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.

For the criminal justice set.

Should you ever find yourself at the Hall of Justice in San Francisco, probably not a good thing, you could do worse than repair for lunch to Caffe Roma across the road, at 7th and Bryant Streets. The sandwiches, served on various Italian breads, are fresh and delicious and there’s a good selection of salads. If you are a coffee maven they roast their own here.

The interior is clean and spacious and you will likely find a mix of attorneys, process servers, bail bondsmen (they’re the ones with the gold chains and bulging suits) and working girls inside:

I had the Torino sandwich, served with chips, and a glass of water for all of $7.50. Half the sandwich is all you need, so you get dinner included in the bargain!

Click for the full menu.

Caffe Roma. Favored hangout of cops and the shyster set.

All snapped on the D700 with the 20mm f/3.5 Ai-S MF Nikkor, using my custom lens profile.

Top class Italian.

489 Third Street, San Francisco.

La Briciola makes its home at 489 Third Street in San Francisco, an unprepossessing exterior hiding an exquisite, high taste interior testifying to the best of northern Italian Tuscan food.

I feasted on the risotto with a fragrant Moretti Rosso and cannot speak highly enough of the service. The charming, and very Italian waiter, above, saw me taking a snap of the interior and before I knew it we were deep in discussion about the forthcoming Lytro light field camera!

Risotto allo scoglio prawns, calamari, clams, mussels, light tomato sauce, Moretti Rosso.

This is very much a linen tablecloth sort of place yet one without any talking down to the customers. Highly recommended. The olive oil was the high point of the meal, with fragrance and flavor to die for. My tab for the risotto, beer and a Pellegrino came to $30 – spendy, and worth it.

Brew pub.

I stopped by the Thirsty Bear the other day for lunch.

Rain threatened, so I drove. Bad Idea. Ever tried to park in San Francisco at lunch time with a big conference playing at the convention center?

The pub is not much to look at from outside, but you come here for the beers, all brewed on site. The crowd is distinctly up market and I found myself chatting at the bar with an attendee at the Moscone Center’s laser technology conference down the road. A Cornell and Stanford grad, some 68 years old and working at Los Alamos in New Mexico where we make weapons of mass destruction, this vital and engaging companion proved a boon to a decent meal and pint, even if my IQ was a mere fraction of his!

The first on the G3 with the Oly 9-18mm at 9mm, the other two on the iPhone 4S.

I enjoyed a Meyer ESB, subtler than is typical of the breed with a creamy head, with my chicken sandwich and fries. The portions of the latter were nice and small, with no resulting bloat.

$17.50 for the lot, and the barman serving me was polite, efficient and personable.

An Irish pub.

579 Howard Street, SF.

Kate O’Briens is your basic Irish boozer, located opposite the massive TransBay construction project, the latter a great source of photographic inspiration. There’s seating outside, but it was a freezing day when I visited, hence the deserted look.

It’s dark and quiet inside, a couple of TVs playing English Premier League soccer games:

Regulars enjoy a pint.

You aren’t going to come here for gourmet fare, but I left happily sated after the meat loaf special and a glass of draft Smithwicks (the ‘w’ is silent, if you want to get it right).

Tuesday special – meat loaf.

Sorry about the blur – it’s dark inside and I forgot to switch the G3 to 1600 ISO.

$17 was the tab. Suits are not welcome here, it’s strictly a jeans place for working men. With the Transbay construction likely lasting another decade, the pub will be doing good business for a while yet.