Buckeye Roadhouse - A San Francisco Classic
For those nights when you want a steak and a Zin
Buckeye Roadhouse, which opened in the same year as the nearby Golden Gate Bridge, has held up as well as another contemporary: Robert Redford.
With handsome wood paneling and svelte, contemporary chandeliers, the white-tablecloth "roadhouse" frames its expensively coiffed clientele in the warmest of hues.
What style befits a classic? No sous-vide here; rather, a proper whole-leaf Caesar salad ($10), garlic and lemon keeping each other in check, and a mountain of thinly sliced, feathery-crisp onion rings ($9).
You'll find a few oaky Chardonnays on the California-centric wine list, of course, but also Hotel de Cluny Albariño ($9) and Old Field Blend Zinfandel ($11) on tap.
While some of the restaurant's global meanderings don't arrive at their destinations, chef Robert Price's staff knows how to put just the right char on a rib eye steak ($32), served with fried Brussels sprouts and roast potatoes.
The roadhouse has aged into the kind of place where the menu is heavily larded with customer favorites. The one you'll want to finish with: the s'more pie ($9), a cloud of caramelized meringue hovering over a pool of molten chocolate.
Age, with distinction.
Buckeye Roadhouse, 15 Shoreline Hwy., Mill Valley; 415-331-2600 or buckeyeroadhouse.com