The Bay Area is famous for many things: It’s beautiful, it’s vibrant, it celebrates its past, and it’s busy inventing the future. The region is also passionate about food: Alice Waters developed California cuisine here with fresh ingredients — local, organic, sustainable. Her Chez Panisse restaurant set off a food revolution. And now the region is an outpost of foodies, diners pursuing every possible culinary trend, served with an epicurean flourish and just a touch of exotic sauce.
But I’ll bet you a nice dinner that the most popular restaurant style is centered around the California version of Italian food, at a place called Joe’s, where a hearty meal is served in a noisy restaurant, where the food is old-school and consistently good.
The place has its own style, its own look, featuring a cocktail lounge, cozy booths and “exhibition cooking” — a counter where customers can watch the cooks at work stirring, frying, mixing, the gas turned high and the flames leaping off the grill…