This is the second of a three-part series. Here’s an overview of Part 1: San Francisco narrowly missed becoming the film capital of the world. Perhaps it’s just as well... Read More
Eighty years ago, an ambitious, young knockabout with a wooden leg opened a saloon in a wooden shack on San Pablo Avenue in Oakland. The saloon and the young man both went on to be... Read More
Occasionally I like to write about people I call Unlikely Heroes or Heroines in the Gastronomic Trenches. Today I’m going to write about my mother. Amelia — everyone called... Read More
This month I have some good news and I have some bad news. Let’s get right to it. Here are some of the most important things that have happened (or not happened) recently in ... Read More
This is the first of a three-part series. San Francisco narrowly missed becoming the film capital of the world. Perhaps it’s just as well. The city has enough narcissism and ... Read More
I’m a collector of unusual recipes, the kind not found in The Joy of Cooking. Here are a few that might appeal to you. GEORGE LANG’S GRAVLAX You may recall the New York... Read More
January was an interesting month for your rambling Sketches columnist. Word came that Grizzly Peak Press in Berkeley will publish my book “Sketches From a North Beach Journal... Read More
Not long ago on a cloudy afternoon, I happened to be thumbing my way through Helpful Hints to Housewives, the 1928 edition. It belonged to my mother, and when she gave it to me alo... Read More
If you run across a restaurant where you often see priests eating with priests, or sporting girls with sporting girls, you may be confident that it is good.” I am indebted fo... Read More
Recently I had lunch with Carl Nolte, who writes the Native Son column for the San Francisco Chronicle. Carl is a young whippersnapper compared to me, but we find common ground whe... Read More
The other day I got to musing about crab. The Dungeness crab season opened Nov. 15. I submit to you that Nov. 15 was one of the most important dates on this year’s calendar. ... Read More
Here come the year-end holidays, and not a moment too soon. Winking lights have been strung up along Upper Grant Avenue in North Beach since early November. Shops like Schein &... Read More
Boom and bust is not unknown to San Franciscans. The bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000 was a shock to me. I suppose it shouldn’t have been. Remember those Super Bowl ads... Read More
There’s a sign over the bar at Original Joe’s in North Beach: “It’s better to live rich than to die rich.” I concur with that sentiment, and here are ... Read More
I enjoy hanging out in joints – restaurants and bars of humble and modest stature. And I do not use the word “joints” in the pejorative sense. I use it as homage ... Read More