The Van’s, Belmont, California – CLOSED

I’m trying to catch up here on some Bay Area restaurants that I’ve dined at in the last two or three years. The Van’s (yes, it’s The Van’s, not Van’s) was a very pleasant surprise on my first visit with friends a couple of years ago.

 

 

image by The Jab

image by The Jab

 

The Van’s is located in an Asian style house, so you would expect it to be a Chinese or Japanese restaurant, but it’s not. The house was originally the Formosa Tea House in the Japan Garden at San Francisco’s Panama Pacific Exposition on 1915. When the expo ended the house was moved to a barge and shipped across the bay to Belmont, California, down the Peninsula south of San Francisco.

 

Formosa Tea House at Panama Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, 1915

Formosa Tea House at Panama Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, 1915

 

Ge Van's 2

 

For years it was a private residence, until 1933 when it became Elsie’s saloon. In 1947 Gene Sowle and Ivan Sawyer purchased it, calling it Ge Van’s restaurant from their first names. In 1957 Ivan Sawyer took full ownership, shortening the name to The Van’s. It was sold to the current owner, Loring Di Martini in 1973.

 

 

The Van’s is on a hill so offers gorgeous views of the peninsula down the the bay, especially at night. When you enter the front door on your right is the bar and to your left is the main dining room surrounded by windows. There are two smaller dining rooms on the first floor, also with views. Upstairs is a large dining room for private events. There are some historic photos on the walls and some vintage wallpaper in an Asian motif, but otherwise the rooms are fairly simple, with dark wood walls and tables covered with white tablecloths. The view and the food are the stars here.

 

image by The Jab

beef rib steak ‘cowboy style’ – image by The Jab

 

The Van’s specializes in Prime Rib and mesquite broiled meats, including several steak cuts, rack of lamb, pork chops, and local chicken. I went for the signature steak, a USDA prime, aged bone-in rib eye they call ‘cowboy style’ (almost one and half pounds of delicious beef). They take their steaks seriously here, so they even have a detailed guide on the menu on how they cook your steak to your specifications, which I think is great because it takes the worry out of ordering. I prefer my steaks medium rare to rare, depending on the restaurant. Some places cook medium rare a bit too much for me but I don’t like to order rare because sometimes the meat is a little too raw. But at Van’s medium rare is “mostly warm red, surrounded by a little pink to the crust” – just perfect for me. They can even do your steak ‘black and blue’ – charred exterior, cool raw center! You will get a good crust on your steak from the mesquite broiler, as you can see in the picture above. With your meat you get a choice of potato or rice, vegetables, and crunchy onion strings. They also offer many other dishes on the menu, including eight to ten choices each of appetizers, salads, pastas, and main courses. You have plenty to choose from at The Van’s. I found the food excellent on my visit, from the appetizers to the dessert. Dishes range a lot in price so you can spend a little to a lot, with many entrees in the $10-$20 range and steaks in the mid $20s to mid $40s (dinner menu). The also have daily specials posted on their web site that change often.

 

image by The Jab

image by The Jab

 

Currently there is a deal on Living Social of $75 towards dinner for two at The Van’s on Sunday through Thursday for $45.

 

The Van’s
815 Belmont Ave, Belmont, CA
Phone: 650-591-6525
Open for lunch Mon – Fri 11:30am – 3:00pm, dinner Mon – Thu 3:00pm – 11:00pm, Fri 3:00pm – midnight, Sat – Sun 4:00pm – 11:00pm

 

Santa Fe Hotel, Reno, Nevada – CLOSED

SantaFeHotel5

image by The Jab

 

