also moderately priced. The company that owned the restaurant also owned other establishments in town and in the wine country.

I want to write about one more great success story, which is Lulu. It has enormous windows, high ceilings, and a central kitchen with a massive wood-fired rotisserie that produces simple, delicious dishes like roasted mussels served in an iron skillet, rack of lamb, rosemary chicken, and pork loin. Sandwiches like fresh tuna with sweet peppers or roasted chicken on focaccia are great for lunchtime. Lulu’s wine list is well-curated, with a strong California selection, and the bar is packed with people waiting for a table. This place was so busy that even with a reservation, you had to wait. Here’s a funny story about the chef: he was from Texas. When I owned the Courtyard, Horst was my chef. He turned him down when he applied at the Courtyard, telling him, “Son, learn more, and then come back and see me.” Well, how about that one?

So that’s about it when it comes to restaurants. There are many, many more I could mention, but it would take a whole book just to write about San Francisco’s restaurant scene. If you like shopping, you’ll find antique stores everywhere, great bookstores like Booksmith and City Lights Bookstore, owned by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, a Beat Generation poet. Art galleries are plentiful, with great paintings and sculptures. You can find Chinese silver, glassware, and the most beautiful and expensive department stores like Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. Men’s fashion, women’s fashion, children’s fashion, and secondhand clothing—my personal favorite—are all available. Food and gift stores galore, housewares and imports, jewelry, lingerie, music and shoe stores, tobacco and toy stores. You should visit FAO Schwarz, the world’s most famous toy store, and a great place to shop.

San Francisco is the West Coast’s cultural capital. The city’s opera is world-renowned, the ballet is respected (it’s not the Bolshoi, but it’s great), and I went to see The Nutcracker—it was absolutely beautiful. There are lots of great theaters, as good as they come, dozens of piano bars, and top-notch drinking rooms like Harry Denton’s, Johnny Love’s, some of my favorites. The brewpubs like Gordon Biersch and San Francisco Brewing Company produce some great beers. Rock and blues clubs like the Fillmore, Slim’s, and the comedy clubs are also famous, like the Punch Line, Cobb’s Comedy Club, and the Holy City Zoo, which helped launch the careers of many comedians, including Robin Williams, who used to tend bar between gigs. The dance clubs are legendary, like City Lights, Club DV8, Oasis, Ars, Paradise Lounge, and 10 Folsom. Strip clubs are not my thing, so I shouldn’t really talk too much about them.

There are wonderful things to explore around San Francisco. You can go over the bridge and visit Oakland and Berkeley, but I’ll talk more about these places later on because I lived there for a while, operating our outpost, Olives. Tiburon and Angel Island are just 8 miles north of San Francisco. It’s tiny and charming, a great place to hike and let the world go by while having a latte or lunch with a spectacular view of San Francisco and the Bay. It has the most authentic Mexican food in the Bay Area. The food is good, especially the camarones (giant shrimp), their handmade tamales, and their ceviche is to die for. Their charcoal-grilled meats, wrapped in Mexican spices, are prepared just like they do in Mexico. If you have a boat, you can sail from San Francisco, dock at Sam’s Anchor Café, enjoy a few cocktails, and return to the city.

Sausalito is another place, just across the bay, discovered by hippies, bohemians, artists, and some wealthy folks who like to live there, enjoying California sunshine while being close to the great city of San Francisco. It is a pretty small village, not far from Muir Woods. Mount Tamalpais is another great day trip. The grandeur of California’s redwoods cannot be easily explained. The Sequoias can grow up to 170 feet. There is no other forest like it anywhere in the world, with trees soaring like wooden skyscrapers into the sky and spreading a lush green carpet of ferns under your feet. And in the middle of it all is Mount Tam, as the locals call it. You can hike up and have a splendid view of hundreds of miles in all directions, from the foothills of the Sierra to the western horizon. These trees are 1,000 to 1,200 years old. It is unbelievable where Marin is today. Marin was actually the first “New England.” In the year 1579, Sir Francis Drake sailed into the bay and claimed it for Elizabeth I of England. The English were too busy claiming land for the empire elsewhere in the world, so the Spanish came in—but only 200 years later. Marin is another beautiful town; it looks like you’ve stepped back in time to the 1930s. The drugstore, the bank, and the stores all give you that feeling. It’s a place to stroll, enjoy, and relax. If you’d like to have a special meal, you can drop into Chef Bradley Ogden’s Lark Creek Inn. This charming American country restaurant was built as a private home in 1888 and was opened as a restaurant in 1989. The menu is upscale American classics—ravioli with ham, Swiss sauce, spit-roasted chicken from a wood-burning oven, and other wonderfully prepared foods. The wood gives it a beautiful flavor. The ice creams are like mom used to make, and the old-fashioned banana cake is to die for. It’s been featured in the cookbook series Great Chefs of the Southwest, the same series that featured Hudson’s and the Courtyard. We had things in common and had some good conversations about food. The restaurant’s wine list was mostly American, from Napa Valley to New York State, and it definitely complemented his style of cooking. I visited many times with friends and visitors and was never disappointed.

Another great day trip was to Point Reyes National Seashore. This 65,000-acre park has several surf-pounded beaches, lots of bird sanctuaries, and open land where elk and sea lions roam. But on the beach, it is wild and rough in some parts, like Point Reyes Beach, and more gentle at Drakes Beach, named for the English explorer. On a lucky day, it’s one of the best places on the West Coast to watch for gray whales as they pass by the point. They migrate between Alaska and the lagoons of Baja California, all the way to Cabo San Lucas. The round trip is 10,000 miles and an annual occasion. Things like this are what make planet Earth so special. I just don’t understand mankind—why their stupidity and greed ruin it. Make America great again? The man should be locked up in an asylum. Well, he considers himself a great builder; he could give it an upgrade like his golf courses and decorate every front page with pictures of himself. How did the U.S. vote him as President? I cannot understand that. But my father’s saying might be right: if stupidity caused pain, mankind would cry all the time. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen Trump cry.

Well, a great car journey in California is the beautiful coastal highway that hugs the ocean and the mountains. Craig and I took many trips down it. He wanted at one time to open more Olives locations. There were always debates about politics, and he loved to listen to Rush Limbaugh ranting and raving about the Clintons. Me, being a little more centrist, I could never get why people could listen to so much nonsense. And mind you, Craig is rather well-educated and well-read. Well, everyone has their own politics and religion—two things one can hardly agree on. But I always enjoyed our trips, and I will always be grateful for all the support he gave me.

Santa Cruz is a beautiful hamlet with its boardwalk and municipal wharf. You can sit on the pier and fish or go deep-sea fishing from February to November, which is the best time. We always tried to have lunch there. The seafood is delicious, like fried calamari, steamed clams, oysters, grilled or broiled fish, and the usual house pasta specialties topped with lemon butter, Béarnaise, or mustard sauce. The cooks come up with their own creative variations. The views are beautiful and relaxing, though in the summer months, it can get quite crowded during the high season. Well, nothing happened with Olives there, but the day trips were more than pleasant, and I do not regret any of the trips I took together with Poopsy.

Thank you.