Where to get the best corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day (or any day)

Posted on March 15, 2013 by The Jab

Drinking green beer in a phony Irish pub seems to be a popular way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in the U.S., but I don’t go for that. Instead I’ll be drinking a Guinness with some Guinness beef stew and capping it off with a dram of Irish whiskey or perhaps a Tom Moore Cocktail (a Manhattan with Irish whiskey).

Corned beef and cabbage is a dish I really love, so I have it year round. Here are a few suggestions of where to enjoy the classic Irish-American dish this Sunday or anytime of the year.

Every Thursday my favorite restaurant in Marin county, Marin Joe’s, serves corned beef and cabbage for lunch as the daily special and it’s a winner. Tender, succulent, and juicy meat, with cabbage that isn’t too soggy, and plenty of food for $14. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are serving it on St. Patrick’s Day as well. It’s not an Irish pub, but I love the original mid-century googie coffee shop-style interior and exterior. I will probably be posting about Marin Joe’s again in the future.

The recently refurbished Tom Bergin’s is the oldest Irish pub in Los Angeles. It started in 1936 on Wilshire Blvd. as “The Old Horseshoe Tavern and Thoroughbred Club” and moved to it’s current location at 840 S.Fairfax Ave. in 1949 and was renamed “Tom Bergin’s Horseshoe Tavern.” I went before the 2012 takeover by the owner of popular Dom’s and Little Dom’s restaurants but from what I’ve read they did not mess with the historic feel of the place. It probably will be packed on St. Paddy’s Day but they serve reportedly good corned beef and cabbage every day.

Photo by The Jab, 2009

In New York City you can’t go wrong if you head to Neary’s in midtown for corned beef and cabbage, served every day since 1967. The decor appears to have not changed much since that time, except for the addition of many photos of celebrities who have dined there.

Neary’s NYC via TripAdvisor.com

Beannachtam na Feile Padraig! (Happy St. Patrick’s Day!)

Marin Joe’s
1585 Casa Buena Drive, Corte Madera, CA
Phone 415.924.2081
Open Sun 4pm-11:30pm, M-Thurs 11am-11:45pm, Fri 11am-12:45am, Sat 5pm-12:45am

Tom Bergin’s
840 S. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA
Phone (323) 936-7151
Open 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday and Sunday

Neary’s
358 E 57th St, New York, NY
Phone (212) 751-1434
Open daily 11:30am – 12:00am

CLOSED – Bahooka Ribs ‘n’ Grog, Rosemead, California – 1976-2013

Posted on March 13, 2013 by The Jab

This blog is primarily intended to celebrate classic and historic restaurants that still exist, but occasionally I will be mentioning a restaurant that is gone or recently closed.

As you may have heard, another original Polynesian / Tiki restaurant closed its doors for good last week. Southern California lost three classic Tiki restaurants in the last few years: The Islands in San Diego (gutted by the Crowne Plaza Hotel chain in 2007), the Royal Hawaiian in Laguna Beach (also gutted in 2007), and Trader Vic’s in Beverly Hills, which was the oldest Trader Vic’s (open since 1955) left in the country when it closed in…you guessed it, 2007. All three carried on in name only as bland “tropical” restaurants. Now the fabulously unique Bahooka in Rosemead has entered the Tiki history books. In case you’re counting (and why wouldn’t you be?) that leaves only three original Polynesian / Tiki restaurants in Southern California (Damon’s, Don The Beachcomber , and the Bali Hai).

Why does a place like the Bahooka, that started in 1967 (in a long-gone original location in Covina, California) close after over 45 years in business? Did business decline in the past ten years? Every time I went it didn’t seem very busy. Could it have held on a little longer if the food and drinks were better? I may have gone more often if it wasn’t just the atmosphere that made me want to visit. Apparently the owners needed the money so they put it on the market and it sold quickly. I guess they have every right to sell a place they have kept going for 35+ years.

In the last three weeks since the announcement that they would close was released they have done massive business, with lines forming an hour before they open at noon and waits for a table reaching to 3 and 4 hours. When I was waiting in line to say goodbye on a recent Sunday morning I wondered when was the last time many of the people there had visited. I know my friends who are into Tiki bars went occasionally, but the Tiki crowd isn’t enough to keep a large restaurant in business. I must say the staff was incredibly patient and friendly dealing with the onslaught of customers, but the drinks were worse than I remembered (I always thought they were mediocre) and the food wasn’t very fresh tasting. I’m glad I got to see it one last time but I felt bad that I’ve only been a handful of times since I first ate there in the late 1990s.

