San Francisco Daily Journal

Left Coast Doesn’t Eat What Right Coast Does

August 29, 2005—When burning the midnight oil and looking for a quick bite, would lawyers rather reach for a cheese steak sandwich or a California roll? It apparently depends on the coast from which they’re working.

San Francisco lawyers opt for healthier choices than their New York City counterparts, according to sales data compiled by SeamlessWeb Professional Solutions Inc., a Web-based system for businesses, including law firms, to order catering or after-hours meals. Stuart Gasner, a white-collar criminal defender with San Francisco’s Keker & Van Nest, describes himself as a former New Yorker with a convert’s zeal for all Gasner said the key to after-hours dining while doing legal work is keeping it off your keyboard. He recommends Harry’s Bar in MacArthur Park for a filet mignon sandwich because it is compact and can be eaten quickly with one hand.

Since April, SeamlessWeb has been collecting data from more than 100 law firms in New York and San Francisco, which ranged in size from 10 to 800 attorneys. According to the company, roughly 30 percent of lawyers in San Francisco working overtime will order Italian delivery to the office, compared to New York City’s 35 percent. And 20 percent of San Francisco’s lawyers will order sushi, as opposed to New York’s 15 percent.

As for dishes ordered, the company concluded that New York lawyers eat more burgers, meatball subs and cheese steaks, while San Francisco lawyers opt for turkey or chicken breast subs. When choosing Chinese, San Francisco lawyers will take steamed chicken with broccoli, while New Yorkers go for General Tso’s chicken, a fried dish.

The coasts can agree on pizza, as plain cheese is the most popular. Bob Friese, a securities litigator from Shartsis Friese who opts for crackers and V-8 for lunch, said New York lawyers tend to pay less attention to their health and diets than their San Francisco colleagues. "This is due to a misplaced sense of omnipotence and confidence in the quality of their medical care," Friese ribbed. "San Francisco lawyers realize that turkey sandwiches and sushi will likely add enough years to their lives that their total billings and collections will exceed the lifetime figures for their overpaid New York contemporaries."

When he wakes at 5:30 a.m. or earlier, Friese said, he has a low-fat, fruit-flavored yogurt with a trail mix infusion. "An underrated and often overlooked alternative to the artery clogging favorites of the New York bar," Friese said. He also likes to surprise Manhattan counsel with a 9:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time phone call.

"This gives them the impression that I am a totally committed workaholic - like them - and immediately overcomes their previously held impression that all California lawyers are lotus eaters," Friese said. Jeffrey Newman, a partner with San Francisco’s Farella, Braun + Martel who represents wineries and wine makers, said the survey data is consistent with his experience. "When we order in lunches or dinners for out-of-town clients and lawyers, we regularly get comments about the ’gourmet’ quality of the food in San Francisco," Newman said. "That the Italian is lighter, that the Chinese is more delicate, that we have more salads and that we serve wine being that we have a Napa Valley office."

Newman said if he’s working late, he tries hard to eat outside the office. "We have very good and fairly quick local evening restaurants," Newman said. "No one can work 16 hour days without a break." Joan Haratani, a litigation partner with Morgan Lewis & Bockius, said she thinks West Coasters would eat at more delis if San Francisco had as many good ones as Manhattan.

When working late, Haratani opts for sushi because it’s light or Indian because it’s spicy. She even admits to raiding the firm’s vending machine for Cheetos. "When on the other coast, I probably crave good Italian food the most," she said.

When Newman is in New York, he opts for a great pastrami sandwich or indulges in a meal at Per Se, the ultra chic Upper West Side restaurant opened by Thomas Keller of Napa Valley’s French Laundry. Although Friese is not typically a sushi fan, he does like a Japanese meal at international chain Nobu when he is in Manhattan. "I was turned on to this place by the head of a major Israeli venture-fund client, who fortunately picked up the bill for all of us," Friese said.

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