Many of you that come here know my appreciation and fondness for Tommy's Joynt --a virtual culinary institution on Van Ness in San Francisco.Tommy's was sold recently. The new owner insists he has no intention of changing the beauty and atmosphere of the place.
I'm willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt but I'm cynical. When I heard "craft cocktails" I worried even further. Please, no invasion of the food spectacle, please lord.
For those of you that have ever ventured into Tommy's Joynt, you know and can register my passion. It's old-school personified. It's literally meat and potatoes heaven. Tommy's is more than merely great, old-school food, it is forever San Francisco and a throwback to where you get decent food without having to get a loan from the bank.
Tommy's Joynt is a hofbrau-style smorgasbord with heavenly comfort food like roasted turkey, hot carved pastrami, corned-beef to die for. I'm not an ox-tail guy but they got that too. And beef burgundy and something that made me give up a Giants game recently, the lamb shanks on Thursday. Oh my God, the lamb shanks!
Tommy's is dark, a little dank but always clean. Whenever I used to hang out at the old KRON, I would find myself visiting Tommy's Joynt right across the street. It was always open, open pretty much every single day, the restaurant an hour later than the bar at 10: 45 AM until the wee hours of the morning. And the food is spectacular --not everybody's cup of tea but nirvana for the thousands of others who know what inexpensive, good and reliable food stands for. No, Tommy's Joynt is not the recipe for healthy food (slightly) but when you're looking for something hardy and yes, comfortable with a touch of San Francisco, then you go to the Joynt. Herb Caen's Van Ness stakeout. A local treasure.
That's why I'm hoping the old place isn't turned into some crappy, yupified edifice like what happened to venerable Brennan's in Berkeley, another great Irish hofbrau that lost its identity when new owners took over and messed it up. My opinion.
When I've interviewed various media members in town, if we're close by, I always pick Tommy's Joynt. It's a classic. One of these days I'm going to the Joynt and have a big party and invite some of 'yous to understand how cool it is and why I love it.
Please, new owner, don't screw it up.
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