Remembering the Basque Hotel Restaurant, and Basque Food Culture in the Bay Area

Basque restaurants, particularly the ones attached to Basque boarding houses in San Francisco in the mid-20th Century played  a big role in keeping body and soul together in my salad days of the early 1960's. The Basque Hotel Restaurant at 15 Romolo Place (there's a hipster bar there now) was my favorite. It was one of the later vintage Basque hotels, but actually functioned as a boarding house for sojourning Basques and, at least in its early years, adhered to a very traditional French Basque dinner service.  You'd walk in before its single 6:30 seating and sit at a long communal table.  At 6:30 sharp food would start coming, and you'd start eating. They would start with soup, followed by two entrees (which varied by day of the week), passed down the table on huge platters. Entrees might include clams, lamb chops, coq au vin, even sweetbreads.There were invariably mountains of French fries, the best I'd ever had.  Sourdough bread (probably from Larraburu Bakery, which existed until the late '70s despite the erroneous info in the chart below), served without butter. Salad would be served last, European style. There was also unlimited quantities of vin ordinaire, and at the end of the meal strong coffee would be served, poured into the same tumbler you drank the wine from.  I've never been a dessert guy, but there may have been pie or ice cream, too.  At the end of the meal one would walk to the back or the room, pay at the bar and exit.  I don't recall the exact price, but it was a splurge, at least double the $1.00 I would pay for a full American-style dinner at Jackson Cafe or Sun Tai Sam Yuen on Jackson street.

Not long into my tenure some traditions yielded to practical considerations, such as the pay-on-exit (which required a detour which was too easily avoided) and, eventually, the unlimited free wine. Prices rose faster than the cost of living as well, but it was still an affordable feast and a great social outing in the '80s when the above photo was taken (that's yours truly with the cig). .

I found the chart below on docstock.com. It's presented as is, though there are some errors and out-of-date information in it (Iluna Basque, for one thing, has closed).

Basque Hotels and Restaurants

In The San Francisco Bay Area

Hotel du Midi		1950’s & 1960’s
Powell and Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133
1	Marianne Ospital and Frank Monaut
2	Frank Monaut and Katrine Oillarburu
3	Jose Mari Etchemendy 1960’s
4	Felix & Begoña Bilbao 1964-1974

Hotel de España		1950’s
781 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133
1	Katixa & Juanes Bordalampé and Maria and Fermin Uharte
2	Marie and Louis Elu (proprietors)

Pyrénées Hotel		Before 1958
Pacific between Powell & Stockton???, San Francisco, CA 94133
1	Janamarie and Martial Gonzalez

Pyrénées Hotel		After 1958
517 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133
1	Amélie and Jean Sorhondo

Obrero Hotel		1950’s to 1970’s
1208 Stockton, San Francisco, CA 94133
1	Mr. and Mrs. Idiart (Juan and Nieves ??? p95 Home away from Home) 1950’s
2	Mrs. Emile Ornague
3	Katrine and Pierre Goyhenetche
4	Mayie and Arnaud Mendisco

Hotel de France		1950’s to 1970’s
780 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133
1	Jean Camino & Arnaud Etcheto (1950’s)
2	Juanita and Jean Etchevers and Claude and Claudine Berhouet (1960’s & 1970’s)
3	Annie and Pierre “Titou” Palomes (1970’s)

Hotel des Alpes & Restaurant		20th century
732 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133
1	Ambrosio Yriondo 1907
2	Mrs. And Jean Cazahous “Xubero” (proprietors 1930’s)
3	Mayie and Marcel Chaparteguy (1950’s)
4	Katixa and Juanes Bordalampe and Ganix Iriartborde (1956-1965)
5	Ganix and Anna Iriartborde (1962-1975)
6	Helene and Ciriaco Iturri (1975)
7	Augustin Oroz and Basilio Arraiz

The Basque Hotel		1960’s to 1990’s
15 Romolo Place, San Francisco, CA 94133
1	Martha and Pierre Bigue (1960’s)
2	Madeleine and Joseph Gestas
3	Anna and Sauveur Anchartechahar
4	Antoinette and Francisco Oroz
5	Jean Emile Idiart

La Cancha		20th century
Pacific between Stockton and Powell, San Francisco, CA 94133
1	Jose & Expectacion Elizalde
2	Jeronimo “Antón” Meabe
3	Saparart

Cosmopolitan Hotel		1960’s 1970’s
700 Block of Broadway???, San Francisco, CA 94133
1
2
3

Le Chalet Basque Restaurant		1960’s to present
405 N. San Pedro Road, San Rafael, CA 94903
1	Eugenie & Raymond Coscarat
2	Antoinette and Francisco Oroz
3	Roger Minhondo

Tricolor Restaurant		1960’s to present
Geary Blvd, San Francisco
1	Jeanne Marie and Gratien Mocho

Fleur de France Restaurant		166-1972
Geary Blvd, San Francisco
1	Jeanne Marie Mocho

Croisette Restaurant
Columbus Avenue, San Francisco
1	Annie Mocho Newman

Fringale Restaurant
570 4th Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
1	Jean-Baptiste Lorda & Gerald Hirigoyen

Piperade Restaurant		2002 to present
1015 Battery Street, San Francisco, CA 94111
1	Gerald and Cameron Hirigoyen

Bocadillos Restaurant		2004 to present
710 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA 94111
1	Gerald and Cameron Hirigoyen

Cote Sud Restaurant
4238 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94114
1	Raymond Arbelbide

Iluna Basque Restaurant		2003 to present
701 Union Street, San Francisco, CA 94133
1	Mattin Noblia

Guernica Restaurant		1970’s - 2006
2009 Bridgeway, Sausalito, CA 94111
1	Roger Minhondo
2	Gary Jones (2002-2006)

Chez Léon Restaurant		1970’s
San Francisco
1	Peyo and Jean Marie Lagourgue

Larraburu Bakery		1896-1945
San Francisco

Royal Bakery		1960’s to 1987
4773 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94112
1	Dominique Jambon and Pierre Saldubehere