San Francisco has a longstanding tradition of bars offering free food to customers. In the hard-drinking Victorian era, the "free lunch" was a staple of the city's saloons. By the 1970s, the free buffets had shifted to happy hour, and poor SF State and City College students flocked to places such as the Iron Pot (torn down for a high-rise office building) and the Assay Office (now the far-from-free Bix), where they could get an ample dinner for the price of one beer.
These days, free food is hard to find. One place that keeps up this noble tradition is
Schroeder's (240 Front). On Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, from 4-6pm, happy hour customers can help themselves from a rotating selection of appetizers, usually including delicious spicy meatballs, decent garlic fries, and edible fried chicken, while enjoying selected German draft or bottled beers at reduced prices.