In the mid-19th century Gold Rush of California many people came from the Basque Country in the Pyrenees Mountains of Spain and France to strike it rich. It wasn’t easy to find gold so many became sheepherders, spreading throughout California and Nevada. Basque-operated boardinghouses were built to provide the hardworking men a hot meal and a room. At one time there were over 300 of these hotels. Quite a few returned home after earning enough money for passage so most of the hotels closed down. But a few survived and remain in operation today, still serving food and drink, but now to the public as well as to Basque families (I don’t think any still operate as hotels). The Basque hotel restaurants still exist in Fresno and Bakersfield in California, as well as in a few towns in Nevada. There are many Basque clubs and organizations that have preserved the cuisine of the Basque people in the western U.S., which is a hearty blend of rural cowboy cooking, traditional Basque foods, and homestyle American fare (lamb, beef, and pork, beans, potatoes, paella, oxtail stew, sweetbreads, Spanish style chorizo, pickled tongue, and other dishes).

 

image by The Jab

image by The Jab

The Santa Fe Hotel (probably named after the Santa Fe Trail or perhaps the Santa Fe Railroad, which did not operate through Reno) reopened in 1948 after a fire and it has not changed much since that time. When you walk in there is a vintage Seeburg jukebox just inside the door on a floor of vintage linoleum that reads “Eskualdun Etchea” (Basque House), leading into a large front room with a long bar with a vintage cash register and a vintage phone behind the bar. Everyone orders the house Picon Punch (locals usually call it a ‘picon’), and you should too. It’s the Basque cocktail in the west, a bittersweet blend of Torani Amer (the western U.S. version of the French Amer Picon, unavailable in the states), grenadine, and soda water, topped with a float of brandy, usually served in a stemmed tulip-shaped glass. It sounds too sweet but actually it’s quite refreshing and appetite inducing. The bar slowly gets crowded with families and friends (it opens at 4pm) until 6:00, when the neon “Dining Room” sign is illuminated, which means that it’s time to sit down for dinner in the dining rooms. There are three of them, each filled with long tables with green checked tablecloths, vintage chairs, and art and bric-à-brac on the walls. It could still be 1948 in this place!

 

Santa Fe Hotel dining room - image by The Jab

Santa Fe Hotel dining room – image by The Jab

 

vintage Seeburg speaker - image by The Jab

vintage Seeburg speaker – image by The Jab

Diners sit at communal tables and the food is served family style (which is common to all classic Basque restaurants in California and Nevada), meaning each dish comes out in large bowls or on large platters except for your main course, which you order from the evening’s menu that varies day to day. I ordered the lamb chops, which were juicy and delectable. Other popular dishes at the Santa Fe are the ribeye steak, pork chops, oxtail stew, and lomo, breaded pork cutlets with mild peppers. Main dishes come with several sides, which on my visit included a delicious homemade soup, a salad with tangy Italian dressing, red Basque beans, terrific chorizo, french fries, and a large carafe of red wine. Dinner also includes coffee and ice cream or a good ‘hard’ cheese, with other desserts available.

 

Oh yeah, everything is served on vintage dinnerware!

 

SantaFeHotel4

lamb chops with roasted garlic served on vintage China – image by The Jab

 

There is another Basque restaurant in Reno that is also popular – Louie’s Basque Corner, which opened in 1967. But the place has been totally remodeled into an industrial space with exposed brick and pipes in the bar, and not much better in the dining room. Furthermore, super annoying Food Network host Guy Fieri* has been there, so I’ll pass it by and head right for Santa Fe Basque, the only time travel Basque restaurant in Reno, with the best Basque food in town and friendly service too.

*

 

Santa Fe Hotel
235 Lake St, Reno, NV 89501
(775) 323-1891
Open for lunch Wed-Fri 11:00am-2:00pm, dinner Tue-Sun 6:00pm-10:00pm, bar opens at 4:00pm, closed on Monday

 

CLOSED – Trader Dick’s, Sparks, Nevada

I was recently saddened to hear from a friend that The Nugget Hotel and Casino in Sparks, Nevada (near Reno), was purchased by a large corporation, Global Gaming And Hospitality, and they will be closing the 55-year-old tiki bar and restaurant Trader Dick’s, most likely in early March (but perhaps sooner). Trader Dick’s has been a favorite tiki bar and restaurant of mine since I first went in 2001, despite its mediocre tropical drinks. I wouldn’t even put it in my top ten of tiki bars in the U.S., but I just have a lot of fond memories of the place so it’s going to be hard to visit Reno/Sparks after it’s gone.