In case you have never been, the best way I can describe it is a huge, labyrinthine maze of over 100 fish tanks built into floor-to-ceiling dark wood walls and partitions separating the many intimate tables, with interesting details such as a large jail door, chains anchored to the wooden tables, Tikis here and there, numerous hanging lamps and decorations, signs, and artifacts covering every bit of space. There was a small bar with a large fish tank actually built into the bar counter. Near the hostess stand there was a large tank that contained an ancient (in fish years) pacu named Rufus who liked to eat carrot sticks.

This is what the Bahooka looks like now:

Visit your local Tiki bar or restaurant now, and seek them out in every town you visit, because they need the business and you never know how long they will remain.

Albie’s Beef Inn, San Diego, California – CLOSED

Posted on January 18, 2013 by The Jab

UPDATE: Albie’s closed at the end of 2015 and was gutted by the new owner. The previous owner Ted Samouris saved much of the decor including all the nudes and plans to reopen, but as of June 2017 nothing has been announced so it seems unlikely that it will reopen.

Staying on topic with last week’s post on the Red Fox Room in San Diego, my friend D. A. Kolodenko recently gave a wonderful review of another one of my favorite steakhouses, Albie’s Beef Inn, for San Diego’s City Beat weekly magazine. In his column he mourns the loss of the Whaling Bar in the remodel of the venerable La Valencia Hotel in La Jolla, which opened in 1926. Although you will no longer be able to enjoy that classic bar, there are still some classics that remain in San Diego, Albie’s being one of them, the adjacent Andy’s Steak ‘n Eggs being another. Read on for more…Goodbye, Whaling Bar.

Photo by Amy T. Granite for City Beat

Some of Albie’s artworks by Larry ‘Vincent’ Garrison

Albie’s happy hour (M-F 4pm-7pm) is one I try to catch when I’m in town, for double well drinks at the single price, plus free food. A photo I took of the bar area in 2001 (it is not uncommon to see people with walkers in Albie’s):

Albie’s Beef Inn
1201 Hotel Circle South, San Diego, CA 92108
Phone (619) 291-1103
Open for Lunch M-F 11:30am – 4pm; Happy Hour M-F 4pm – 7pm; Dinner Mon-Th 5pm – 10pm, Fri-Sat 5pm – 11pm; closed Sundays

Red Fox Room, San Diego, California – RELOCATED

Posted on January 9, 2013 by The Jab

I grew up in San Diego and spent my early adulthood out and about on my Lambretta motor scooter almost every night of the week. But even after I turned 21 I wasn’t keen on hanging out in bars. The usual crowd in most San Diego bars were either older folks (which I appreciate now) or young surfer-jock types that I usually didn’t get along with. There were a couple of exceptions, like Pal Joey’s that had good bands (such as the Paladins in their early days). But in the late ’80s things changed with the opening of the Casbah Club and the Pink Panther bar, which really got things going as far as bar culture in San Diego. The Casbah was a live music club while the Pink Panther was just a dive bar taken over by cool people, with good music provided by DJs most nights of the week. You could always count on a fun and hip crowd at either venue, many dressed in vintage attire as that was when the rockabilly/swing scene really got going (along with a lot of the Mod scene that had not moved away or “settled down”).

Image by Dan Soderberg (http://www.dsoderblog.com)

It was around this time when I started visiting some of the vintage restaurants and bars that remained in San Diego, with friends who had the same appreciation for what remained of classic places with style where you could go gussied up for a night on-the-town and fit right in. The Red Fox Room was one of the best of these, and it remains pretty much the same to this day. I will remember fondly the nights at the piano bar (one of many in San Diego that are still going – more on those in later posts) when Shirley Allen was on the keys. Sadly, cancer took her away in 2005 after 15 years playing lounge standards with friends sitting in on various instruments.

