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West Portal Steakhouse Merchants

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Mel's Drive In

In 1947, owners Mel Weiss and Harold Dobbs assembled a staff of 14 carhops to serve passing motorists at the first Mel's Drive-In. For the next two decades, customers partial to automobile dining flocked to the chain’s 11 California locations, eager to wash down grass-fed half-pound burgers with thick milk shakes. As fast-food outlets outpaced the drive-in's once-speedy service, its popularity declined, and it was eventually scheduled for demolition. The building got a temporary reprieve, however, when filmmaker George Lucas decided to use the drive-in's original location on Lombard Street as the colorful backdrop for his film American Graffiti. As bulldozers destroyed the last remnants of the historic drive-in, American Graffiti opened in theaters.

A decade later, though, Mel's son Steven reopened Mel's Drive-In in an attempt to carry on his father's dream. Steven restored the drive-in's multiple locations to mirror their original motif by stocking each with midcentury must-haves such as illuminated marquees, jukeboxes, and Elvis-themed WiFi passwords. The drive-in’s menu, meanwhile, balances period-appropriate fare, such as hot dogs and burgers, with healthy options, such as the Haven’s Famous vegetarian sandwich, two slices of nine-grain bread topped with avocado, sprouts, and tomatoes.

3355 Geary Blvd
San Francisco, CA, US

415-387-2255No deal available
Palace Steak House

From its unassuming corner on Mission Street, the Palace Family Steakhouse has watched the neighborhood change and evolve for nearly half a century. Though the original owner retired in 2009, Palace’s new management continues the traditions of old, serving up a menu of Mediterranean treats and sizzling steak-house fare until 3 a.m. every day of the week. Tabouleh and baba ghanouj starters mingle with juicy steaks, and American desserts such as cheesecake inspire forks to hum suites by Aaron Copland. Chefs also prepare traditional and seafood pasta alongside shawarma and club sandwiches or pizza.

3047 Mission St
San Francisco, CA, US

415-647-2011No deal available
Espetus Churrascaria
Espetus: A User's Guide

Brazilian Steak House | Rodizio-Style Service | Gourmet Salad Bar | International Wine Selection

Keywords: Brazilian Steak House | Rodizio-Style Service | Gourmet Salad Bar | International Wine Selection

Sample Menu

Meat options: top sirloin, filet mignon, bacon-wrapped chicken breast

Salad-bar options: rice, paella, and fish stew

Dessert: passion fruit mousse

Drink: caipirinha

Inside Tip:

If you want to save some money and don’t mind a limited menu, head to Espetus during lunch.

Vegetarians can navigate this meat-heavy menu by ordering the salad-bar-only option.

Vocab Lesson
Churrascaria: Brazilian-style barbecuing where the meat is skewered and cooked over an open flame or on a grill; the meat itself is called churrasco.
Caipirinha: a Brazilian cocktail made with the sugarcane-based spirit cachaca and lime juice.
1686 Market St
San Francisco, CA, US

415-552-8792No deal available
Canto DO Brazil

Weekly samba performances complement authentic Brazilian fare at Canto Do Brasil Restaurant, one of San Francisco's longest-standing Brazilian restaurants and subject of two Check, Please! Bay Area features. To commence meals, chefs can sauté fresh calamari with red wine or grill up a sausage that intimidates foot-long hot dogs with its 16-inch length and muscular entourage of bread. For the main dish, forks can tap dance over the galinha na cerveja, a half chicken marinated in dark beer and Brazilian-style spices; or hide away inside the seafood tropical’s pineapple shell, in which a sauce made with orange, apple, and coconut festoons a medley of seafood. Finally, a selection of Portuguese beers or the signature caipirinha’s mix of sugar, lime, and rum's bad-boy cousin cachaça can wash down meals with authentic South American flavors.

Patrons can pluck their daily serving of fruit from piled-high headdresses on Friday and Saturday nights, when Canto Do Brasil hosts live Carnaval samba performances in a relaxed, festive, and romantic atmostphere. Dancers decked out in feathered plumes and sparkly costumes shimmy and shake their way between rustic wooden chairs and cerulean walls for a beach aesthetic, entertaining customers and competing to see whose headdress can attract the most parrots.

