Globe: The Late Night Hangout for San Francisco’s Chefs

by Caroline Carter

It’s midnight on a Saturday night, and you’ve just gotten off work. It’s been hours since family meal, and though you’ve been cooking for hundreds all night long, you’re ready to sit down and be served by somebody else for once. But where to go? Although San Francisco is consistently ranked as one of the best restaurant cities in the world, most San Francisco restaurant kitchens shut down by 11, leaving late-night gourmets in a bind. Sure you can get a burger at Denny’s, or a plate of lackluster pasta at Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack, but where can restaurant staff go when they want a high-quality bite after work?

Enter Globe, the gourmet answer for those of us who get to bed late. Located on a sleepy corner in the middle of downtown, Globe has become the late-night hangout of choice for restaurant folk who’ve just gotten off work. Though relatively tame during regular dinner hours, by 10pm tables start to fill, and by 1am Globe looks, sounds, and smells just like any other trendy SF restaurant at the height of the dinner rush. Packs of 20- and 30-something servers crowd the bar, while chefs swap war stories at the candlelit tables in back.

Much of Globe’s attraction comes from its elegant, yet unpretentious atmosphere: white tablecloths, colorful abstract art, and brick walls lend an air of urban style, while the open kitchen and chefs in backward baseball caps suggest something more down-to-earth. Around midnight, that impression is solidified when unobtrusive jazz music suddenly changes to crowd-pleasing 80s tunes. People come to Globe for the food, not the attitude.

Globe’s menu features California-Italian-style comfort cuisine, with freshly-shucked oysters and wild mushroom and black truffle oil pizza listed alongside dishes of Tillamook macaroni and cheese and homemade spaghetti. In a unique take on tuna tartar that forgoes the usual Asian flavors, Globe matches large-diced cubes of fresh, sashimi-grade albacore with olive oil, basil, and a luxuriously salty olive tapenade on toast. For the more adventurous, try a salad of grilled baby octopus with shaved fennel, cannelini beans and lemon confit. The assertive note of lemon matches perfectly with the sweet, flawlessly cooked octopus and the silky texture of the beans.

Want to share a pizza with a friend? In addition to the delightfully earthy mushroom and truffle pizza, Globe also offers pies with rock shrimp and cilantro, a sunny-side-up egg, and -- my favorite – housemade lamb sausage and mint. With fun, unique flavors such as those, your table might have to order one of each.

Globe relies on simply-prepared meat-and-potatoes fare for its entrees. A pork chop on a bed of sweet and hot pepper relish often garners rave reviews for its unique departure from the traditional apple sauce, while a recent visit’s grilled lamb chop with Yukon Gold potato hash and Erbette chard wowed my whole table. The dessert menu includes many of the standards one expects to see at a fine restaurant, with the clear standout being the pita-pocket-sized square of puff pastry with a spiral of apple wedges and a healthy dose of caramel sauce and vanilla gelato.

Most late night patrons tend to drop in without a reservation, but calling ahead of time can be a good idea, especially if you hope to partake in one of Globe’s theme dinners. On select Monday nights, Chef Joseph Manzare offers a prix-fixe menu that features a particular wine or especially fresh ingredient. In a nod to Iron Chef, he recently offered a tasting menu that showcased farm-fresh Raddichio in each of five courses, including dessert. It’s no wonder that chefs love to come to Globe after work – with creative flavor combinations and a carefree, unpretentious attitude, it’s the perfect place for San Francisco’s restaurant crowd to kick back after hours.

Food: **1/2
Service: **
Atmosphere: ***
Price: $$$
Overall: **1/2

(All rankings out of a total of 4 stars)

Globe Restaurant
290 Pacific Ave (@ Battery St)
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 391-4132

Hours: Mon - Fri 11:30am - 3pm; 6pm - 1am
Sat 6pm - 1am
Sun 6pm - 11:30pm


Accepts American Express, MasterCard and Visa.

Food: **1/2
Service: **
Atmosphere: ***
Price: $$$
Overall: **1/2
(All rankings out of a total of 4 stars)

$ = $0-15
$$ = $15-25
$$$ = $25-40
$$$$ = $40+
(Dollar ratings indicate the average cost of dinner for one person, excluding alcohol.)