Fog City Diner on a decidedly non foggy night in San Francisco was the right choice tonight. I just walked 45 minutes along the Embarcadero from 3rd St in SOMA taking in the fading light reflecting off the bay and watching the Bay Bridge twinkling to life. I kept an eye out looking for the right place for a respite from the day's grind. Hot and hungry I was lured in by the gleaming polished chrome facade and shining neon sign of the Fog City Diner. Soon I had a perfectly cold glass of Anchor Steam beer and a menu.Seated at the bar I struck up a great conversation with a law professor in town from Washington D.C. about photography. He was going to see a Hiroshi Sugimoto photography show at the DeYoung Museum. We talked about composition and abstraction, and the talent to see a picture and create art where others don't. I reflected about Ansel Adams and Annie Leibowitz and all the great photographs I try to create myself.
The Fog City Diner is not a diner in the traditional food sense. It's a beautifully detailed restaurant with a dark wood and arched beadboard ceiling. The bar is an underlit marble top with a polished chrome ceiling and a chrome and mirrored back wall. The walls are dark polished wood and the floor is a beautiful tile framed with a checkerboard pattern. It has the feel of a luxury club car from the twenties. The waiters and chefs all wear white chef's coats.
People don't come too look at the surroundings though. It's the food that's the magnet. I had chipotle crusted pork tenderloins with grilled asparagus and roasted corn coulis along with a salad of butter lettuces with spiced walnuts, pears and blue cheese. Not that I don't appreciate an open faced turkey sandwich or a burger and fries but yeah, this is not your "fathers" diner.
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