Dining Room – photo by Paul Krawczuck

The Red Fox Room opened in 1959 on U.S. highway 80, taking over the restaurant space next to the Lafayette Hotel (formerly the Imig Manor), which originally opened in 1946 and is a great place to stay in San Diego. The interior decor installed in the Red Fox has a fascinating history. Many of the wood treatments (such as the fireplace mantel) were created in 1642 and installed in an inn in Surrey, England (which first opened in 1560). In 1926 the Inn was dismantled and the carved wood, bar, and back bar all were shipped to the U.S. and installed in actress Marion Davies’ beach house, which became a hotel in 1947. Sometime in the 1950s part of the interior was removed, the hotel demolished, and some of the interior from the old Surrey Inn was installed in the Red Fox Room. When you visit, try to explore the dining room, bar, and foyer and look at the beautiful detailed woodwork (hopefully without bothering other diners!).

booth in bar area

Now on to the food. The restaurant is a steak house so I recommend the steaks of course. The steaks are aged choice beef and an excellent value, ranging from a low of $18.95 for a top sirloin to a high of $23.95 for a filet mignon. I usually get the regular sized New York steak, but on my last visit in December I went twice so I tried the filet as well as the New York. I preferred the New York’s flavor because of the extra marbling, but I thought the filet was very good, a real bargain. All steaks come with a chilled relish dish, a nicely chilled salad w/ homemade dressing, choice of baked potato, French fries, or rice pilaf, and garlic cheese bread – yum! All the sides were quite good so you can see what a good value dinner is here. The drinks are also a good value – they are strong yet inexpensive. And they use Old Crow in the well, which is one of my favorite cheap bourbons!

The Red Fox Room is one of my favorite steakhouses in the country, for the decor, atmosphere, food, and good service. The steaks won’t knock you out, but at these prices they are a bargain. So dine there and then snag a table in the piano bar for some good jazz and standards – a wonderful evening back in time! Even better, book a room at the recently refurbished Lafayette Hotel and make a night of it!

Red Fox Room
2223 El Cajon Boulevard, San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 297-1313
Open Mon-Fri 11:00am-2:00am, Sat 4:00pm-2:00am, Sun 4:00pm-12am (midnight)

Empress of China, San Francisco – CLOSED

Posted on December 6, 2012 by The Jab

I don’t visit touristy Chinatown in San Francisco very often, but once in a while I like to go there on an afternoon and explore, preferably on a rainy day when the streets are wet and fewer people are out. One of my favorite rest stops is the bar at the Empress of China, especially for Happy Hour, which offers half-priced appetizers and cocktails daily from 3:00pm – 6:00pm.

The Empress of China opened in 1967 in a modern office building designed by the architectural firm of John Carden Campbell and Worley K. Wong and built on a hill so the restaurant and bar have sweeping views of Chinatown, North Beach, and Telegraph Hill from its large plate-glass windows. While waiting for the elevator that takes you from the lobby to the bar take a look at the many photos of celebrities who have dined there in the restaurant’s heyday of the 1960s and 1970s.

Empress of China interior, San Francisco, 2004

Empress of China bar, photo by Telstar Logistics

As you can see the bar has a very nice 60s feel to it, and with the views it’s a wonderful place to relax over a $5 Mai Tai (albeit a sweet pineapple 1970s version) during Happy Hour. The restaurant itself has a very different look, though an amazing one. Interiors are reproductions of the styles of decorating that was popular during the Han Dynasty of around 200 B.C.

Portion of 1970s menu from the archives of the National Museum of American History

Empress of China dining room postcard

Not much has changed since this vintage postcard photo was taken. Only the furniture is different. You can this one and other rooms in the photo gallery on the restaurant’s web site. Since I have not dined there in many years I can’t offer a review of the food. I know it’s fairly expensive, but probably worth it for the atmosphere and views, especially at night. Give this place a chance for dinner sometime because it’s almost a miracle that a place like this has survived so long in a city like San Francisco that has so much creative and inexpensive Asian food.

Empress of China
838 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94108
(415) 434-1345
Open for lunch M-F 11:30am-3pm, dinner M-F 5pm-10pm, Sat & Sun 11:30am-10pm
Bar open 3pm-10pm, Happy Hour daily 3pm-10pm

Le Continental

dining and drinking with The Jab

Category Archives: California

Where to get the best corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day (or any day)

CLOSED – Bahooka Ribs ‘n’ Grog, Rosemead, California – 1976-2013

Albie’s Beef Inn, San Diego, California – CLOSED

Red Fox Room, San Diego, California – RELOCATED

Empress of China, San Francisco – CLOSED

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