When San Franciscans speak of their revered old restaurants—the places of integrity that preserve the style of an earlier day—Tadich Grill, at 240 California Street, is always mentioned in the same breath with Sam’s Grill and Jack’s, a trinity of old-fashioned houses situated in the city’s financial hub. Tadich Grill is one of the oldest restaurants in California and undoubtedly among the oldest eating establishments in the country. In its 129-year history it has been run by only two families, both originally from Dalmatia. It began in 1849 when Nicholas Buja opened a waterfront café that served lunch to sailors. Some years afterward John Tadich, a nephew of Buja’s, emigrated to the city and began working for his uncle, and in 1882 the café became a restaurant and acquired its present name. In 1912, the same year that Tadich’s moved to its longtime location at Leidesdorff and Clay streets, Tom and Mitch Buich, also from Dalmatia, went to work for Tadich; ten years later they were joined by their brother Luko, nicknamed Louie. The three Buich brothers purchased the restaurant from John Tadich in 1928, and thirty-seven years later Louie’s sons, Steve and Bob, took over with their mother as consultant. Seven family members now make their living at Tadich’s, continuing the tradition. Dave Sokitch, who was trained by Dominic Ivelich, Tadich’s chef for nearly half a century, has been in charge of the kitchen for thirteen years. Even the turn-of-the-century character survived intact when, in 1967, Tadich’s moved to California Street. Every detail of the old premises was duplicated, from the long handmade mahogany bar and counter that bisects the room to the semiprivate booths lining one side. In its functional, unfrilly appointments and atmosphere—white tablecloths, bentwood chairs, long-aproned waiters—Tadich’s is a nostalgic link with the past.
Throngs are drawn to Tadich’s primarily for the fish, and the restaurant is crowded from the moment it opens its brass-plated doors at eleven-thirty in the morning until it closes them promptly at eight-thirty at night. I doubt there is another restaurant in town that serves as many varieties of fish and shellfish in the span of a year, although stormy weather and fishermen’s strikes may severely limit the number of species on a given day. Tadich’s reputation rests on the quality of its fish as well as their diversity, the almost too-generous portions, and the skill in grilling and panfrying. Sitting at a table or the counter in the rear of the dining room, one can see the open kitchen where the fry chef wields his large skillets with practiced dexterity and the grill chef keeps track of row after row of rex sole and salmon and swordfish steaks browning over the intense, even heat of Mexican hardwood charcoal.
Tadich’s daily dated menu includes many of the same dishes every day but lists certain fresh fish and casseroles under the heading “Today’s Special.” Since that all-important adjective “fresh” doesn’t precede many of the fresh fish actually available, it is useful to keep in mind what species are invariably fresh or frozen. The “big three,” as Tadich’s refers to native rex sole, sand dab, and petrale sole, are offered only fresh, and the rex sole and sand dab are served with the bone in, although a waiter will bone them at the table upon request. Other fish never served frozen, according to Bob Buich, are swordfish (in season in late summer and autumn), Columbia River sturgeon, sea bass, brook trout, rock cod, turbot, and such occasionally served species as striped bass and scrod. In the sometimes-fresh, sometimes-frozen category are halibut, oceangoing salmon (frozen during four winter months), and freshwater baby salmon from Washington, one of the most interesting fish on Tadich’s menu and a true delicacy when fresh. The young salmon is a hatchery-grown Chinook that has never been released to complete its normal anadromous life cycle. The result is a salmon—without the salmon’s concentrated flavor or color—that tastes like a refined trout. Among the shellfish, the most distinctive Western delicacy, Dungeness crab, is designated “fresh” on the menu for seafood cocktails and salads, although in times of scarcity frozen crab is used. Frequently watery and with no discernible flavor, it is the only disappointment I’ve encountered at Tadich’s, and recently I learned why. The crab dishes are not made with live crabs cooked in Tadich’s kitchen but with “fresh crab,” an industry term for crab that is cooked at the fishery and vacuum-packed in tins. The crab is “fresh” only because it has never been frozen, and unlike ordinary tinned crab it is perishable and must be used within three days. If not heavily iced, vacuum-packed crab retains quite a bit of flavor—the crab legs seem to fare better than the shredded meat—but it still rates a poor second to freshly cooked crab that has never been iced. Tadich’s prawns and scallops are frozen, as they are just about everywhere else, but there are superb fresh Eastern oysters as well as choice, tiny Olympias and occasionally Oregon razor clams.
