Tadich Grill offers an ode to vintage drinking

The dividing line along the bar counter at Tadich Grill is as clear as gin. On the far side of the brass rail, you can eat - if you happen to be able to grab a stool amid the lunchtime bustle. On the near side, you drink.

When I say you drink, I mean: You drink. Real drinks. Manhattans and martinis. An old-fashioned, if you like. A Bloody Mary made with Tadich's own mix recipe.

Anyone who has braved the lunchtime crush knows that grabbing one of the 12 barstools is a matter of timing, or patience - waiting your turn, pressed against the wall, cocktail in hand, thinking fondly of the crab-packed bowl of cioppino or fried sand dabs soon to be in front of you. You might glance at the semi-private alcoves along the west wall, hunting for a glimpse of whichever San Francisco stalwarts might be enjoying a leisurely lunch.

Lunch, incidentally, is loosely defined at Tadich. It might stretch to 4 p.m., and barkeeps keep pace straight through, often providing the neighborhood's equivalent of a coffee break.

"The FiDi's midafternoon getaway," says bartender David Hanna. "If you can't get hold of your stockbroker, you know why."

Hence, things at Tadich do not change quickly. Bartenderdom may have declared the brandied cherry a superior choice to the glowing red faux-Maraschino versions, but Tadich sticks to the latter for its manhattan.

"I don't want to piss off a guest that's been coming here for 40 years," says Hanna, 42, who got into the industry at 13 but just started working at Tadich six months ago.

In a city taken with its own cocktail revival, with the next greatest bitter or artisanal vermouth, Tadich stands as a bastion of tradition, a snapshot that might hail from the first six decades of the last century, if not before.

With midcentury thoughts on the brain, and with Thanksgiving - and the need for a stiff drink before (and probably after) the meal - now seems the time for a visit to this lodestone of frill-free drinking.

Tadich provides, too, a dose of the spirit of the city's grand boozy tradition, a tradition largely evaporated across the land - outside a handful of joints, like Galatoire's in New Orleans, where whiskey and gin remain an essential part of a leisurely lunch. With up to 700 diners served each day, the traditions of Tadich clearly remain salient with natives and visitors alike.

Always, it seems, Tadich has been feeding San Franciscans. It started as a waterfront coffee tent in 1849 run by Croatian immigrants, including John Tadich, who became sole owner in 1887. The Buich family took over in 1928 and has kept it ever since; currently it's run by Mike Buich, a member of the third generation to come along.

Seafood became a focus by the late 19th century, and that has never changed. Over time, the restaurant shifted locations before landing on California St., but it has provided a continuity of the city's proud history of food - and, crucially, of drink.

Drinks and crowds

Other places stir a proper Manhattan with care, and other places handle similar crowds, but rarely will you find both executed perfectly daily.

The restaurant's full-time bar staff of six, usually two bartenders at a time, handles a sea of drinks each day - at least six dozen martinis, plus another couple of dozen Manhattans, according to general manager Rick Powers, to say nothing of a river of Bloody Marys, Negronis and old-fashioneds.

This is not to say your options are restricted. Cosmopolitans are available to those brave enough to ask, and there's wine on offer; Chardonnay flows like thrice-filtered tap water. But to drink at Tadich is to understand some ground rules. So let's review.

Classic martinis

Martinis come in whatever form you like - provided that form involves gin or (sigh) vodka and dry vermouth, with the classic pimiento-stuffed olives in the glass. It's about 8 to 1, so plenty dry - unless you ask for it differently. Which is fine, by Tadich's regulars. They are power users.

"They come in and order martinis like they're ordering espresso drinks from Starbucks," Powers says.