The Elegant Art of Dining: Bohemian San Francisco, Its ... - iMedia

Early Italian Impression
Almost coincident with the opening of the Iron House an Italian named
Bazzuro took possession of one of the stranded sailing vessels encumbering
the Bay, and anchored it out in the water at the point where Davis and Pacific
streets now intersect. He opened a restaurant which immediately attracted
attention and gained good reputation for its service and its cooking. Later, when
the land was filled in, Bazzuro built a house at almost the same spot and opened
his restaurant there, continuing it up to the time of the great fire in 1906.
After the fire one of the earliest restaurants to be established in that part of the
city was Bazzuro’s, at the same corner, and it is still run by the family, who took
charge after the death of the original proprietor. Here one can get the finest
Italian peasant meal in the city, and many of the Italian merchants and bankers
still go there for their luncheons every day, preferring it to the more pretentious
establishments.
The French peasant style came a little later, beginning in a little dining room
opened in Washington street, just above Kearny, by a French woman whose
name was a carefully guarded secret. She was known far and wide as “Ma Tanta”
(My Aunt). Her cooking was considered the best of all in the city, and her
patrons sat at a long common table, neat and clean to the last degree. Peasant
style of serving was followed. First appeared Ma Tanta with a great bowl of
salad which she passed around, each patron helping himself. This was followed
by an immense tureen of soup, held aloft in the hands of Ma Tanta, and again
each was his own waiter. Fish, entree, roast, and dessert, were served in the same
manner, and with the black coffee Ma Tanta changed from servitor to hostess
and sat with her guests and discussed the topics of the day on equal terms.
In California street, just below Dupont, the California House boasted a great
chef in the person of John Somali, who in later years opened the Maison Riche,
a famous restaurant that went out of existence in the fire of 1906. Gourmets
soon discovered that the California House offered something unusual and it
became a famed resort. Somali’s specialties were roast turkey, chateaubriand
steak and coffee frappe. It is said of his turkeys that their flavor was of such
excellence that one of the gourmands of that day, Michael Reece, would always
order two when he gave a dinner--one for his guests and one for himself. It is
also said that our well-beloved Bohemian, Rafael Weill, still holds memories of
the old California House, of which he was an habitue, and from whose excellent
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