Dottie's True Blue Cafe

Dottie’s True Blue Café
522 Jones Street – San Francisco, CA
415-885-2767

What’s to say that you haven’t heard about this tiny, heart of the tenderloin café that does some of the best food in San Francisco, and burgers are no exception. Although it can be an adventure getting to the front door of this great American diner, and then learning you’re going to stand outside waiting for a seat, any seat, in this always packed place you are in for a great treat if you’re willing to go through all the hurdles to eating here. Tiny and homey, the scent of fresh baked goods wafting everywhere, smiling faces, animated conversations drowning out the pain that howls through this tough, dope riddled area where you almost stumble over crackheads and junkies smoking and shooting their way to messy oblivion the food here is uplifting and almost heavenly. The exposed kitchen reveals a lone, lean man working a series of stoves and grills making a vast array of food they serve from early morning to lid afternoon as they serve breakfast and lunch only and are closed on Tuesday’s. Their lunch menu offers up their Niman Ranch burger and it’s made to order and the vision behind it is rock solid and an inspiration to burger lovers anywhere who demand respect for this most important food offering. A lightly buttered bun, able to hold the delicious juices and moisture from the lettuce, tomato and condiments you choose to apply to your burger is a perfect counterpoint to the good meat cooked just right.

Dottie’s uses the best of everything and cooks it all with great dedication and passion so what you get is always several notches above the rest of the burger joints mentioned here so this is a benchmark place you can use to rate the others with authority. They offer up some great home fries most of the time or a small salad with impeccable ingredients and sometimes I’m told they offer great fries but not on my visits. They also offer tremendous breakfasts, desserts, baked goods and even have their own mini gift store that sells branded items to the throngs of tourists who stand in line every day to get in for their great food. This is a must visit.