Red’s Java House

Baseball, (Veggie) Burger, Beer… and Free French Fries


 I belong to a little photographer group thingy (that is the actual technical term, I don't make these up) over on the funny pages of defacedbook. Everyone else in the group is pretty good at the photog deal; however, I just take pictures with a camera. This month's topic is "Main Street". Unfortunately, Main Street, San Francisco is right downtown and a pretty lame subject matter; it is also only 5-½ blocks long, so it really doesn't give much of an opportunity to get interesting pictures.

Where Main Street ends is right at the Embarcadero, over by AT&T Park. The Giants happened to be at home today and playing against the Colorado Rockies. I got over there right around the start of the game and felt a bit peckish, Gregory, so I stopped in to Red's Java House, which is just across the street from where Main Street dumps out onto the Embarcadero, figuring on getting something to eat, a beer, and watch a little of the ol' ballgame.




Behind the order counter there was a chalkboard that had on it: "Question of the Week: Which Marx Brother was married to Frank Sinatra's last wife?" Being a long-time Marx Brothers fan, it piqued my interest. I asked the guy behind the counter, what do I get if I answer the question correctly. He said, answer the question and then he'd tell me. Simple: Herbert "Zeppo" Marx, the youngest of the Marx Brothers, was married to Barbara right before she was married to Ol' Blue Eyes. Question answered (correctly, no doubt), I had my choice of free french fries or a soda. I almost felt bad taking the fries, as it was pretty much a gimme.

I rounded off the meal with a veggie burger and an Anchor Steam® Beer. The burger was nothing special, but it was served on a toasted sourdough roll, which is nice; the Anchor Steam was excellent, as always; and french fries always taste better when "free" (they were actually nothing special either, but there was a lot of them). They have outdoor seating right on the pier and a little bar tent in the back with a big screen TeeVee where the game was on, so I took my food outside and got some fresh air and settled in to watch some of the Giants game. (And to keep in the vein of this 'blog, Red's Java House serves breakfast, too.)



Today's Giants Pitcher was Jonathan Sánchez, who had a No-Hitter back on July 10, 2009 ~ a game at which I was lucky enough to attend. The funniest part about going to last year's game was I was pissed that Sánchez was going to be pitching that game because just the night before Timmy Lincecum had a No-Hitter going through six innings and I thought we were being ripped-off by having to watch a "scrub pitcher" instead of a bonafide Cy Young Winner. Being at a historical game shut me up for good. I am now a big Sánchez fan, too.



I did end up getting a couple of okay photographs along Main Street after all, but the "free fries" more than makes up for the wasted trip downtown.

Unfortunately, the Giants lost today, 4-1. It's all okay, though, did I mention the free fries?


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Veggie Burger ~ 5.5; Anchor Steam® Beer ~ 7.0; Free French Fries ~ 6.0; SF Giants ~ 7.2 (this year, but only 6.0 today)