jsmeeker

In case anyone missed it, the DMN did their review of the "new" restaurant. It retains it's 5 stars. It only missed out a half star for atmosphere. http://www.guidelive.com/portal/page?_page...AL&item_id=2542 ← Not that I have eaten there, but one has to wonder if the Mansion's longstanding reputation affects the review. Maybe the DMN doesn't want it's biggest name to lose face? Again, just a musing. ← Very possible, for sure. Another "twist" is that the former food writer/critic is no longer with the paper.

I see you are affiliated with the Sigels chain.

Interesting thread given the location of the wine shop mentioned. I don't make a habit of heading up to that part of town on a regular basis, but I certainly would make a special trip up there to check the place out. I'm "new" to wine. What I really need/want is "regular" everyday wine at an affordable price that I can buy today and drink "right away" along with the occassional need for a "special" wine. I'm still debating on whether I should get into "collecting" wine. (i.e. buying wine that should be laid down for several years before consuming). I guess what would be important to ME for my needs would be a staff that could understand what me needs/wants were and help me meet them. I have a tiny bit of knowledge, but I'm sure I would mess something up. I don't want to be thought of as a fool for doing so. I also wouldn't want to be treated as a total rube and would hope to get suggestions that would make me more of an adventuresome wine drinker.

In case anyone missed it, the DMN did their review of the "new" restaurant. It retains it's 5 stars. It only missed out a half star for atmosphere. http://www.guidelive.com/portal/page?_page...AL&item_id=2542

I've heard lots of good things about it, too. One of these days, I need to head over to Ft. Worth to check it out. It's certainly they type of place that can get me to make the drive.

I got a mix of oysters at Hog island. Can't recall which I had. I always forget that stuff. I too do not like the stuff (the "hog wash") that they serve with it. Maybe a little lemon. They also serve them with a wedge of lime. I mean, really, you don't need much. Don't want anything to get in the way of the brineyness of the oyster.

Don't think badly of In-n-Out.. It's proof that chain fast food can be done correctly. I think someone else suggested the location at Fisherman's Warf. Taking the MUNI F line (using historic street cars) is a great way to get there. It can be crowded, but it's fun...

still in San Francisco... (stupid ice storm in Dallas) I had good food experiences there. Despite my Tuesday dinner being a minor "bust" (I posted a thread looking for ideas), I had some good experiences. House of Nanking on Monday night.. Not the greatest food, of course, but it's kind of fun. It's become a night before the Macworld Keynote tradition for us. We go. Show up. They seat us and then they just order food for us. We don't have a clue as to what we will get. And really, they do a nice job there. Each year, it tends to be a little different. We hit the new food court at the renovated Westfield mall. We all enjoyed it. I got some sort of spicy chicken thing from a Japanese place. Others got bugers, mexican, etc. Topped off the meal with a cream puff from Beard Papa. This was so much better than hitting the show floor directly after they keynote and better than going to the Metreon for something since the mall place had a lot more options. A couple of good things at the Ferry building. One day, lunch was at Boulettes Larder (or something like that). I had an awesome panna cotta for dessert. Looked like something you would be served in a top fine dining place. Tasted like it too. Another day, some friends joined me at Taylors Refresher. Very good. They really liked it. On Friday, after having lunch at Bistro Burger in the financial district, I walked back down to the Ferry Building for a plate of oysters at Hog Island. Oh so tasty!! Thursday was interesting. I headed over to East Bay to meet up with a friend and her husband that live in Berkley. Went to a place called Cafe Tibet on University. II had never even thought of food from Tibet before. Pretty interesting. I enjoyed it. On Friday night, I DID get to take two other people to Taddich Grill for dinner. We wound up sitting at the counter. Had a great meal. They really enjoyed everything about that place. Good drinks from the bar. Good, solid food. And they liked the service, too. It's executed well and efficient and professional. But the neatest meal was probably at Macs Caffe. I had a nice, freshly made thin crust pizza, bottle of iced tea, and a chocolate chip cookie. That place was really crowded, too. And there was some special shopping afterwards. Where is this place? Address: 1 Infinite Loop. Cupertino, CA oh... my BART fare from Powell St. station to SFO this morning was $5.15. FWIW, the fare machines DO take credit cards.

looks like tonight is a bust. No one wants to go out. One other guy is meeting up with the people at the Warf, at thier hotel. I just agreed to meet up down there, Hang with friends or dine alone? Grrr.... The decisions that I have to make.

thanks, Carolyn.. Knew about the restaurant week thing.. Too bad most of the people I am with aren't big food people. The Thirsty Bear sounds good. Looks like Piperade is gonna be out for this dinner.. But maybe another night? Looks good. Thanks again

OK... Good to know... I'll suggest it. Would I need an advance reservation? I'd hate to book one, then have the other people veto, or just suggest it, go, and strike out? I get the impression that it's popular by your "if you can get in" comment.

hmmmm Looks like something I would like, but it's probably a bit "fancy" for tonight, plus my friends aren't "eGullet types". I need food that's pretty "simple" But still tasty, and ideally, something that says "San Francisco" I gotta TRY to convert them. (dragging them down to the Ferry Building was a failure, but to be fair, it's a bit of a hike from Moscone and we DID want to get back to the convention floor fairly quickly)

In town for MacWorld with some friends. Keynote day is always a "weird" one as we are always pretty beat, and not too sure of who all is available to go eat, who is up for dinner, etc. Looks like we have 4 or 5 people. I'm in Union Square, another guy in SOMA (at the W). Two people at the Warf. Last year, I wend t to Tadich Grill and enjoyed it. Thinking of going back there. Recommend some other places. Maybe an Italian place in North Beach? A not too pricey place in Union Square? NON-CHAIN, please. We all enjoyed our lunches at the new Westside Pavillion mall after the keynote. That was a winner, IMHO. Edit: Probably looking to do this around 8:00ish

A good choice, for sure. When he's there, he can check out the rest of the Ferry Building. I'll be in town next week and plan on spending a lot of time at the Ferry Building. I figure it's a good way to get away from Moscone.

