Tommy’s Joynt, on Van Ness at Geary, is another SF institution. It opened in 1947, changing hands recently in 2015. It is a hofbrau, which I’ve learned is kind of a Bay Area thing - like Mission burritos and Dutch crunch bread. You order by going through a line in the front, where carvers carve up pastrami, corned beef, roast turkey, and other hot meats and serve them up in sandwiches or meat plates. You can also get sides in this line as well. Drinks however are ordered at the bar or from a server.
I got a pastrami sandwich ($8.97), on sourdough. The carver fished a hunk of pastrami out of a steamer tray and hand sliced it thick onto a split sourdough roll, then served it on a plate with a bowl of jus. You can get cheese on the sandwich as well but I just had it plain.
Good sandwich and quite filling. Pastrami had a salty peppery crust, and was good and tender and juicy with a little smokiness. Not Langer’s or Katz’s but pretty good. The sourdough bun was sour and quite chewy, and was easier to chew into when dunked into the bowl of jus. The jus itself was a little thin and watery tasting though. There’s hot and mild mustard on the tables as well as horseradish. I applied some hot mustard which gave it a nice kick.
Also had a plate of tomato and onion salad ($3.31), which was fine. It was scooped out of a tray and was dressed with a vinaigrette.
Didn’t have a beer but they had a pretty decent selection on the menu, including local brews from Henhouse, Fort Point, and Triple Voodoo, and Anchor Steam of course.
This weekend I had an open faced turkey sandwich with mashed potato and stuffing and a lot of gravy at Tommy’s Joynt. Doesn’t look exactly pretty but it hit the spot!
I was just looking at Tommy’s Joynt website yesterday. Plates are $17, turkey leg $9.90 and sausage sandwich $6. Haven’t been since the new hospital went up. Parking must be horrible.
I was at Brennan’s the last week they were open…60+ people in line, hour and half wait. I decided against it.
I like hofbraus in general but have only been to a few other ones - Lefty O’Doul’s near Union Square in SF (closed 2017) and Harry’s Hofbrau in Foster City (closed but other locations in San Leandro and Redwood City remain open).
There’s one in Morro Bay or used to be. My experience is mainly limited to Tommy’s Joynt. Sam’s isn’t my scene.
I think cheap beer and liquor is the essence with the food more to prolong extended drinking bouts…thankfully the food at Tommy’s is tasty and the drinks remain cheap.
The article mentioned Sam’s, and how there was one where Luka’s is now in Oakland. Was it a chain? In the 80s, during college, went to Sam’s when downtown Oakland was really run down and scary in a desolate kind of way. (There was also Dave’s and BIff’s.). Skid row vibe. Had an old fashion Hires root beer barrel on the counter. Same deal back then, inexpensive, a lot of food and fast. Not so ironic, I now live in downtown Oakland.
@ML8000 I think your point is telling to each hofbrau I know. In seedy neighborhoods, serving low price drink and food to the locals. I mean I can’t say Tommy’s Joynt is on Nob Hill. The spot on Olympic in LA where Sam’s is even more desolation row material. There’s something about that I like. There’s something about that that isn’t for everyone, or everytime. Dive bars and such (a larger genre than hofbraus) are becoming fewer and more far between in California, at least the ones I used to enjoy in SF, Oakland, LA, etc. In fact I’m having a hard time as I write this thinking of a cheaper bar in SF than Tommy’s. The old 500 Club is nothing like it’s old self. The Albion gone. The spots in the lower Haight, gone. I’m glad that Zeitgeist - sorta hofbrau adjacent - is still in operation. It’s not too different. Maybe I just need a refresher. I’m in a different time and place in life right now.
Even Gold Diggers which was Spinal Tap’s hellhole has been remodeled and the drinks are pricy…
The old Power House on Hollywood and Highland where they had every liquor in the cheapest “green label” iteration, holes in the walls, even a patron known for holding down his stack of dollar bills with his glass eye - is also no longer pretty sure.
where can I find this kind of awesomeness in our fair cities today? I mean, SF in particular has changed so much and I appreciate Tommy’s Joynt more than ever. I’m really thrilled Tommy’s survived the pandemic and the change in the City.
HAHAHA…the Albion! Jesus, that blew up a few brain cells. My sister and now husband (then BF) lived on Albion, behind the projects, in the 80s. Yeah, things have changed. I looked at Tommy’s Joynt because I was planning to go see the new park built over the Doyle Dr going to the GG Bridge. It was Tommy’s or a Mission burrito.
If you’re up this way and want to see old San Francisco, the punk, FU yuppie, artsy vibe of the Mission…go to Rainbow Grocery. Still has the overall hippie vibe…but the workers/owners are great because they have that very specific Mission F.U. vibe and sneer. They talk on their cellphones while they ring up and look at you bag your damn groceries. This place makes me laugh inside because I know that vibe. I use to give it.
re: LA, grew up down there…I heard they even changed Clifton’s to a hipster place. I ate there before it went hipster…it was awful, really awful. The forest decor was cool however.
re Rainbow Grocery, you are absolutely on point and way off course. I haven’t stepped into RG in several decades because, as you describe, the tenor scares the behoovits out of me! I remember asking for something unPC, maybe like Bisquik, and bringing down the wrath of the RG gods. But it is a fabulous resource, offering some of the best cheeses and other paradoxically uber-fancy products. I should muster my grown-up intestinal fortitude and give it some love.
I remember that Hofbrau long before it became Luka’s (which apparently closed back in January). I read somewhere that it was part of the Sam’s chain, but I think the sign just said “Hofbrau”. My Dad took me there in the mid-seventies, and it seemed vaguely familiar at the time. I asked Dad if this was the same place where he brought the whole family when I was a little kid in the late fifties, and indeed it was. There also used to be a Hofbrau in SF on O’Farrell near Mason – it was a great place for cheap eats back in the early seventies.
