Jessie's Hot House in San Francisco, California: A Restaurant Review

I always seem to run into good soul food in places where you'd never expect it. For example, when I was up in Anchorage Alaska, I made a wrong turn one afternoon and totally at random discovered Catfish Haven, really good and authentic Southern food in the snowiest of northern climes. Another discovery has been made in the basement of San Francisco State University, a place where anything above the lowly standards of college cafeteria food seems like a miracle.

Jessie's Hot House doesn't have the most robust menu, you won't find ox tails or anything like that here. What they do is focus on a few staples and do them really well. Hands down this is the best breakfast spot not just on campus, but probably within about a mile or so in any given direction. Breakfast is served up from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 on weekdays, which also makes it one of the only places to open early in this area. If you want to keep it simple you can go with the Warfield, a great hot breakfast sandwich with cheese and bacon, sausage or veggie sausage for about four bucks. Otherwise you can do the "a la carte" thing with breakfast and they offer pork or veggie sausage, bacon, grits, eggs, wheat toast and oatmeal with the option of raisins or bananas.

Breakfast isn't bad at all, but lunch is the real draw here. The fried chicken combo beats the Colonel any day and comes with your choice of one side, a roll, and a fountain soda for about five to seven bucks. Sides available are greens, mac and cheese, cole slaw, sweet potatoes, black eyed peas with rice, plain rice, corn bread, a dinner roll or add barbeque sauce to any item for fifty cents. They also offer a Cajun fish combo which is a little more pricey, but you can get three to five pieces of snapper or ten pieces of shrimp for seven to eight bucks. A hot link combo is a bit of a cheaper option with a roll, choice of side and a fountain soda for five bucks flat. There's also shrimp, snapper or BBQ tofu po' boy sandwiches for six bucks. And for dessert, red velvet cake or peach cobbler.

The food does seem a touch on the pricey side, but it does also make up for it by being prepared very well and being highly tasty. You also get pretty big portions, friendly service and they have a regular's card where you can get a free meal after you buy ten or so combos. Definitely the top spot to check out if you are around SFSU and needing a good breakfast or lunch.