Dining Finds in Vallejo

Editor’s note: we welcome a new ongoing feature, Waterfront Dining, by GraceAnn Walden, restaurant columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. She also leads culinary-history tours of North Beach, the traditional Italian neighborhood of San Francisco. She lives on Telegraph Hill with her dog Shibui and cat Kinky.

When the Bay Area restaurant-going public talks about dining destinations, the gourmet hot spots trip from their well-fed tongues: San Francisco, Berkeley, Vallejo.

Hey, just a minute. Vallejo? Well no, they’re not yet talking about Vallejo as a culinary Mecca, but a new upscale restaurant slated to open in late July, some solid, well-established eateries and a unique ethnic restaurant may change their minds.

One disclaimer before we cue you in to our discoveries. We did not look at the many restaurants spread across this up and coming town, but rather a selection close enough to the ferry terminal, so as to encourage day-trippers to explore a bit of Vallejo’s culinary delights.

Here’s what we found.

In the Ferry Terminal, Muggs Coffee Emporium, at 495 Mare Island Way, gives a hearty welcome to daytrippers and every day provides coffee drinks, breakfast and lunch foods and pastries to commuters, who are about to board the ferry for the delightful ride to San Francisco.

But although, Muggs looks like a thousand other simple walk-up coffee bars with snacks, after talking with manager, Michael Manlove, we heard the rest of the story.

The five-year-old Muggs specializes in small, estate grown, organic coffee from the Fair Trade Coffee Company. And for those commuters, who forgot to pick up coffee beans in the city, Muggs has the same choice beans priced from $8 to $25 a pound. There is a second Muggs is located in Six Flags Marine World.

On a recent weekday, local seniors enjoyed coffee drinks and the harbor view, while a neighbor noodled on the café’s piano. Muggs is open daily, from 5am-7:30pm Monday-Friday; Saturday from 7:30am-9pm and Sunday from 7:30am-5:30pm. If you are ferrying in to enjoy Vallejo’s Farmers Market on Georgia Street on a Saturday, stop by Muggs for live Dixieland jazz on Saturday mornings from 8:30am-1:30pm.

A healthy stroll down Mare Island Way, to Harbor Way, will lead the curious to the Sardine Can. With an address like 0 Harbor Way, just finding the 14-year-old Sardine Can is an adventure. Tucked beyond boat repair businesses, this down-home venue, decorated with nautical touches, is long on dockside atmosphere. Like its name, the Sardine Can is a rectangular building, with a few seats outside and a main room with picnic table-style seating.

The Sardine Can is an egalitarian type place, where one can expect burly sailors and ship repairmen digging into burgers or fish and chips, but also local ladies drawn to the crab sandwich or seafood sauté.

But lunch here is not the only draw. The breakfast menu draws diners in for the hearty steak and eggs for $8.95 or the housemade biscuits and gravy for $5.95. Other favorites are the Joe’s special, fish and chips and the linguine with clams.

The Sardine Can is open everyday, for breakfast, lunch and dinner and features live music Sunday nights from 5pm-8pm. Owner, Nanette DuValle’s place is popular with boaters who sail over to dig the food and the sounds.