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| - The reports of Cafe Sausalito's death have been greatly exaggerated.
Given how far the Galleria has fallen since it opened in the late 80's, my expectations for Cafe Sausalito--a restaurant I hadn't visited in at least 10 years--were very low. I wouldn't have been that surprised to walk into a wasteland, complete with cobwebs and tumbleweed. Instead, what I found was the pretty standard business crowd having lunch, filling about 70% of the seating inside (I didn't get a look at the "outside" dining area that is open to the Galleria food court). Sausalito features a pretty large dining area with a large bar and two levels of tables (i.e., one level a couple steps higher than the other) on the main floor.
I had the beef brisket sandwich, which turned out to be a pretty sizable pile of beef brisket on a bun absolutely slathered in barbecue and honey dijon mustard sauces. For the sake of my work clothes, I opted to go open-face on the sandwich and knife-and-fork it (something I very rarely do). The mustard sauce overpowered the taste of the meat, but I could live with it. The quality and the cooking of the meat isn't going to come close to rivaling even a chain barbecue place, but it was adequately cooked and fit the purposes of the sandwich. It was the size of the portion that really surprised me. I also liked the fact that I could substitute the fries with vegetables, which ended up being julienne green and yellow zucchini.
Service was pretty basic, though I thought it could have been a bit quicker for the simpler tasks like getting the check ready to go. My leisurely (but cold) walk to the office and back (a little over three blocks) with lunch at Cafe Sausalito took about one hour and five minutes. On top of that, my meal plus an iced tea cost me $9.10 before tip. Not too shabby at all.
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