Best Place to Eat Before a Giants Game

While the box-seat crowd preps for a ballgame with overpriced libations and victuals at Paragon and MoMo's, the real fans -- the ones with a covey of Croix de Candlestick pins embedded in their well-worn Giants caps -- rally at a nearby no-frills Caribbean spot called the Primo Patio Cafe. Dining is alfresco (with heaters, thank Jah), setting the evening off on a pleasant note of urban adventure. Primo's signature dish is the jerk chicken platter, a major-league helping of savory bird, yellow rice, black beans, and veggies ($8.40, up a couple of nickels from last season). Finger snaps (deep-fried pieces of red snapper served with a tangy dipping sauce) make a delicious, if not necessarily heart-friendly, appetizer. The service is as unpretentious as the clientele, setting a relaxed tone that lasts all the way to the seventh-inning stretch -- unless Russ Ortiz is on the mound, laboring through a fist-gnawing, 30-pitch first inning.