41 Franklin St
San Francisco, CA, US

415-626-8727No deal available
Brazen Head
The Brazen Head: A User’s Guide

Upscale American Cuisine | Steaks and Seafood | Full Bar | Intimate, Old-School Atmosphere

Sample Menu

Appetizer: dungeness crab cakes

Soup: french onion with aged gruyère and mozzarella

Entree: new york strip pepper steak with veal demi-glace

The Vibe: The Brazen Head looks like it exists in a different time and place—say, Manchester in the 1960s. Old news clippings and portraits line the walls, and dark woods stretch back as far as the eye can see, which isn’t that far thanks to the dim lighting and heavy drapes that block out excess sunlight.

Inside Tips

Leave the credit cards at home. The restaurant only accepts cash and debit cards.

It’s pretty easy to accidentally pass up this unassuming eatery, especially since there’s no sign out front. Just look for the green awning.

If You Can’t Make It, Try This: Swing by The Brazen Head’s sister restaurant, Liverpool Lil’s (2942 Lyon Street), for classic British pub grub such as shepherd’s pie and fish and chips.
3166 Buchanan St
San Francisco, CA, US

415-921-7600No deal available
Chico's Grill

Chico's Grill Chef Hilario Chico hails from Puebla, a region of Mexican renowned for its culinary traditions. Chef Hilario crafts authentic Pueblan dishes, starting with the mole poblano—a chicken dish topped with a chocolate-based sauce. Chico’s also serves chiles rellenos made from fire-roasted poblano peppers and smothered in walnut cream sauce. Mexican sodas and beers wash down each flavorful bite, while sangria makes the perfect piñata filling for 21st-birthday parties.

3771 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, US

No deal available
The Front Porch
The Front Porch: A User’s Guide

Southern, Cajun, and Creole Cuisine | Fried-Chicken Buckets | Shrimp & Grits | Beloved Mac & Cheese | Rustic Down-Home Charm

Sample Menu

Starter: bag of hot boiled peanuts

Entree: four-piece fried chicken with garlic mashed potatoes and gravy and ham-hock collards

Side: hot buttered beets with rosemary and fleur de sel

Where to Sit: Anywhere in the cozy dining room, where string lights, mismatched bar stools, and reclaimed window frames give off a charming rustic vibe.

Inside Tips

Brunch is served only on the weekends, when you can get hearty dishes like chicken & waffles or baked egg & grits with wild mushrooms, spinach, goat cheese, and bacon crack.

Try the crowd-favorite baked mac & cheese. It arrives in a piping-hot cast-iron skillet with a crusted top that conceals the gooey goodness beneath.

While You’re in the Neighborhood Before: Work up a hearty appetite with a hike at Bernal Heights Park (Bernal Heights Boulevard), where clear days yield 360-degree views of the bay, the bridge, downtown, and the hills of East Bay. After: Head across the street to RockBar (80 29th Street) for an after-dinner cocktail, such as the Green Stone with blanco tequila, chartreuse, cucumber, lemon, and lime.

If You Can’t Make It, Try This: Whip up the restaurant’s famous spicy shrimp & grits with andouille sausage redeye gravy at home. The Front Porch shared its recipe on an episode of the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
65 29th St
San Francisco, CA, US

415-695-7800No deal available
Jay's Cheesesteak
Jay’s Cheesesteak: A User’s Guide

Inventive Cheesesteaks | Vegetarian Menu | Third-Pound Burgers

Sample Menu

Sandwich: mushroom cheesesteak

Sandwich (vegetarian): seitan with provolone and veggies

Side: garlic fries

Inside Tips

Jay’s also caters to the vegetarian crowd with 10 meat-free sandwiches.

The place fills up quickly. Consider calling in your order ahead for takeout.

Bring cash—it’s all they accept.

