Moishe offers many traditional deli delights, such as matzoh ball soup, knishes, and all varieties of sandwiches. But it's a Chicago-style deli, which is maybe the best news of all. That means they also have excellent hot dogs -- yet another delicacy sadly underrepresented in San Francisco. We began with the Soldier Field, a hot dog and polish sausage in the same bun(!) with those little pickles, hot peppers, tomatoes, yellow mustard, and some incredibly green relish. Within a bite I was thinking fondly of Ann Arbor's Chicago Dog House (formerly Red Hot Lovers).

For a sandwich I had the Reuben: corned beef, sauerkraut, and Swiss cheese on rye. Excellent, and I think it ran me $7.75, which is about half what you pay at David's.

Wash all this down with a Dr. Brown's (black cherry), and go about your day with a full and happy belly. You may even wish to go get something pierced, but that's no business of ours.

Two notes of caution:
1. There are many small dogs around Hayes Valley these days. Watch where you walk, or you -- like one of the judges -- might track something unsavory into the deli. 2. The Pippic is only open until around 3, Monday through Saturday, and closed on Sundays.

Andy Sez: Want to know what a pippic is? More>>

McClure

I'll start where we did. For an appetizer we shared "The Soldier Field." Boy does it live up to its name. At least it does if Soldier Field is one incredible field. The Soldier is the best dog I've had around town. Calling it a dog doesn't do it justice. Check this out: it's one all beef hotdog and one all beef polish sausage on a bun with the works. The dog-sausage combo is brilliant and they use only high quality tasty meats. The bun was perfect, nice and soft, and held all the "works" in place.

The next course, the sandwich, was another great combo of meats. I had "The Delancey Street," hot corned beef and hot pastrami with sauerkraut on rye with choice of a side (slaw, potato or macaroni salad). The Delancey is sorta like a Reuben, but not quite. It was piled high with meat and well worth the $7.75. The corned beef was nice, flavorful. The pastrami was good, but it just can't beat that yummiest of pastrami straight out of NYC. My side, the macaroni salad, was alright, and a friendly pickle pal filled out the plate very well. We ended our meal with a delicious large portion of Halvah -- what a way to go.

The folks running Moishe's are wonderful, very friendly, and give great service. They like to keep the place clean, so wipe your feet before entering. You never know what you might drag in. Their hours are limited, closing at 4 PM daily, and not open on Sundays. What a shame, I wouldn't mind enjoying their delights some evening. Oh well. Stop on by for that dog and sausage combo or grab a sandwich on the way to the park. It's certainly the local Chicago style deli you want to pop by.

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