Presidio Restaurants Create "Scene"

San Francisco's Presidio park, the old military base offering one of the most spectacular locations near the Golden Gate Bridge, has become a center of culture and food since "Star Wars'" George Lucas moved his studios there two years ago from Marin County. Lucasfilm's 850,000-square foot campus, called the Letterman Digital Arts Center after a previous hospital on the site, is a series of new buildings with the latest technology yet architecturally compatible with national historic landmark military buildings dating from the Civil War to the Cold War and neighboring Victorian residences.

The park's revival is seen in the many new eateries populated by employees of Lucasfilm and nonprofits housed on the sprawling Presidio property, as well as locals and visitors who have discovered them. First of all, you can dine and, on a stellar day, see the splendiferous Golden Gate Bridge. It's a lively setting -- employees take their lunch breaks, walking or biking down to the San Francisco Bay or nearby bridge trails.

What I especially enjoy as a Womantraveler stems from the global variety and pleasant service. Young pros spawning their culinary careers elsewhere in the city or known quantities expanding to the hot new scene have brought a vitality for innovation offered in a casually stylish way. We especially enjoyed Dish and La Terrasse. The Presidio Social Club recently got a solid review in the San Francisco Chronicle, and Pres a Vi is a wine bar extraordinaire and sibling of the popular Walnut Creek tapas-style restaurant.