If You Can’t Make It, Try This: Mow down a cheesesteak smothered in signature cheddar-beer sauce at Phat Philly (3388 24th Street).
3285 21st St
San Francisco, CA, US

415-285-5293No deal available
Cheese Steak Shop

Behind The Cheese Steak Shop's refreshingly simple name lies an American treasure: the Philly cheesesteak. The first Cheese Steak Shop was founded in 1982 by Pennsylvania transplant Keith Layton who set out to do his beloved meal right with top-shelf ingredients and sourcing all of the peppers, Tastycakes, Amoroso rolls, and pithy Ben Franklin quotes straight from the City of Brotherly Love. Inside each toasty, hearth-baked roll, strips of thinly-sliced sirloin, tender chicken, earthy mushrooms, or zesty pepperoni sizzle beneath a smothering layer of provolone or American cheese.

1716 Divisadero St
San Francisco, CA, US

415-346-3712No deal available
Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant

Housed within the heart of Golden Gate Park, Park Chalet Garden Restaurant manages to simultaneously embrace its natural surroundings and its contemporary, urban setting. Glass walls and ceilings completely surround the diners, affording them pastoral views of Queen Wilhelmina's windmill and the dutch-tulip garden without sacrificing the comfort of an indoor environment. During warm, sunny days, natural light floods the space and the retractable glass doors slide open to admit warm breezes. The dining room's pendant lamps and immense stone fireplace become invaluable at night, keeping the restaurant brightly lit and the temperatures toasty throughout the evening.

To complement this elegantly cozy ambiance, Executive Chef Matthew Urban and his team devised a menu of familiar comfort foods with subtly refined touches. Smoked paprika oil adds an unfamiliar yet welcome burst of savory flavor to the fried chicken, and cornmeal-crusted trout arrives at tables with an aromatic saffron aioli. Occasionally, the chefs look for inspiration in other cuisines and fuse those flavors with Californian ingredients. Crushed avocados add to the ahi tuna tartare's richness, but the dish's ginger-sesame vinaigrette balances those flavors with a hint of zesty spice.

However, the chefs aren't the only culinary talent at Park Chalet Garden Restaurant. The staff also brews a variety of beers in-house, crafting everything from smoky, German-style märzens to refreshingly hoppy IPAs. As diners enjoy one of these brews with their meal, they can take in the views and applaud the local bands and extraterrestrial magicians that perform every Tuesday evening.

1000 Great Hwy
San Francisco, CA, US

415-386-8439No deal available
The Elite Cafe
The Elite Cafe: A User’s Guide

New Orleans Flair | Historic 1928 Building | Dinner, Brunch, or Cocktails | Extensive Wine List

Sample Menu

Cocktail: bacon bloody mary—Skyy vodka infused with applewood-smoked bacon, garnished with a slice of bacon

Appetizer: deviled eggs

Entree: ham-hock gumbo stewed with smoked chicken and roasted jalapeño

Dessert: beignets plated with espresso ice cream and fudge sauce

When to Go: The chef’s fried chicken is available exclusively on Monday nights, paired with live blues between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Where to Sit

Bring some friends for brunch or dinner and snag an intimate booth, furnished in dark woods and brass fixtures.

The mahogany bar makes for a great perch if you’re stopping in for a cocktail.

Those who care for fresh air can find a place in the heated outdoor seating area.

Accolades

On a 2011 episode of Check, Please! Bay Area, reviewers raved about the California seafood gumbo, fried okra, and mussels, as well as the restaurant’s energetic vibe.

Made Zagat’s lists for Best Down-Home Cajun/Creole Dishes and Inventive Bloody Marys in San Francisco

Vocab Lesson
Étouffée: translates literally to “smothered.” This spicy, Cajun seafood stew is thickened with a roux and served over rice.

While You’re in the Neighborhood

After brunch: Check out the well-curated selection of women’s clothing and jewelry at De Novo (2413 California Street).

