Up with the Times at Blue Danube Coffee House, Richmond District

This cool, casual cafe sits right across a very popular Burmese restaurant, right smack in the middle of the clatter of Clement Street. It has been around since I came to live in this neighborhood almost thirty five years ago. The smell of Chinese dumplings, fish markets, dried herbs and ginseng wafts along the sunny, foggy, sunny, street corridor to entice the hungry and the curious alike. California-style stores like Foggy Notion, consignment clothing shops, fabric stores, iconic book havens like The Green Apple, and the decidedly very quaint Spanish Table make this area quite a local destination! The fantastic Asian produce store, May-Wah, is a stuff of legend for those who hanker different types of mochis, rambutan, jackfruit or the not-so easily available canned water chestnuts. On the other hand, inexpensive haircuts and Japanese-style creperies could prompt anyone to venture out in the Richmond and brave the fog on a summer's day!

But kidding aside, Blue Danube figured a lot in my very bohemian and

romantic view of the city. For me, it used to be a place to hang out and polish off thick literary tomes like Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary. It was, as I remember, a place to savor the idiosyncrasy and originality of my adopted city.

This cafe offers Peet's coffee, smoothies, sandwiches and salads.