Fine dining.

As this peripatetic photographer is wont to do, I determined to try one of the finer restaurants in Hayes Valley on yesterday’s outing.

Click the picture for the map.

While it’s been around over thirty years, the Hayes Street Grill dates from more modest days when Hayes Valley was an open crack house and prostitution center, a far cry from today with its chic boutiques and upmarket restaurants. Close to the Performing Arts Center, it’s no surprise that this now rather fancy restaurant has autographed photographs of famous musicians lining the walls of its clean and simple interior. This is white tablecloth and proper utensil dining, so dressing down will not get you the best service. I sat next to a couple of classical music impresarios and we had a nice chat, as they were much taken with the D700. Fans of rock should go elsewhere. There is no Musak and the tone is overall hushed and successful.

Lunch. Click the picture for the menu.

The soft shell crab ‘BLT’, coleslaw, fries and beer came to $33 with tip. A delicious meal. Not cheap, but in keeping with the general environment of what is now a lovely neighborhood. What, you ask, caused this wild, profligate burst of spending for this cheapskate, for whom lunch usually means significant change from $20? Simple. The mess in Europe has made making money in the markets very easy, and that’s my day job. All I ask is firm direction – up or down makes no difference – and the politicos mismanaging the mess that is Europe have made direction very clear. Thank you, Bundesbank.