Original Joe’s, San Francisco, California

Posted on August 23, 2013 by The Jab

Dear readers, by now I’m sure you’ve noticed Le Continental’s banner image and may be wondering if you can visit that restaurant. Well, the answer is no, and yes! Sadly, the original Original Joe’s was lost to a fire in 2007, but the new version of the restaurant is a wonderful reborn Original Joe’s, a great classic restaurant that is more a continuation of the original than a new restaurant. Previously I posted a little about the new Original Joe’s opening, but now I want to explore the iconic restaurant’s history in the Bay Area, show what the old one was like, and describe in more detail the new Original Joe’s, since I have now visited it several times.

Original Joe’s, Taylor St, San Francisco, 1937-2007

First, a bit of history. There are many restaurants called Joe’s in the Bay Area that share certain characteristics. Which one was the first? And are they all related? Our story starts with New Joe’s, which was a small 13-stool lunch counter that opened in 1934 on Broadway in North Beach (and closed in 1970). New Joe’s may have been named to distinguish it from a previous popular restaurant called Joe’s Lunch, but facts are scarce. In 1937 Ante “Tony” Rodin (a Croatian immigrant) and his partner, who were both employees at New Joe’s, left to open another small lunch counter (with 14-stools) downtown called Original Joe’s. Now, this is where the lineage to the current Original Joe’s begins, because Mr. Rodin’s daughter Marie Duggan now runs Original Joe’s (she joined the business in 1983) along with her son and daughter. Ante “Tony” Rodin passed away at 93 in 2006.

Ante “Tony” Rodin, 1913-2006, founder of Original Joe’s, image by San Francisco Chronicle

Before we continue with the history, you may wonder what was the origin of the name Joe’s as a restaurant name in the Bay Area? Was Original Joe’s (or New Joe’s) named after a specific person? In my opinion the answer is no. During the Great Depression (1930s) the phrase “Eat at Joe’s”, often seen in films and cartoons (see at 6:20) on a sign board (a sign board is carried by someone, being slung over their shoulders with straps), was a common expression. Joe’s was the “hypothetical everyman’s” small café or diner, often with a lunch counter, that was based on real restaurants named Joe’s (such as Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami Beach, opened in 1913 as a small lunch counter). So, although it may have been named after a real Joe, I believe New Joe’s and Original Joe’s were simply named after the fictional “average Joe”.

image by Chistopher Scott Conway on Flickr

In 1956 one of the original partners of Original Joe’s, Louis J. Rocca, opened an Original Joe’s in San Jose with his son and two more partners. The Original Joe’s in San Jose is still operated by the Rocca family. Over time some of the other partners in Original Joe’s started their own restaurants, including Marin Joe’s, San Rafael Joe’s, Westlake Joe’s, and Little Joe’s, which was the first one I visited when it was in North Beach – it has moved around since then and closed in 2012. There was also an Original Joe’s II at one time in the Marina neighborhood. As far as I know, none of the Joe’s are connected by ownership since Louis J. Rocca sold his share of Original Joe’s San Francisco in 1983.

menu from Original Joe’s II in the Marina

Although they are not related by ownership, all the Joe’s share similar characteristics, which collectively have been labeled the Joe’s Style. One common element is an exhibition kitchen, or a kitchen that is open to the dining room, usually with counter seating that harkens back to the first New Joe’s lunch counter. Another similarity is the menu in general, which consists of a combination of Italian and American dishes, with charbroiled steaks and chops also prominent. In addition, there are a few specific menu items that are common to all the Joe’s:

Joe’s Special (a combination of ground beef, eggs, spinach, and onions cooked in a skillet)
a large hamburger formed by hand, charbroiled, and served on a sourdough roll
Italian side dishes available with your main dish, usually ravioli or spaghetti

In the 1950’s Original Joe’s was extensively remodeled, and it retained the 1950s appearance until it closed in 2007. As you can see in the previous photo from before the fire not much has changed since the postcard photo at the top of this post was taken in the 1950s. On entering the doors you would see the long exhibition kitchen and counter – a far cry from the original 14-seat counter!

The main dining room was all red vinyl banquettes, separated from the counter area by a room divider.

To the left past the decorative wine barrels you entered the amazing bar with its enameled copper mermaid reliefs.

