Dining out at 1300 on Fillmore

San Francisco’s Fillmore District—it conjures images of an olden era when Jazz reigned supreme and the kings and queens gathered in what once was the heart of the city’s music scene. Though the years have changed the neighborhood 1300 On Fillmore has resurrected nights past.

David Lawrence and Monetta White envisioned a timeless classic when they set out to open 1300, a project six years in the making. The ambiance, the food, the wine: intricately blend as you transition to the days of Jimmy Giuffre and Chet Baker. On Monday nights the bluesy beats and jazz ballads of Lady Memphis and a pick up band entertain to the smells of soul food while ghostly images of the bee bop boys and girls shuffle through the large television imbedded in a mirror setting the backdrop of the bar. San Francisco designer Colum McCartan’s interior concept creates a feeling of opulence lacking in pretension with high back chairs and cozy leather banquettes.

British born and French trained southern comfort food seems a far cry from the cuisine of Europe, but David concedes to the simple fact that no matter where you are in the world comfort food is comfort food. He sites American Grits, Jamaican Corn Meal and Italian Polenta as classic examples. Why he serves soul food is less logical and more fortuitous. Invited to cook at the James Beard House in New York he was one of a handful of chefs chosen to partake in a southern cuisine homage to Black History Month. Having never tried his hand at that particular gastronomic genre David’s imagination and culinary skills were free for creative implementation with a solid foundation in his Jamaican heritage. “You can’t stay static,” David says. “You are only as good as your last meal.”

While David is responsible for the flavor of 1300 Monetta oversees the sights and sounds. Surrounded by music all through her childhood Monetta brings her love of good tunes and a growing passion for Jazz to the eyes and ears of the patrons. Without a set band there’s a constant changing of musicians: from Paula West to the latest unknown. “It’s exactly how I imagine it must have been back in the day, where people just came in and jammed,” Monetta says.

Backed by the city, supported by local residents, the very same who come for the picture wall gracing the lounge—picking out old faces that once graced the some two dozen clubs that dotted Fillmore, the new restaurant is recreating the past. “We’re glad that we are putting this area back on the map,” Monetta says. “It had so much history.”