 

image by Roadsidepictures on Flickr

image by Roadsidepictures on Flickr

 

In 1955 Dick Graves opened the Nugget coffee shop with a few slot machines on U.S. Highway 50 (the Lincoln Highway) in Sparks (other Nuggets opened in Reno and Carson City) and hired John Ascuaga as general manager. In 1960 John Ascuaga bought the Nugget with a loan and owned it until the recent sale, expanding greatly in the 80s and 90s. Until the sale it was one of the last family owned hotel casinos in Nevada.

 

Trader Dick's original location on the Lincoln Highway (now Victorian Ave)

Trader Dick’s original location on the Lincoln Highway (now Victorian Ave) – image by Roadsidepictures on Flickr

 

Trader Dick’s opened in 1958, as a Trader Vic’s copycat restaurant with decor by Eli Hedley, grandfather of Bamboo Ben, tiki bar designer extraordinaire. Vic Bergeron sued Dick Graves for copyright infringement but lost, so it remains Trader Dick’s to this day. In the 1980s expansion Trader Dick’s was moved underneath the new I-80 and remodeled into its present appearance, with a spectacular 6,000 gallon saltwater fish tank as the bar’s centerpiece (sadly it will probably be removed in the upcoming remodel).

 

The Jab sampling Trader Dick's drinks, 2001 - all the mugs came with the drinks then, even the hat, which comes with the Cha Cha!

The Jab sampling Trader Dick’s drinks, 2001 – all the mugs came with the drinks then, even the hat, which came with the Cha Cha cocktail – image by The Jab

 

I’m not going to go into much detail about the restaurant and bar in this post, because it is closing so soon. But if you can go, take the trip. Make a reservation for dinner, but show up earlier so you can have a cocktail while watching the fish swim around the tank (happy hour is before 6:00 daily). Enjoy a steak (they come from the Nugget steakhouse so they are very good) and for dessert perhaps some baked Alaska, flamed tableside, or maybe the Volcano, a cocktail that comes to your table “erupting”. I was able to pay my last respects last weekend with a group of friends and it was a very nice sendoff. Mahalo and aloha, Trader Dick’s. You will be missed.

 

RenoJan2014 016

The Volcano – image by The Jab

 

 

Trader Dick’s
1100 Nugget Ave, Sparks, NV 89431
(775) 356-3300
Open Fri-Sat 5:00pm-10:00pm Sun-Mon 5:00pm-9:00pm, closed Tue-Th
(but call first as hours may be cut before the closure)

Postcard Panorama – Fazio’s on Fifth, Milwaukee

Fazio's
Fazio’s on Fifth – Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a photo by The Pie Shops Collection on Flickr.

Patio Room Luncheons and Dinners
…in air-conditioned luxury, are an adventure in good eating and your service will be superb.
Here at last is a delightful room in the heart of downtown Milwaukee where you can be proud to entertain or Be entertained.

POODLE ROOM COCKTAILS
Innovations like the wide double seats of the padded bar offer Milwaukeeans an exciting new place to meet.

634 N. FIFTH STREET
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
BR 1-8282

Marin Joe’s, Corte Madera, California – CLOSED

Part three in Le Continental’s tour of the Bay Area’s restaurants named after Joe.

Previously on Le Continental we posted about Original Joe’s in San Francisco and San Jose. Today we travel to the north bay to one of my favorite restaurants in California, Marin Joe’s. I love the building, I love the space, I love the food, I love the people who work there, and I love the late hours. Need I say more? Well, before you jump in your car and head over there, read on, please.