After the fire in 2007 there was a long wait as the city wondered if the restaurant would ever reopen, or if it would move. Finally in 2011, after much deliberation among the Duggan family over whether to reopen or relocate, it was announced that they planned to move Original Joe’s in a historic restaurant space in North Beach that had previously housed both Joe DiMaggio’s and, even more significantly, Fior D’Italia, a restaurant that started in 1886 and was located in the new Original Joe’s space for over 50 years (and sadly closed in 2012). The new Original Joe’s, to my surprise and excitement, incorporated many elements from the old Original Joe’s, including the bar stools, counter seats, wood paneling, door handles, signage, and the enameled copper mermaid wall hangings.

image by EaterSF

Since it opened I have drank and dined many times at the new Original Joe’s and am happy to say that it is true to the history and character of the old restaurant, from the atmosphere to the service to the food. It seems to me that the food is even better! All my favorites are on the menu (which even looks vintage) – the lamb chops, New York strip, Joe’s Special, hamburger sandwich – and I’ve discovered many new favorites – sauteed sweet breads, hamburger steak smothered in grilled onions and mushrooms, the pasta dishes, and the house made spumoni, the best I’ve ever had!

the perfect medium rare New York strip with just the right amount of crust, ravioli on the side

I love how the new restaurant is split level, which gives it a swanky 1950s feel. I love the wall of framed historic photos and memorabilia. I also love it that every table in the restaurant is a tufted vinyl banquette, just like in the old one. I love the brick fireplace in the lounge. Even the bar is like in the old location, with a tufted vinyl front and the original bar stools – but with better cocktails! They have a great $6 house martini (Gordon’s gin) and house Manhattan (Old Crow).

Original Joe’s house Manhattan

Original Joe’s
601 Union St, San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 775-4877
Open Mon-Fri 11:00am-10:00pm, Sat-Sun 9:00am-10:00pm

Bay Area restaurant Bella Vista closes after an almost 70 year run

Posted on August 16, 2013 by The Jab

It is with much sadness that Le Continental announces the closure on August 10th, 2013, of the Bella Vista restaurant in Woodside, CA, operating since at least 1945 as the Bella Vista (in a roadhouse that dates back to 1927). One of Le Continental’s readers notified me a couple of days ago and the news was announced in the Almanac yesterday.

Here is an ad for the restaurant from the San Mateo Times, August 8, 1945:

As far as I know, the only remaining classic Continental restaurant in the greater Bay Area is the Iron Gate in Belmont.

CLOSED – Bella Vista, Woodside, California

Posted on July 24, 2013 by The Jab

UPDATE – On August 10, 2013, the Bella Vista closed.

In my last post I profiled a classic Continental restaurant in San Diego, The Imperial House. Let’s continue the Continental cuisine focus by visiting the historic Bella Vista restaurant, in the fog-shrouded redwood forest south of San Francisco, just north of the quaint little town of Woodside. Several years ago I was on a weekend excursion with my girlfriend along Skyline Boulevard when we happened upon the Bella Vista. We were fascinated but it was closed so we returned later for the full fine dining experience. I don’t know why but I didn’t return for many years until a couple of years ago I dined there with friends and it exceeded my expectations for food and service, all with incredible views of the South Bay Area. I just went back with a friend last week and we had a marvelous meal, though the view was just of the fog.

image by G3Miller on Panoramio.com

The restaurant started life as roadhouse in 1927, though details of it’s original name could not be found by your intrepid researcher. However, I did find out that it was called the Bella Vista Sky Lounge in the 1940s and 1950s, after what is now the main dining room was added to the original restaurant (which became the cocktail lounge and adjacent banquet room). A review in the San Mateo Times’ Bright Lights column by Lloyd Johnson in 1959 had this to say:

After our last Wednesday evening
Bella Vista Sky Lounge “12′
courser” with owners Nick and
Yvonne Sanisel, we can see why
“Stu” Adams of Bardelli’s and
the Giants’ Horace Stoneham make
the trip up the mountain
to 13451 Skyline boulevard.

Besides being almost at the
top of the world, the club’s food
is clear out of it. Frog legs saute
Bella Vista prepared with wine
was our selection. Add assorted
hors d’ouevres, tossed green salad
and turtle soup to the above,
plus dessert and coffee, and this
“buck” was well spent. Yep,
there’s a cocktail lounge and
banquet space, plus a panoramic
view that’s second to none.

In 1965 the restaurant was renamed simply Bella Vista and owned by Bob and Jetty Hogan, who sold it the present owners, the Ward family, in 1977.

