San Francisco Café Memories
The Palm Garden Grill, Market near Sixth
Read memories by owner, George Stratos, bottom of this page.
In
the days before cafe latte, water bottles, cell phones and columnists who wrote about
where we should eat, San Franciscans went to old favorites that seemed to have
always been around. They weren’t fashionable; no interior designer had a hand
in them, but they had character and style born through decades of use. The
picture below is not the Palm Garden Grill, but the Golden Rule, the first
restaurant that George and his father owned, also on Market Street.
The Palm Garden would inherit the same character, same great
food, and same Greek waiters.
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Golden Rule Bar, George Stratos behind the bar left. Photo courtesy Georgette Stratos |
The Palm Garden Grill was a
workingman’s restaurant, but businessmen who knew a good thing went there as
well. It was set back from the street and had an outdoor counter where you could
eat, oblivious to summertime’s cold wind or the clatter of streetcars a few
feet away. If you wanted to eat inside you pushed aside swinging doors with
stained glass windows.
The
first thing you saw was a long mahogany bar on the left, lined with a brass foot
rail and stools, occupied by men drinking beer. Opposite it was a steam table
filled with the Palm Garden Grill’s specialties; all kinds of sausage, beef
stew, corned beef hash, Spanish tripe, and wonderful potato pancakes.
The
grill had no waiters. You got a tray, told the counterman what you wanted and
found a table. The place was always crowded at lunchtime and you had to share
one. If you didn’t want to talk that was fine.
My
favorite memory of the Palm Garden Grill was in 1964.
The
Republican National Convention was in town to nominate Barry Goldwater. I was
covering it for NBC News in San Francisco and the Republican host committee
asked me to take some visiting newsmen to dinner. I could have taken them to the
swankiest restaurant in town, but I took them to the Palm Garden Grill.
When
we were leaving they told me it was the best time they had had in San Francisco.
Bill Roddy:
Comments?
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Memories
of the Palm Garden Grill by its last owner, George
Stratos.