The photo on the right is a line, on a weekend mid-day, of people waiting to get into Zazie’s restaurant. Zazies’ is very popular. It has everything; petite tables with French decor and the scene where all the techies and foodies want to be seen.
What I love is that the line on the left end is in front of Bambino’s. Bambino’s rarely has a line.
Bambino’s is a hidden epicurean jewel. It would be one of the few three-star-Michelins in San Francisco if the Michelin people ever found it. I’ve never given the secret away and nobody else seems to. The restaurant is already very profitable because half the volume is in delivery, three meals a day, in a rich neighborhood. The kitchen couldn't handle any more business.
The chef, of nearly twenty years, is Joel Scherbak. A genius who creates a regular stream of new and exciting salads. Who else does that? The menu is constantly changing as Joel applies his genius to new dishes, always saving the neighborhood favorites.
The irony. The hottest place is two doors from the most extraordinary place.
The late George Leonard often made the point that our society has made itself subservient to a combination of courts, engineers and insurance companies. If anyone gets killed or badly hurt in an accident, the family goes to court to sue the highway builder or the owner of the children’s playground. An engineer appears in the court hearing to prove that a safer way of designing the ‘killer object’ was possible. The insurance company then pays the claim and makes sure that all similar situations in the country are make ‘safe’.
On the right is the ruins of Sutro Baths on the Western end of San Francisco. It is in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. In the photo you can see the Western most wall of the baths. It is about 15 inches wide and everyone, especially children love to walk on it. The fall on one side is obviously murky water, the other side is a rocky beach.
This wall has been here for 55 years. Let us hope no ‘sensible’ person ever notices it. More 'slightly dangerous fun', is always disappearing.