Bella Vista cocktail lounge, image by Bella Vista’s Facebook page

You enter the restaurant through the cozy cocktail lounge with a fireplace (which wasn’t lit on my recent visit on a Tuesday night), past the bar and into the dining room set among the redwoods with incredible views. When you make a reservation ask for a view table if possible, or at least the main dining room because there is another back dining room which may not have the same views.

Bella Vista dining room, image by http://bvrestaurant.com

The menu is traditional Continental, with emphasis on French classics, some Italian dishes, and American classics like Oysters Rockefeller and Steak Diane, which is prepared and flambéed at a station in the dining room (not tableside, but the steaks are displayed at the table before preparation). Other flambé options are a Steak au Poivre Flambé (Pepper Steak) and Cherries Jubilee. The dessert menu also offers four varieties of souffle, which are the same souffle with different sauces.

Waiter preparing Steak Diane

Steak Diane

Our meals came with very tasty side vegetables: a potato dish, some pureed carrots, and excellent green beans that tasted like they came out of a local garden. I had the huge lamb shank, which had ultra-tender meat that fell off the bone, served with a delicious rich red wine sauce. I didn’t even need a knife. My friend had the steak Diane, which he said was very tender and cooked to perfection (medium rare).

Lamb Shank

Service was excellent. The waiters wear tuxedo jackets and bow ties, and know the menu. The presentation was classic and classy, with white linens, a single fresh rose in a vase at each table, and the restaurant’s custom plates.

Going to this restaurant is not only like stepping back in time, but it also makes you feel like you are on a vacation to the redwood forest, yet it’s only about a 40 minute drive from San Francisco and a 50 minute drive from Oakland via the San Mateo bridge. The food is great, yet pretty expensive but the views and atmosphere of the restaurant make it worth a splurge.

Video tour with an interesting historic photo:

An excellent recent review in the San Jose newspaper.

Bella Vista

13451 Skyline Blvd, Woodside, CA 94062
(650) 851-1229
Open Tues-Sat 5:00pm-11:30pm, closed Sunday and Monday

The Big 4, Huntington Hotel, San Francisco

Posted on March 25, 2013 by The Jab

I used to avoid hotel restaurants. In the past I have found many to be overpriced and not that great. There are exceptions, like here and here and here…and HERE! OK, I’ve been all wrong about hotel restaurants. Many great historic restaurants still exist in hotels and some are well-preserved.

I’ve heard about The Big 4 restaurant in the Huntington Hotel for years, usually described as very expensive and stuffy. It was a regular restaurant on the annual Dine About Town prix fixe menu event in San Francisco. But I never made it there. Well, I finally went because a friend informed me that it is threatened since new owners took over the Huntington.

The Big 4 Restaurant opened in 1967 in the Huntington Hotel on Nob Hill, which started as a luxury apartment building in the 1920s but was converted to a hotel in 1945. The restaurant is named after the Big Four entrepeneurs from Sacramento (Leland Stanford, Collis P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker) who started the California Republican party (strongly anti-slavery, they were instrumental in getting Lincoln elected) and later started the Central Pacific Railroad (part of the first transcontinental railroad), which greatly expanded into the Southern Pacific Railroad conglomerate. Eventually the Big Four moved to San Francisco, where the railroad’s headquarters were, many or all of them living in mansions on Nob Hill. Though the Huntington Apartment building probably was named after Collis P. Huntington, he didn’t own it as he died in 1900.

The restaurant is very dark and opulently furnished in dark woods and medium green leather upholstery and is filled with 19th Century antiques and artifacts from early California history, collected by Newton Cope. It was difficult getting good photos in such a dimly lit restaurant, but I didn’t mind as I love dark restaurants. The atmosphere is very cozy, not at all stuffy, and it truly seems like a restaurant that is older than it is.

The bar

The food I would describe as classic American food with gourmet touches, and usually there is a wild game dish on the menu. I had the smoked wild boar chop with corn-cheddar spoon bread and roasted apple. The chop was superb – lightly smokey and pork-like but more tender than most pork chops that I’ve had before. Not at all gamey (if you worry about such things). I had excellent shoestring fries as well.

The service was impeccable – friendly, helpful, and attentive. They have live piano entertainment every night as well. California and railroad history buffs will love this restaurant! I am definitely going to return to the Big 4!

