San Francisco - October 31, 2007

New Jazz City

1300 on Fillmore Restaurant

Remember when Lower Fillmore was called “The ’Mo,” Billie Holiday learned to scat at Bop City, and John Coltrane used to jam on a whim?

Heck no, Daddy-o, you probably weren’t born yet.

But you can still reminisce at 1300 on Fillmore, the first of several restaurants to open in the Fillmore Heritage Center, an homage to the Harlem of the West.

Swill Jazzberry Lime Drops in the granddaddy-styled lounge with leather Chesterfield couches, oriental rugs, and 37 black-and-white photos of the hood’s heyday. Eat at the bar, where the plasma magic mirror flashes jazz films, or settle into the chocolate-hued dining den for chef David Lawrence’s (The Carnelian Room) maple syrup slow-braised short ribs. Other refined, soul-filling foods include creamy grits with BBQ shrimp and orangey sweet potato souffle.

Headlining chanteuses will slip in through the hidden door for live jazz sets Friday through Sunday starting mid-November.

With that kind of good time, this neck of the woods is sure to fill more.

1300 on Fillmore, 1300 Fillmore Street, at Eddy Street (415-771-7100 or 1300fillmore.com).