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Tracie Broom Managing Editor Food Editor at SF Station from Fall 1999 to Summer 2009, Tracie Broom is a freelance writer, editor, website copywriter and event planner. Catch up with her foodie lifestyle and travel blog, The Yum Diary: http://www.yumdiary.com |
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 | The Grand Café Enrolls a Star Chef All in all, the cuisine at the Grand Café is delicious, although few dishes made our heads spin with visions of finely architected, ethereal scrumminess. Still, it's an incredibly elegant space, the wine list and cocktail bar are stocked with all the best (try the Chartreuse after dinner), the tables are spacious, and the service is top-notch, at least on a weeknight. Oh, and the shoestring frites are tremendous!More |  | Luna Park's Immaculate Conception In the shadow of a huge, cherubim-studded fountain gurgling by the open kitchen, start with an exquisite vegan soup of giant butter beans and asparagus shards ($5), or a stimulating beef carpaccio overrun with shaved artichoke hearts and fresh herbs ($7.50). Also stunning are the oversized, pluffy gnocchi glazed with a luxurious venison Bolognese ($12.50), for which a return visit was made recently (the service was much smoother on that visit).More |  | High Design Conquers the High Art of Haute Cuisine There is no debating that Le Colonial is a beautiful space. The atmosphere is swank-conservative; the interior consists of creamy walls, dark wood moldings, potted greenery, and high ceilings. The outdoor veranda is a long, heat-lamped row of dark wicker tables, chairs, plants, and low lights. Sunshine pours through the glass roof on a clear day, rain sheds off when it's wet out. The old black and white photographs of Vietnamese folks are chintzy, but they add visual legitimacy to the decor. The owners and designers of Le Colonial certainly have achieved both the look and the feel of the exclusivity of private dining clubs of days past.More |  | At The Palace Steak House We'd all been eyeing the place for years. What goes on in that old-school little corner building at Mission and Cesar Chavez, where the promise of a full steak dinner with salad, baked potato and garlic bread beckons at only $8.95 per person?More |  | Brunch, Tapas, and $3 Bloody Marys I have a friend who refuses to make brunch plans. His staunch aversion to brunch is annoying, but he's right: long lines, noisy crowds and the interminable wait for a plate of prettied-up eggs will ruin a weekend day. But, what to do when Eggs Benedict calls, friends are in town and, well, you just have to go and get brunch somewhere? Especially in the Mission, it's hard to find serenity and a Bloody Mary that's less than 8 bucks. Enter Ramblas - that little tapas place on Valencia between 16th and 17th.More |  | Roosevelt Tamale Parlor. You've heard of it. You've thought about it. Well here's the address. Check it out next time you're up for a sweet little sit-down dinner on the cheap. It's a definite win-win dining situation at this tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the Mission's sunny southeast quadrant on 24th near Bryant, just a few doors down from the St. Francis ice cream fountain.More |  | San Francisco Dining in March 2002 Even as a five-year San Francisco resident, I don't suspect I'll ever completely wash that guilty young interloper feeling out of my hair, but at least membership in the club of laid-back appreciators of the neighborhood-based SF lifestyle has its benefits. Most of you, being the savvy, cold-chilling SF Station readers you are, will have already been to the neighborhood dining destinations I'm about to lay on you, but if not, here are the recent deets on some fine and fabulous low-key meals to be had in our fair city and beyond.More |  | When San Francisco restaurant industry veterans open a restaurant, the buzz is audible. Town Hall is new to the scene as of late Fall 2003, possessing a restaurateur pedigree that would make a foodie blush with curiosity. But is this posh, casual-chic hotspot worth the hype?More |  | Berkeley's new haute hangout dishes up pan-Asian cuisine in a grand old train station Groggy from last night's magical mystery tour through Xanadu's long list of bizarre lychee and mango cocktails, silvery sakes, and clever wine varietals, I am all too pleased to find my breakfast in a chilled to-go box fragrant with piles of citrus zest, fennel, and red jalapeno. Chairman Mao's Liberation Ribs ($9), marinated and fried to a fall-off-the-bone crispness, make as good a hangover treat as they do a steaming starter plate. One entree, however, I wish we hadn't completely scarfed up at dinner, because a few fat chopstickfuls would really hit the spot: tender, wok-seared Galanga beef.More |  | A Laid-Back Meeting Place Opens in the Mission You've probably noticed by now that Pintxos, that tapas place at Valencia and 16th, has been replaced with... surprise... another tapas place. This incarnation of small plate purveyorship is called Ramblas (after Barcelona's historic district), and its parentage is comprised of Ron Silberstein and Ragnhild Lorentzen of ThirstyBear Brewing Co., well respected by foodies and SOMA happy hour hordes alike for its hand-crafted beers and bistro-grade tapas menu. Ramblas looks to recreate ThirstyBear's elegant-casual beer-and-snacks appeal in a hip, modern space.More |
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