Food Inc.

2800 California Street (at Divis)

Tel: 415-928-3728

One of the best secrets in the Lower Pacific Heights area is Food Inc. Here, you're allowed to pamper yourself with some gourmet frou-frou dishes without the pomp and expense of other restaurants.

I always recommend this find as a "first-date" winner. Elegant food, minimal bill. Unless you go wild, dinner for two won't be much over $20 (wine not included) and that's stretching it.

The menu is a mixture of American, French and Italian dishes. For the rabbit-like friends amongst you, there's a long list of salads including the delicious Cobb Salad and numerous chilled pasta dishes. There's always a homemade soup of the day as well as about ten warm choices.

Brunch on the weekends is very popular with rumpled couples who look rather startled to be sitting across from one another. The waffles are a good choice and be sure to order one of the cafe au laits--you'll be defeated by the pure size of the mug that it arrives in. And for those rare days when it is actually balmy outside, you have the option of people watching by sitting out at one of the tables on the sidewalk. How postively Euro.

At lunchtime the small restaurant is filled with "those who lunch," almost entirely a crowd of well-groomed and coifed women whose cell phones b-rrr-rring at an alarming rate. In the evening, it's the local neighborhood restaurant. You can feel comfortable arriving here in your sweats or your LBD; no one will bat an eye either way.

Service here is lousy and I mean outrageously slow. So, don't be in a hurry when you run by here to grab a bite (though take-outs are an option). The other downer is that Food Inc. is closed on Sunday evenings but then, gee, they're open 9am-9pm every other day so we can't begrudge them a few hours off, now can we?

Susan MacTavish Best

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