There are a few times of the year when San Francisco is nice and quality of life is almost tolerable. One is the beginning of Indian Summer, when the kids are back to school, the hipsters are at Burning Man and it’s Labor Day. These three things converge and suddenly, traffic isn’t as bad, hunting for a parking space takes several minutes instead of half an hour and most importantly, the sun finally comes out and it’s gorgeous outside.
The second is Christmas Day, when all the carpetbaggers go back to where they came from and The City feels almost at peace. Of course, we will be chatting about the former since it’s September now.
I met some friends for Sunday Brunch at Original Joe’s in North Beach after the first GOP debate.
It was a pleasant meal, with selections off their brunch menu and a split decision on who “won” the first debate. That’s the point of having a primary election, isn’t it?
In an old school San Francisco place, every meal begins with fresh baked sourdough and butter. As it should be.
Two of us had crab and two of us had salad. I will admit, one of the salads looked damn good.
The other salad was a Cobb and it looked good too. Just not DAMN good.
I went for the Crab Benedict. It was good, nice and crabby and the hollandaise was excellent. The potatoes were also excellent and fresh fried. Hot inside and seasoned perfectly.
So about that debate. One liked Ramaswarmy with his energy, his outsider status and his addressing issues that most Americans care about. He showed he could roll with the punches and punch back. Another liked Haley with her expertise in foreign policy. I disagreed with her analysis on why America should continue drowning Zelensky with taxpayer dollars. The third liked Burgum because he was middle of the road. Meh. Then we finished eating and headed out, still friends. This is the way.
It’s this sort of Sunday afternoon with good food and good friends in North Beach that diaspora from San Francisco pine for.
Original Joe’s
601 Union Street (@ Stockton)
San Francisco