Heh.... NOW I agree with you.

I didn't get in on the free copy thing. But I did pick up a copy today. Something easy to read for my trip to San Francisco next week. So far, it's good. I've never READ any of Tony's stuff before other than Kitchen Confidential, but I've seen a lot of him on TV. So, some of the stuff is familiar (the Vegas article) and some of it is like stuff I read in KC. But it's still AB. And I have a lot more to read. I also like the background notes for each story that are at the end of the book.

when bryan turns 21, we should all gather at a nice cocktail lounge with him as the guest of honor and buy him drinks. Real drinks. With lots of hard liquor in 'em. Hell, this thread will still be active when that happens. It will make the planning easy. we'll all have a good time. Kiss and makeup and all that good stuff.

awesome. Good to know.

so, how tough is it to nab a reservation at Jean Georges for dinner (the main, formal dining room. not Nougatine). A friend of mine that lives in New York has been dying to go and we've been talking about it for a while. But the "catch" is that I live in Dallas and would have to travel for this. Obviously, for me, a weekend meal would probbly be the easiest from a travel perspective, (miminal, if any, time off from work) but I imgine a Friday or Saturday night reso may be difficult to come by. Also, they indicate they take reservations only one month in advance, making it a little bit harder to plan out very far in advance. any thoughts? Tips?

I was in on that thread. But I don't think that people suggested the Argentinian Malbec because Argentina is close to Brazil. I think they suggested a Malbec because it's a delicious accompaniment to grilled and roasted meats, and an Argentinian one because not only are theirs delicious (and Argentina is one of the places getting great results from that grape), they are reasonably priced as well. It was Texas de Brazil in Miami that you're referring to. I was there last week, and I also ate at an Argentinian Steakhouse (Graziano's) and had a sublime rib steak grilled over wood, and a supremely delicious Argentinian Malbec to go with it. Now, it very well may be that the Argentinians started planting the Malbec grape looking for something to go with their delicious beef, for sure. ← Yeah.. I know. But I think I DID initially seek out something that was from an area close to Brazil. Anywyay, you were a great help and I got good wine that we all loved. That's what matters most. Right?

Heh... I did the same thing in a Brazillian Churascaria. In fact, I started a post here in the wine forum before actually going to the reastaurant. I strted off with the "When In Rome" assumption. People suggested a Malbec from Argentina. (It's close to Brazil ) And you know what, it was great. It looks like I'll be going to a Brazillian Churascaria later in the month. And you know what? I think I'll order a Malbec. I mean, if I never tried the "when in Rome" thing, I'd probably miss out on a lot of wines I would not normally have. The flip side to this is when I went to the Slanted Door. Vietnam doesn't have a big wine histroy. The wine listed was loaded with Rieslings from Germany. It works great. Germany is hardly like China.

I ate at one of his " Atelier de McRobuchons" establishments. At the time, it was the only one in the USA. (Las Vegas). The meal was fantastic.

I've only leafed through it at the bookstore, but this was going to be my answer as well. I could sit on an airplane and just read that cookbook like I was reading "Kitchen Confidential"

I don't get around as much as most of you guys, but here is my list of great meals in 2006, in [roughly] chronological order Hog Island Oyster Depot -- San Francisco Slanted Door -- San Francisco Table 8 -- Los Angeles Bouchon -- Las Vegas Michael Mina -- Las Vegas L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon -- Las Vegas Craft -- Dallas A.O.C. -- Los Angeles Bern's -- Tampa some chicken from some Phillipino place, consumed in a conference room at the office -- Los Angeles Abacus -- Dallas Edit: To add Table 8

Let me put it this way. I'm a lawyer (not in this industry). It's my job, not just to advise my clients what the laws are on the books, but how they're likely to be applied. My clients can then make informed judgments about what to do. I'm not talking about corruption or anything like that, but rather about giving fair due to the way the law is applied in reality. We're not talking about normative line-drawing here (about what should be). We're talking about the fairly commonsense approach that actually is taken. Moreover, it's striking that virtually everybody in the industry seems to understand this. It's extremely rare -- I'd have said unheard of, but maybe Daniel can tell me differently -- for an accompanied at-least-mid-to-late-teenage minor to be refused wine in a high-end NYC restaurant. On the other hand, it's probably rare for wine to be served to minors in lower-end places. The proprietors of the high-end restaurants aren't daredevils, and the proprietors of the lower-end places aren't scardeycats. They all just know the system, and have evaluated the risks. ← That's fine. This has been a very interesting disucssion, to say the last. I appreciate your inisght on it.