Raw Feed

Location: 708 Clement Street, (At the corner of Eighth Avenue), San Francisco, CA 94118 

Like my book “reviews,” this won’t be so much a formal restaurant review as just a narration of what I like about the place.

As I was sitting in a booth all the way in the back with Anne, I looked at the room and realized it really looks like a ship–the wooden walls and ceiling are painted white, and the ceiling beams are navy blue.  The ceiling also has several skylights.  But there’s also a lovely old brick fireplace in the back, not so much elegant as homey.  The whole look is classic–a little older than you might expect in the 1940s-era Richmond district (are my facts right on when these buildings were constructed? I think they’re mostly post-WWII), but cozy despite its decent size, and not too loud in the carpeted back.

The lighting was described in one online review I saw (don’t remember which one, sorry–terribly unprofessional of me if I actually were a professional reviewer) as “romantic,” and indeed it was pretty hard to read our menus–but I guess even we old fogies managed.

Tonight Anne and I split a roasted garlic appetizer (Steve, I’m sorry I put your wife up to this! my conference mates will be unhappy tomorrow) and I had the Niman Ranch Beef burger with Jack cheese and the fries I’ve raved about in a previous post.  They’re not quite shoestring, actually, but they’re “crisp tender” (I read that in a cookbook somewhere) and perfectly salted.  It was all excellent.  My total tab ended up being $17 with tip.

On previous occasions years ago I’ve had the crabcakes (always good) and some kind of kickass pie for dessert.  I’ve had many other dishes there as well, none of them bad.  However, I do remember “boycotting” them for several years once when I ordered a ravioli dish and it only came with 6 (large) ravioli.  Yes, really.  I believe I even wrote a nasty note about it on the check.  I was young, and I eventually learned to forgive.

Clement Street is an area teeming with casually excellent restaurants of all nationalities–but if you’re looking for good, basic, reasonably unpretentious American food, this is the place to go.