Lisa & Jason
The city we love
Balboa Cafe
October 27, 2011 - The first place we spent time together, accidentally on purpose, out with a group of friends. OK maybe we first smooched standing at the bar... The next day Jason texted Lisa to go on a date -- and well, here we are. We are arguably the Balboa's most successful relationship. There are many like it, but this one is ours.
Scoma's Restaurant
Mad Men meets oysters (so basically us on the half-shell.) Teetering out over the Bay, with some of the best views of Alcatraz, the Bay Bridge, Tiburon, Angel Island, seal friends, diving birds, tugboats, and all the ships at sea. You know you're doing it right if they name the damn street after you. Lisa's family has been coming here for decades, and it is our undisputed destination after weekend walks on The Embarcadero. When it came time to find a place to host our guests it wasn't even a choice.
Tadich Grill
We're here so often it's basically our living room -- if we could have had our wedding here we would have! Tell them Jason and Lisa sent you. At 173 years, the oldest restaurant in California and third in the country. The best and brightest of SF pass through those heavy brass doors. Sit at the counter for chowder, oysters, cioppino, sand dabs, lobster thermidor (!!), steaks, chops, oval platters of pan fried / grilled / sautéed / baked seafood of all varieties - it goes on and on. With plenty of martinis, manhattans, and gimlets of course. Jason’s spot for a last meal on earth.
The Tenderloin
Deeply misunderstood and not for the faint of heart -- but hands down the the most storied neighborhood of San Francisco. We call it home.
Sam's Grill & Seafood Restaurant
The unrelated, more refined younger sister of the Tadich (i.e. more table, less bar) and only the fifth oldest restaurant in the U.S. Close to Union Square. The at-the corner door opens to white table cloths and heavy silverware covering ancient small tables on the right and high-wall curtained private booths on the left. Plenty of affairs, business and otherwise, take place here but just know that yes, that is the mayor and the DA at the corner table. Monogrammed plates of San Francisco classics you won't find anyplace else - Celery Victor, baked clams (both kinds, Casino and Elizabeth), plus excellent shellfish, seafood, steaks, and of course ice cold cocktails. The new alley-patio on Belden Lane is wonderful when the weather cooperates. Fantastic neon.
John's Grill
Rounding out the downtown SF classics, and the first restaurant to open after the 1906 earthquake. A favorite of everyone from Sam Spade to Jack LaLanne, and hosting "a beguiling and lively mixture of politicians, cops, journalists, entertainers, lawyers, business leaders and the just plain curious." Dark and slightly musty, with a menu that leans more towards chops and steaks, but always with a heavy side of oysters and martinis. Excellent neon that makes even the hardest-boiled PI look romantic.
Tank Hill
There are hidden gems, and then there's here. Countless golden sunsets and walks with Lily rolling in the red dirt and spring grass, overlooking the city. Our long time apartment was only steps away on Graystone Terrace. A special spot, and one of Jason's favorite places anywhere.
Aquatic Park / Maritime National Historical Park
A short walk from here to Scoma's. When you envision the San Francisco waterfront, you're thinking of here. The Maritime Museum is a gorgeous moderne-style building alongside the fleet of historic ships and the circular pier that creates a small harbor for the cold-blooded swimmers of the Dolphin Club. The nice long walk uphill both ways from our place in the Tenderloin to here became salvation during the pandemic lockdown.
The HA-RA Club
A few doors down from our house -- one of the last neon-signed bars of the old Tenderloin. Named for its founders Hank (a wrestler) and Ralph (a boxer) who opened the place in 1947. It's changed with the times but the history and secrets remain. Ask Drew about the pistol in the frame behind the bar. The huge B&W photomural of what looks like a raucous New Year's Eve party, but is probably just a Tuesday afternoon here in 1948, is filled with endless characters and stories to make up.
Washington Square
Bring your blanket, a bottle of wine, and a slice from one of a dozen fab pizza places -- bask in the sun (?) and non-stop dog antics while Saints Peter and Paul Church looms over you. You're in the heart of North Beach.
Pier 23 Cafe Restaurant & Bar
Our Embarcadero spot for baskets of peel & eat shrimp, pints of Anchor Steam, and waterfront stools for prime sealspotting and The Cargo Ship Channel™ in widescreen -- it doesn't get any better.
Li Po Cocktail Lounge
Where to begin? Named after Li Po, the Chinese poet who drowned while attempting to embrace the rays of the moon in water. The Li Po is the last of the many fabulous Chinatown nightclubs built before WWII, and has become a fantastically scruffy survivor. Culturally dubious, mysterious and cavernous, with dim lanterns and red leather booths. Come for the chop suey neon, stay for the mai tais and deafening rounds of Liars Dice. Bucket list stuff.
Chez Maman West
If it's a sunny weekend you will likely find us sitting outside here, drinking rosé while eating moules and frites, frissee salad, and buckwheat crepes. Golden hour in Hayes Valley is wonderful.
de Young Museum
Jason and I are long time members. The Tea Garden on the grounds is one of the loveliest places in the city.
Japanese Tea Garden
Fun for kids, great for meditating and collecting thoughts. An oasis.
Zam Zam
Deep in Haight-Ashbury, and a place that could only be in San Francisco. For many years we lived somewhat nearby, and this is one of the first spots that welcomed Jason way back in 2007. We missed the years of the famously cantankerous proprietor Bruno who would toss you out for ordering a vodka martini, sitting at a table, being a Hippie, ordering a third drink, or any other perfectly valid reason. But the semi-circular bar, Persian murals, and wonderful lighting make you feel a little like Indiana Jones wearing a tux in Azerbaijan -- but the perpetually-open split wooden doors remind you it's a freezing San Francisco summer.
Foreign Cinema
Walk down the low, long dark hallway in to what is still the iconic and most romantic, magical space in the city. We've never been there enough.
Puerto Alegre
If Lisa didn't eat here once a month she got super cranky. In the heart of the Mission, run by the nicest people anywhere.
Mario's Bohemian Cigar Store Cafe
After picnicking in Washington Square Park walk across the street for a large carafe of house red and slightly weird sandwiches and watch the world go by for hours, especially the Golden one. Lisa always runs to the small florist across Columbus, and one of Jason’s favorite moments is when she walks through the door with a big bouquet of flowers. If Paris were in San Francisco, this is it.
Suppenküche
Food of Lisa's forefathers. Surprise fact: SF was packed with German restaurants for years and we loved them all, but we've sadly lost a few. But Soup Kitchen remains ground zero for potato pancakes, weinerschnitzel, pretzels, and schwarzbier. Beautiful white plaster interior, always wonderful seasonal flowers, and bonus points for the velvet curtain around the door to minimize the cold when the big wooden door opens.
Pinecrest Diner
24 x 7 x 365. Get the fried sampler platter. You can thank us later.
Red's Java House
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