 

The Jab at Marin Joe's

The Jab at Marin Joe’s

 

Joe's Matchcover Marin

image by Heather David on Flickr

In 1954 Marin Joe’s was opened by Adolph Della Santina, who was a partner in Original Joe’s II in the Marina District of San Francisco from 1939 to 1953 (it closed a long time ago). To design the restaurant Adolph hired noted bay area architect Mario Gaidano, who also designed many San Francisco landmarks, including the Fairmont Hotel tower (1961, still standing), the House of Prime Rib (1949, still open), the original Mel’s Drive-In (1947-1973, in the movie American Graffiti – it was demolished after the filming), and Fior d’Italia restaurant’s fifth location at Union and Stockton Streets (1953, damaged by fire in 2005, now Original Joe’s). For Marin Joe’s Mario built a modern single-story building with a long peaked roof, wood siding on the left front, large plate glass windows in the restaurant section in the middle, and stone facing in front of the bar with a sign reading “marin Joes” in a jaunty cursive style. Very modern, so just right for U.S. highway 101 in Marin County, which was a hot spot in the mid-20th century for modern architecture. In the 1950s the restaurant was right on four-lane highway 101, so it looked like a classic road house (later the highway was widened and now the restaurant is on a frontage road).

 

Marin Joe's in the 1950s. Photo courtesy of Jason Lewis' marinnostalgia.org and Marin Joe's

Marin Joe’s in the 1950s. Photo by Marin Joe’s & Jason Lewis’ marinnostalgia.org.

 

Adolph’s nephew, Romano Della Santina, from Lucca, Italy, was a waiter at the Original Joe’s II in the Marina of San Francisco. He went with Adolph in 1954 to Marin Joe’s, first working as a waiter, then as an owner the following year. Romano’s oldest son Paul became a partner in 1984. In 1997 Romano’s other son Ralph joined the restaurant.

 

Adolph (R) and Paul (L) Della Santina in Marin Joe's

Adolph (R) and Romano (L) Della Santina in Marin Joe’s. Photo by Marin Joe’s & Jason Lewis’ marinnostalgia.org.

 

Marin Joe’s is still owned by Paul and Ralph Della Santina. Romano Della Santina, who was bestowed with the highest honor of ‘Cavaliere’ by the Italian Government for his involvement in many Italian civic organizations, was an owner until his death in 2015. Many celebrities have dined at Marin Joe’s in the past, including John Wayne, Joe DiMaggio, and Clint Eastwood. The place is always humming, usually packed every night of the week. Some people have been regular customers since the 1950s and 1960s.

 

L - R: Paul, unknown, Adoplh, Romano. Photo by Marin Joe's & Jason Lewis' marinnostalgia.org.

Romano and Adolph seated at bar. Photo by Marin Joe’s & Jason Lewis’ marinnostalgia.org.

 

Marin Joe's matchcover  image

matchbook image by Heather David on Flickr

On the interior Gaidano kept the dining room open, with a cathedral open beam ceiling that extends beyond the plate-glass windows along the front of the room, as in many modern homes, to soften the gradient between the inside and outside spaces. The layout is very similar to the old Original Joe’s in San Francisco and San Jose, with three rows of naugahyde banquettes of different sizes and a long counter in front of an exhibition kitchen (a signature of all the Joe’s restaurants). In the middle of the room are posts with clusters of cylindrical lamps (original and still in use). The room is almost completely original with the exception of the heat lamps over a waiter station in the center of the counter (added some time in the 1960s I presume), small contemporary hanging lamps over the front booths, and some vases which may have been added more recently (but in brown tones that fit in with the restaurant’s overall look). It’s almost a miracle that it has been so well-preserved! There are some wonderful old photographs on the walls so make sure to check those out when you visit.

 

Marin Joe's in the 1950s. Photo courtesy of Jason Lewis' marinnostalgia.org and Marin Joe's.

