Classic Treats

In Chicago, San Francisco and New York, three restaurants with storied histories still know how to serve up memorable meals

The restaurant world is a fickle one, subject to the whims of diners, the restlessness of ambitious chefs and a little thing called location, location, location. For this Spring Travel Issue of the Magazine, I set out to look at three classic American restaurants in three popular dining destinations: Gene and Georgetti in Chicago, the Tadich Grill in San Francisco and the 21 Club in New York. What accounts for their long lives? Collectively, the trio share about 300 years of success with their straightforward menus, sense of community and uncommon passion. And even after all these years, the food at these landmarks tastes pretty good, too.

A MEAL AT CHICAGO'S Gene and Georgetti (500 N. Franklin St.; 312-527-3718) reminds me that not all steakhouses are created equal. Its recipe for success starts with smart shopping: The beef comes from cornfed cattle in Iowa and Nebraska, and it's all prime grade. Once at the restaurant, in the Windy City's River North district, the meat is aged for almost a month and then butchered by hand. "Hardly anyone does that anymore," boasts owner Tony Durpetti. Probably even fewer competitors cook the same way. Durpetti buys gas broilers that reach 850 degrees but are modified by the restaurant to fire up to 1,400 degrees. The intense heat melts fat and gives the sirloins, filets mignons and bone-in rib-eye steaks a distinctive char and crust.

Launched by Gene Michelotti and Alfredo "Georgetti" Federighi in 1941, the plain-looking restaurant, glammed up with a wall of celebrity mug shots, does more than meat. The Italian-American menu runs to pasta, seafood and chicken Vesuvio, but, says Durpetti, "if you want something that's not on the menu, we'll make it for you." An omelet for dinner, maybe? No problem.

That brand of hospitality makes for lots of regulars, some of whom have been coming here for a very long time. One decades-long habitue, now a Florida resident, routinely reserves tables 11 and 12 near the mahogany bar for the days he visits Chicago. And that bar hosts the same dozen or so guys every lunch. The counter-mates even have a nickname: the Mahogany Club. While the "old regulars" congregate in the front barroom, Durpetti says "the new regulars" prefer the rear and upstairs dining areas, both renovated in 1997. At least one waiter has been hoisting plates here for 38 years, and it's not uncommon for a server to take an order for a whole group without jotting down a word.

Legend has it that the building that became Gene and Georgetti was built with scraps from wood salvaged from the Chicago Fire of 1871. Durpetti can't verify that, but he will confirm that he's the son-in-law of Gene, and that he just wanted to help out his mother-in-law when her husband fell sick back in 1989. Watching over the place "was supposed to be temporary," he says. Thank goodness it wasn't.

Entrees $17.50 to $69.75.

A FEW THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND before you sample the Tadich Grill in San Francisco (240 California St.; 415-391-1849): The time to go is lunch, the food to order is fish, and don't bother calling ahead for a seat. In its long history, "the Tadich," as regulars refer to the San Francisco treat, has never taken reservations. Patrons simply show up and wait to be called to a table in a long dining room that sports art deco chandeliers and semiprivate booths. The policy means a sea of suits and lots of clamor at high noon.

History buffs will appreciate the story behind the restaurant, which began life as a coffee tent opened by a trio of Croatian immigrants in 1849 (think Gold Rush) and whose location has changed over the decades but has never veered far from its current spot in the city's financial district. At the Tadich, things are either slow to change or they never change. Until 1990, the restaurant refused to take credit cards; even now, ownership remains Croatian. The loyalty of some customers is such that they merit a food key of their own on the restaurant's computer.

Meanwhile, the cooking reflects what's local and good rather than the ego of a chef. Thus there are delicate sand dabs and rex sole, simply broiled over mesquite or pan-fried to a handsome shade of gold, and served on thick white plates inscribed with "The Original Cold Day Restaurant" on their rim. Crab cakes are shaped from local Dungeness crab, and oysters find their way into the kitchen's popular Hangtown Fry, a strapping frittata made crisp with bacon and creamy with oysters. Few omelets can compete with this appealing marriage of surf and turf.

If there is one dish you shouldn't miss, however, it would be the cioppino, the recipe for which was developed by San Francisco's early Italian American fishermen and which is almost as iconic as the Golden Gate Bridge. Some call it a seafood stew, but that's incorrect. The clams, mussels, scallops and crab that go into the bowl are sauteed to order, then draped with an herby sauce of chopped cooked tomatoes. The steaming collection is flanked with rafts of garlic toast for sopping up the heady juices. Bliss!

Culinary trends have no place at Tadich Grill. The dessert list features rice pudding, vanilla-scented and comforting. As special as it is on a "cold day," I'm happy to eat it anytime.

Entrees $15.50 to $25.75.