This column originally ran in Wednesday’s Off Menu newsletter, where you’ll find restaurant news, gossip, tips, and hot takes every week. To sign up, visit the Standard’s newsletter page and select Off Menu.
Is it possible that San Francisco just isn’t fun anymore? According to Doug Biederbeck — the owner of Bix who was general manager of Fog City Diner when it opened in 1985 — there’s a case to be made.
Fog City closed Friday after a 40-year run. (The owners removed the word “diner” from the name in 2013 when they changed the concept and brought in Bruce Hill as chef.) The Embarcadero landmark was part of the Real Restaurants group, which was founded by Bill Higgins and Bill Upson — aka “the Bills” — and still includes Buckeye Roadhouse, Picco, and Bungalow 44. As to why it closed, Higgins said, “The city is a different place now. That area is dead. Fog City got forgotten.”
“When it first opened though, it was a huge sensation,” Biederbeck recalled. “We tried to make it zany and fun. The ’80s were a playful time.” Jeremiah Tower’s Stars opened in 1984; three years later, Judy Rodgers took over Zuni Café. “It was a joyful period in SF.”
Fog City Diner, which was originally helmed by chef Cindy Pawlcyn, who still owns Mustards Grill in Napa, was famous for its silliness, with signs like “No crybabies.” It was still the era where smoking in restaurants was permitted, though the diner had one request: “No pipes, cigars, or those silly clove cigarettes.” It was the era of Paul Prudhomme-Cajun everything — and, as a joke, they even offered blackened cheesecake.
Pawlcyn cooked a classic American menu — and could be credited as one of the first to introduce the concept of small plates. “She baked a little teeny custard with roasted garlic and surrounded it with a saute of different mushrooms, and I thought it was just amazing,” said Hill. There were crabcakes and salmon with frizzled leeks. “Gosh, I’m sure there was a quesadilla,” said Biederbeck. “There always was.”
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Fog City Diner served dinner till midnight. “It was often full — sometimes we had to turn people away at that hour,” Biederbeck recalled. “People were out. No one was working from home, no one was glued to their phones. So people seemed looser and more fun-loving and laid-back.”
Higgins recalls the ’80s with similar fondness. “It was like Camelot — all the celebrities came in, all the athletes. We were riding on a cloud. You could do whatever you wanted back then. And we did.” When a Visa ad featuring Fog City Diner came out in 1990, business exploded. After reviewing a clip of the ad, Reddit commenter CalvinYHobbes practically sighed: “Adulting seemed so cool back then.”
I wasn’t in SF in 1985, so I can’t speak to the Fog City heyday. I agree that our restaurants could use an injection of levity. (I mean, we all could.) But considering what the industry has endured in the past few years, it’s understandably proceeding with caution. As for the rollicking 80’s? It’s good to remember that nostalgia always tastes better than anything in real time.
Do our restaurants need to lighten up? Email me at sdeseran@sfstandard.com.