Another One Bites the Dust

It happens so often in the BIG (ish) CITY; you're away for a couple of weeks and when you return, a little piece of your world has gone missing. That little bit of San Francisco was Bob's Broiler on Polk Street. Bob's wasn't the sort of place you would recommend to others. The food was mediocre, at best. But it did have something going for it. I don't know whether it was the comfortably-worn gray vinyl booths or the hand-written signs or the mangy houseplants, but Bob's was truly a part of the character of Polk Street. It was the kind of place you ate at because it was there and it was open. A few years ago there was a wonderful essay by Mike Weiss in the Chronicle on the closing on Herb's Fine Foods on 24th Street. I think it captures the sense of loss of a place like Bob's better than I can. Bye Bob's.