Raw oysters sprinkled with black pepper and lemon juice—every table is supplied with a bowl heaped with lemon wedges—are my favorite starter at Tadich’s. The oysters Rockefeller bore little relationship to most versions of the dish, buried under spinach and a cheese sauce. Of the soups, I prefer the Coney Island clam chowder to the wine-flavored Boston clam chowder, but both are rich with clams. The most satisfying soup may well be the oyster stew made with cream and milk, butter, succulent Eastern oysters, and no intrusive seasonings. For a main course I can’t resist grilled fresh fish, whether swordfish, sturgeon, or rex sole. The thick French fries accompanying them are of varying quality, and the occasional sauces such as hollandaise are uninspired, but the fish are paragons of the art of grilling. A few months ago I ordered a seafood cioppino that proved so popular when first introduced that it became a standard menu item. Breathing fire and emitting a strong aroma of herbs, it came to table in a large crock, a gargantuan quantity of shrimp, crabs, prawns, and sea bass with tomatoes in a white-wine fish stock. A woman next to me was tackling a similar-looking “bouillabaisse,” a thick, saffron-flavored broth with all the seafood in my cioppino plus oysters. Valiantly we did our best, but the portions proved too much for either of us. No thought was given to dessert that day, but other times I’ve finished contentedly with a flawless wedge of Cranshaw melon or a velvety rice custard pudding that would have won the approval even of the recalcitrant Mary Jane.
Although I tend to stay with grilled or panfried fish, many of the restaurant’s customers, who have lunch there several times a week, look forward to the large and changing roster of meat dishes. Among the favorites are corned beef and cabbage, pot roast, and beef tongue. Tadich also serves steaks, and one of the most popular cuts is the inexpensive ($5.25) skirt steak (similar to London broil), which is pounded and broiled. There are various seafood casseroles that sound interesting—Dave Sokitch is inventive and likes to experiment with unusual combinations—but I’ve never managed to try them. It should also be noted that the mark of a good San Francisco restaurant, particularly an old San Francisco establishment, is the quality of its sourdough, and Tadich’s, baked longer than the standard loaf to achieve a dark, crackly crust, is excellent.
Tadich Grill serves continuously from 11:30 A.M. until 8:30 P.M. Monday through Saturday, shutting up tight on Sundays. The menu is entirely a la carte with straight seafood starting at $5.25 (kippered Alaska cod or rock cod) and rising to $8 and $9 (striped bass, salmon, crab legs, and prawns). Seafood casseroles are priced between $6 and $7, and most of the meat dishes run from about $3.25 to $4.75. The wine list, limited to a few standard California wines, is a footnote to a page of stronger stuff.
Tadich Grill takes no reservations, making a long wait inevitable unless a meal is scheduled between about 2 and 4:30 P.M. One of the singular sights of lower California Street on weekday mornings is the queue that begins to form in front of Tadich’s at around eleven and reaches to the corner of Battery Street by the time the restaurant opens for business. Only these early birds can be sure of getting in at the first sitting. Upon arriving at the restaurant when every seat is taken you give your name and the number in your party to the man at the head of the bar, who seats you as soon as a table turns up. Semiprivate booths can be requested for three or more. Meanwhile, everyone mills about and waits, wineglass in hand, in an atmosphere of a noisy, stand-up cocktail party. I’ve never understood why people put up with it, but I have yet to hear a complaint. By the way, the famous subtitle of Tadich Grill, “The Original Cold Day Restaurant,” derives from a political utterance rather than a meteorological phenomenon. It became permanently associated with Tadich’s in the 1880s when a regular customer, a politician named Alexander Badlam, remarked after winning a victory, “It’s a cold day when I get left.” If that’s a sample of his oratorical skills, it may explain why we’ve never heard anything more from him. For information, telephone 391-2373.