On The Menu: Presidio Social Club San Francisco-2007On The Menu: Presidio Social Club San Francisco-2007

Lisa Jennings

The Presidio Social Club opened in late December just inside the busy Lombard Gate to San Francisco’s historic Presidio, a former Army post that now is a national park with views of the bay.

It wasn’t easy opening a restaurant in a 100-year-old clapboard building, one of four remaining historic structures in the Presidio’s East Cantonment. Every decision, from landscaping to signage, had to meet the guidelines established in the National Historic Preservation Act.

But owner Ray Tang and his wife Shawn Kearney Tang felt the site was worth the work—the restaurant’s windows overlook the park, and, weather permitting, guests even have an indirect view of the Golden Gate Bridge. They see their new restaurant as a kind of welcome center that aims to offer a taste of San Francisco history with an undercurrent of nostalgia.

The menu, for example, features American club classics but with a nod to the Bay City’s past. Steaks, chops and grilled seafood are the mainstays. And the menu is rounded out with items such as a Cannibal Sandwich, with sliced raw beef, chopped egg and onion on rye. A Kobe beef “sloppy Joe” offers upscale product in a down-home dish.

AT A GLANCE

Location: 563 Ruger St.Opened: Dec. 27, 2006Average per-person check: $35 at dinner; $15- $18 at lunchSeats: 120, including bar and patioCuisine: San Francisco classicsBest-selling items: Kobe beef sloppy Joe; “Broadway & Columbus” pasta with Chinatown roast duck; chocolate cupcakesOwners: Ray Tang and Shawn Kearney TangMenu maker: Ray TangWebsite:www.presidiosocialclub.com

A Hangtown Fry Oyster sandwich—a po’ boy-style sandwich with fried oysters and scrambled eggs—evokes the Gold Rush era and is named for a fried-oyster-and-scrambled-egg dish developed for those who struck it rich. The Broadway & Columbus Pasta, featuring Chinatown roast duck over egg noodles, is a reference to the intersection of Little Italy and Chinatown in San Francisco’s North Beach area.

The dessert list includes miniature versions of updated classics, such as made-to-order chocolate “cupcakes,” which are more like molten chocolate cakes that come three on a plate, or banana cream pie. Guests also can mix and match desserts with “sides,” such as ice cream, sorbet, chocolate or caramel sauce, whipped cream or assorted cookies.

The goal was to create an affordable “everyday place with spectacular food,” Tang says, noting that no dish is priced over $20. Tang, the chef, and Kearney Tang, who runs the front-of-the-house, are known for their once-acclaimed wine-country restaurant Mariposa, which opened in 1998 in Windsor, Calif., and was sold in 2002.

Originally from Hong Kong, Tang’s family moved to Southern California in 1975. His first job in the industry at age 21 was at San Francisco’s classic Sunset district fish joint PJ’s Oysterbed. Later, Tang went on to work with some of the nation’s top chefs at such restaurants as Postrio and Boulevard in San Francisco, and in New York the restaurants Daniel and Lespinasse.

Tang also works with the National Pork Board to develop new recipes for the meat. The Presidio Social Club’s menu will feature what Tang describes as “underutilized cuts of pork,” such as a pork “brisket.” Weeknight “supper specials” will include whole suckling pig cooked in a Caja China, a Cuban-style roasting box.

HORS D’OEUVRESSALADSSANDWICHESCLUB SPECIALTIESSEAFOOD, CHOPS & FOWLDESSERT MENU