The Big 4
1075 California St, San Francisco, CA 94108
Phone: (415) 474-5400
Open for Breakfast: Mon – Fri 7am – 10am, Sat – Sun 7am – 11am
Dinner: 5:30pm – 10pm daily; Bar: 4pm – 12am, daily

Thanksgiving Dinner in the Bay Area

Posted on November 21, 2012 by The Jab

For those who don’t have family nearby to visit for Thanksgiving dinner, Le Continental hereby presents some suggestions for dinner on Thanksgiving in the Bay Area. Note: there are probably many newer restaurants that are offering Thanksgiving dinner. The focus of this blog is such that we will only suggest older, classic restaurants.

Most hofbrau style restaurants have turkey dinner on the menu. By hofbrau I’m referring to the Bay Area meaning of the term: a cafeteria, where you order from a food line and take your tray of food to a table (not the German term Hofbräu, which usually refers to a brewery that serves food). Usually there are waiters to take drink orders.

One of the oldest hofbraus in the Bay Area, and one of my favorites, is Lefty O’Doul’s, named after a San Francisco native pro baseball player, which opened in 1958. I’m not a fan of sports bars in general (too many TVs and beer posters for my liking), but this one has much historic charm, from its wood interior and tables to its many photos and memorabilia of local sports legends of the past. Nothing is decorated in a tacky way like many other sports bars. The food is pretty good and the drinks are strong. My favorite meal there is the house made corned beef hash for breakfast (with a bloody Mary of course). It’s a large place so it should be able to accommodate customers at any time of day.

Another historic hofbrau is Tommy’s Joynt, which opened in 1947 on Highway 101 in the heart of San Francisco. Cluttered with bric-à-brac and signs, much of it very old, it is a charming bit of old San Francisco with a Victorian theme. The food is good and very inexpensive. There is a huge beer selection, and the highballs are cheap but strong (Old Crow bourbon in the well is a plus).

There are other hofbraus in the Bay Area, but they all have more contemporary decor, are generally too brightly lit for my taste, and have mostly mediocre food, including the Harry’s chain, the Roast Haus in San Rafael, Bogy’s in S. San Francisco, the Europa in Orinda, and Oak’s Corner in Emeryville. One hofbrau that I would like to try is Chick-n-Coop in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, but I phoned and it will be closed on Thanksgiving Day. Finally, there is Brennan’s in Berkeley, an old favorite that had pretty good food, but it moved to a new location a couple of years ago and I have not wanted to check it out. Sam’s Hofbrau in Oakland R.I.P. (not really, it was actually pretty disgusting).

For something much, much fancier you could do no wrong at Harris’ Steakhouse, that is open and serving Thanksgiving dinner. (There are probably booked already, but there’s always next year.) Harris’ only dates back to 1984 (not insignificant in restaurant years!), but it has a classic feel (it replaced the venerable Grisson’s) and serves the best dry-aged prime steaks in the Bay Area, in my not-so-humble opinion. It is not affiliated with the Harris Ranch lower-end steakhouse and brand. Make sure you enjoy a Manhattan or Martini, which is served with its own little pitcher in a barrel of ice. And don’t forget to peek at the steaks aging through the window from the sidewalk.

Another good choice is the House of Prime Rib. I like what’s left of the vintage decor (though much of it has been redecorated) and the food is pretty good. But I’ve had some problems with the service in the past, and on some occasions I’ve been unhappy with the table I was seated at and the noisy atmosphere. It is also always incredibly busy (which I can’t really understand). But if you can snag a booth in the front room it is an experience you should have at least once. They carve the meat and serve from beautiful metal carts, which originated at Lawry’s The Prime Rib in Los Angeles. They also stole the spinning salad bowl from Lawry’s.

As far as the East Bay (where I live) goes, I don’t know of any classic or historic restaurants that will be open for Thanksgiving dinner, but if you do know of one please mention it in the comments.

Thanksgiving Day Hours, 2012

Lefty O’Doul’s – 7am – 12 midnight
333 Geary Street San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 982-8900

Tommy’s Joynt – 10am – 12 midnight
1101 Geary Boulevard San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 775-4216

Harris’ – 3:30pm – 8:30pm
2100 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 673-1888

House of Prime Rib – call (I couldn’t get through as the line was busy)
1906 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 885-4605

Le Continental

dining and drinking with The Jab

Tag Archives: Bay Area

Original Joe’s, San Francisco, California

Bay Area restaurant Bella Vista closes after an almost 70 year run

CLOSED – Bella Vista, Woodside, California

The Big 4, Huntington Hotel, San Francisco

Thanksgiving Dinner in the Bay Area

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts: