Baseball season was my father’s favorite time of year, and Lefty O’Doul’s was his favorite hangout for watching games over a gargantuan open-faced turkey sandwich. June marks the two-year anniversary of his passing, so I visited Lefty’s recently in his honor – and rediscovered the joys of great Hofbrau food.

You could spend from spring training to the World Series looking at the memorabilia on the walls of this Union Square landmark and still not see everything. I love the fact that at 11:30 on a sunny spring morning it’s dark and cool and filled with a mix of regulars and tourists chomping on those great Hofbrau pickles and washing down hand-carved meats with a frosty mug of beer.

I remember going to Lefty’s with my dad when I was too little to push my plastic tray along the railing. Back then you had just one choice of doneness for the roast beef – shoe leather. The quality of the food has come a long way since owner Nick Bovis took over. Lefty’s is now the only Hofbrau I know where you can order roast beef medium rare and the experienced carvers don’t laugh in your face. And the prices can’t be beat: under $7 for a gut-busting pile of roast beef, glazed ham, corned beef, pastrami, or turkey on a freshly baked sourdough roll dipped in au jus, and under $8 for my favorite, the open-faced medium-rare roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes over slices of white bread drenched in gravy with a pile of those famous dill pickles. (And don’t forget the creamy horseradish!)

– S. Reynolds