Major Meat

Bay area carnivores, take note.

This is the "petite" portion of corned beef served to me by the paradoxically Mexican chefs at the perfectly named RoastHaus restaurant in Terra Linda, a neighborhood in San Rafael, Marin County.

This place specializes in roasts. The day we were there, the offerings were roast beef (and, yes, you can get it rare), corned beef, real turkey (not turkey "loaf," whatever that is), pastrami and, I think, pork roast. You can have a sandwich or a platter - both are made up while you wait and you can take out or eat at this clean-but-unimaginative restaurant.

Nothing fancy but far better than the other food offered in that little strip mall. Too much to finish, but they had boxes already set out for taking home the rest - this must be a common request because you don't even have to ask for the boxes.

Many years ago, my older brother brought his four children, three of them teenagers, to visit me. In a single meal, they ate two entire legs of lamb and were looking around for more. If they come again, I'm ready - I'll just take them to the RoastHaus and stand back.