Marin Joe’s in the 1950s. Photo courtesy of Jason Lewis’ marinnostalgia.org and Marin Joe’s.

 

 

Marin Joe's in the 1970s. Photo courtesy of Jason Lewis' marinnostalgia.org and Marin Joe's.

Marin Joe’s in the 1970s. Photo courtesy of Jason Lewis’ marinnostalgia.org and Marin Joe’s.

 

 

Marin Joe's today. Photo by The Jab, October, 2013.

Marin Joe’s today. Photo by The Jab, October, 2013.

 

 

The extensive menu is pretty typical of all the Joe’s restaurants: steaks & chops, Italian dishes, seafood, and of course the Joe’s specialties: a charbroiled cheeseburger on sourdough and the Joe’s Special of hamburger, spinach, and onion (optional mushrooms). But there are many dishes unique to this location, including a spinach w/vinaigrette and cheese dish that is prepared tableside, and specials each day during lunch Monday through Friday. The sourdough bread is fresh and good. In my post on Original Joe’s I forgot to mention that sourdough bread is a signature item at all the Joe’s restaurants.

 

Marin Joe's special cheeseburger. Photo by The Jab.

Marin Joe’s special cheeseburger. Photo by The Jab.

 

Mesquite grill in action. Photo by The Jab.

Mesquite grill in action. Photo by The Jab.

 

Since I work nearby I often come to Marin Joe’s for lunch, usually sitting at the counter. In the winter I like to warm up in front of the mesquite broiler (the same one from the 1950s) and watch the grill chef hand carve steaks to order and prepare the special cheeseburger, which he patties by hand after vigorously mixing the freshly ground beef with diced onions (an identical scene as in the following photo from 1972).

 

MJ Chef 1972

Grill chef in action, 1972. Photo courtesy of Jason Lewis’ marinnostalgia.org and Marin Joe’s.

 

The menu is massive. It would probably take you a year to try everything on it if you went there every day! Previously I mentioned the daily specials. Here are a few of them.

 

Beef tongue Wednesday lunch special. Photo by The Jab.

Beef tongue Wednesday lunch special. Photo by The Jab.

 

Lamb stew Tuesday lunch special. Photo by The Jab.

Lamb stew Tuesday lunch special. Photo by The Jab.

 

Mesquite grilled catch of the day Friday lunch special (trout). Photo by The Jab.

Mesquite grilled catch of the day Friday lunch special (trout). Photo by The Jab.

 

Osso Buco with rice Wednesday lunch special. Photo by The Jab.

Osso Buco with rice Wednesday lunch special. Photo by The Jab.

 

The cocktail lounge has nice original rock walls, a fireplace, an L-shaped bar, a piano, framed historic photos, and, unfortunately, a large TV. On most evenings there is a piano player and delicious complimentary cheese spread and crackers (with a jazz trio on Sundays). The bartenders are all veteran pros that know their craft.

 

Image by marinmagazine.com.

 

Thanks to Jason Lewis for generously allowing me to use his historic digital photos of Marin Joe’s that he obtained from the restaurant. I love seeing old photos of places like this, especially when you can see how little they have changed. Check out his website Marin Nostalgia for more historic photos of Marin.

 

Marin Joe’s
1585 Casa Buena Drive, Corte Madera, CA 94925
(415) 924-2081
Open Mon-Thu 11am-11:45pm, Fri 11am-12:45am, Sat 5pm-12:45am, Sun 4pm-11:30pm

It can be a little tricky to reach it after you drive by it on 101 and see smoke coming out of the chimney and the parking lot packed with cars. You need to exit 101 at Tamalpais Drive and take it north towards the town of Corte Madera, then turn left at the first light (Madera Blvd) and immediately turn left again on the first street (Casa Buena, the freeway frontage road that it’s on). You can leave your car at the valet stand or continue past the restaurant to a parking lot on the right on a hill above the restaurant (or park on the street just before the restaurant).