And then I was at another famous bar in San Francisco – Lefty O’Douls Restaurant & Cocktail Lounge on 333 Geary St.
The bar was started by retired major league baseball player Francis Joseph “Lefty” O’Doul in 1958.
But who was Lefty O’Doul? Francis Joseph “Lefty” O’Doul (March 4, 1897 – December 7, 1969) was an American Major League Baseball player who went on to become an extraordinarily successful manager in the minor leagues. He was also a vital figure in both the pre-war establishment and the post-war revival of professional baseball in Japan.
The popular hofbrau-style restaurant and bar he founded in 1958 operated for years after his death as Lefty O’Doul’s Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge on Geary Street, still serving his original recipe for Bloody Mary.
It was summer of 2001. I slept in a hostel literally around the corner. One evening, when I was walking around Union Square looking for a suitable place for an evening beer, I saw it. I enter and sit at the bar. As usual, I order my favorite beer – Sam Adams. Back in 2001, you couldn’t even find this beer around every corner. So I went to Lefty’s night after night for the next week. One evening I was sitting at the bar again when the bartender placed another beer in front of me. To my question, why, he answers – the landlady pays to the guests at the bar. Looks like she had a birthday…
The bar, of course, was full of baseball memorabilia. The bar stools had legs made of baseball bats. Even the handles on the front door were made from baseball bats.
One day I entered early in the morning and sat down in the restaurant section. I wanted one good breakfast. Eggs, toast, coffee, …
The tables were big enough for about 10 people. A middle-aged couple sat opposite. A younger man with a cowboy hat on his head sits down at our table. The waitress rushes by and asks him what he’s going to eat. Breakfast. And a dozen eggs. The waitress rushes off and soon returns with a plate containing the usual portion of two fried eggs. The man raises his eyebrows and says, I said a dozen. The waitress looks at him in surprise and says, I thought you were joking. No, I really want a dozen fried eggs. And the girl hurried off, and soon returned with an order according to his wishes. A couple opposite casually asks him what he’s doing. He replies that he is a truck driver and that he doesn’t know when he will have the next chance to eat.
The owner at the time Nick Bovis is officially closing and exiting that location on February 3, 2017. In reality, the closing happened two days earlier, on February 1. However, a landlord-tenant dispute caused the restaurant to close its doors. On November 20, 2018, the restaurant reopened in a new location at Fisherman’s Wharf. However, the new location closed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and the owner’s bankruptcy following a federal indictment on corruption charges.
As I mentioned before, in addition to all the attractions, this bar has also served its own version of the Bloody Mary cocktail since its very beginning in 1958. World famous for its dense tomato flavor and horse radish bite. The flavor profile is enhanced with Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and hot sauce giving it a bold taste perfect as is or as a base for an exotic “kitchen sink” Bloody Mary.
Ingredients: Water, tomato paste, worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, horseradish, hot sauce, peppers, celery salt and garlic powder.
In what proportion are all these ingredients, of course, it is a secret.