After dinner: Catch a classic film at Clay Theatre (2261 Fillmore Street), a cinema built in 1910.
2049 Fillmore St
San Francisco, CA, US

415-673-5483No deal available
Universal Cafe

San Franciscans know that weekday brunch is neither an unheard-of luxury, nor something to be taken for granted. Universal Café’s Wednesday through Friday brunches bring California cuisine to new daytime heights (and it’s no slouch in the dinner department, either). This poured-concrete eatery, with factory lighting on the eastern edge of the Mission, is a place for nutrition at its most decadent, from fresh fruit shakes with almond milk to sake bloody marys, it is built for a leisurely meal. Chef Leslie Carr Avalos’s Hudson Valley upbringing, where every season is starkly different from the next, shines through a menu devoted to showcasing whatever the Golden State’s orchards and fields are producing that week. Don’t overlook the outdoor seating, which is perfect if your brunching companion came on-leash.

2814 19th St
San Francisco, CA, US

415-821-4608No deal available
Slow Club

Although one might infer from the name Slow Club that here is a chef dedicated to the slow food movement, it’s actually the kind of place to get a burger that wears its sustainable origins on its sleeve. Thoughtfully designed with a minimalist, loft-like interior and a retro bent, this Mission brunch, lunch and dinner establishment sits in a quiet precinct away from much foot traffic or bustle. Having been around for years, Slow Club can feel slightly ordinary only because of the hordes of likeminded imitators that have replicated its model of partnering with local ranches and farms to make everyday dishes fresher and more ecologically sound. But it’s as ever a hip, if slightly under-the-radar, place to dine. One glance at the cocktail list will dispel any doubt.

2501 Mariposa St
San Francisco, CA, US

415-241-9390No deal available
Izzy's Steaks and Chops

This year, Izzy’s Steaks & Chops celebrates its 25th anniversary, giving guests an excuse to reminisce about the technologies, events, and classical-music feuds that made 1987 twice as popular as 1983. Throughout the past two and a half decades, the folks in Izzy’s kitchens have been grilling up the steaks and chops that they see as an integral part of Americana, along with freshly caught local seafood that’s never frozen. All of their corn-fed Black Angus beef is humanely raised at Creekstone Farms, which is dedicated to beef free of hormones and antibiotics. The chefs transform those premium meats into their signature new york sirloin steaks, aged a minimum of 21 days, as well as cuts of slow-roasted prime rib and filet mignon medallions au poivre with pepper cream sauce. Double-cut pork gets a boost from spiced pear, and a lime-chive sauce adds tang to peppered swordfish. Each meal comes with a choice of two sides, such as creamed spinach, the chefs’ signature potatoes au gratin, and french fries cut in the kitchen.

House desserts such as new york cheesecake and key-lime pie conclude meals or quiet whining choruses of sweet teeth. Wine, cocktails, and draft beers encourage diners to linger in the cozy space, and during brunch—served only at the San Francisco location—the bartenders mix up cocktails such as peach bellinis or gaelic coffee with irish whiskey.

3345 Steiner St
San Francisco, CA, US

415-563-0487No deal available
Jake's Steaks
Jake’s Steaks: A User’s Guide

Authentic Cheesesteaks | Amoroso Rolls From Philly | Lively Sports Bar | Award-winning Menu

Sample Menu

Sandwich: mushroom cheesesteak with onions and Cheez Whiz, the owner’s favorite

Side: garlic waffle fries

Dessert: a peanut butter Tastykake

Drink: Henry Weinhard’s root beer or one of the beers on tap

Who’s in Charge: Jake Gillis, who was born and raised in Philly. Needless to say, he doesn’t skimp on authenticity. He even imports Amoroso rolls straight from his hometown.

While You’re Waiting

Gaze at the mural on the wall, which depicts Philadelphia’s famous boathouse row on the Schuylkill River.

Watch the game. The restaurant’s satellite package guarantees that guests can tune into virtually any sports game available, even the World Cup and, yes, the Puppy Bowl.

Inside Tips

Though the restaurant is tiny and on a quiet residential block, it can get crowded, especially during big sports games.

“Whiz with” in Philadelphia parlance means you’d like your cheesesteak with Cheez Whiz and with onions, as in “I’ll have one Whiz with.”

While You’re in the Neighborhood
Before: Work up an appetite on the putting greens at Moscone Recreation Center

After: Burn off the Whiz with a workout at Perfect Fit
3301 Buchanan St
San Francisco, CA, US

415-922-2211No deal available

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