Globe.
It's one of those restaurants that everyone knows, but only a handful ever take the time to visit. San Francisco being an early-to-bed type of town, there is fairly little love for a gem like Globe. Generally speaking, late-night-eats in this city are limited to a selection of ethnic eateries and a less than a handful of pricey and loud hipster joints.
But Globe? It's dim, and brick, and sexy. With its bar, stocked with the best small-batches, and its gleaming open kitchen and dreamy brick oven... Globe is like that cherished, bejeweled music box you had when you were a little girl.
After too many months away from Globe, it has re-entered the rotation, in a special, almost reverential, way. In the past two months, I've spent no fewer than five hours here, across three visits. So I feel qualified to make the following statements:
- Why, when we talk about pizza in San Francisco, do we NEVER mention Globe? I've never had a bad pie here, and when you ask for them a bit "done", they come out perfectly charred at the edges.
- You'll never feel sexier than when you're basking in the dimness that is Globe, being taken care of like the late-night rockstar that you are. Of course, in these parts, we actually eat the food as opposed to picking at it like a Los-Angelean rockstar-anorexic.
- Instead of the blood-roiling bass that most of our late-night restaurants play, Globe sticks to the divinely enervating downtempo -- extraordinary talents like Zero 7, Sweetback, Bebel Gilberto and Goldfrapp.
- What? You want to hear about the food? Again? OK.
- They have some of the best Spaghetti this side of New Jersey. Perfectly cooked pasta against a simple but savory red sauce.
- Their wine list is impeccable, especially considering that perhaps a third of their total clientele are so drunk when they come in that the quality of what they're drinking is purely happenstance.
- Oh. And the "Mac & Cheese". Simple. Satisfying. Devoid of frou-frou toppings and unnecessary additions, this is a purist's version of the dish. Rigatoni. Excellent cheese. Perhaps some cream. Done to perfection. So there.
Look, I realize that there are many more "refined" restaurants in the City. I also realize that Globe is an old standard, perhaps best left to the pre-boom guard -- those of us who lived here before a rash of 25-year-olds started making six-figures, and people who couldn't afford a mortgage rode around in $80,000 cars.
I don't mind that. I'm happy to have fallen in love with Globe. Again. I'm glad to be able to walk into this precious place at 11pm after a performance and get a table, to linger over a bottle of wine and a simple but perfectl(ly) satisfying meal, making eyes across the table at my love.
Globe Restaurant
290 Pacific Avenue
San Francisco
415.391.4132
Tags: Food, Food+Wine, San Francisco, Globe, Arts, Restaurant Reviews