SF's Local Scene

[Squeat Mungry]

The Cafe at CP is wonderful. I love it. Just wanted to tip you off to the Monday dinner downstairs, though, which is an absolute steal at $50 per person.

I had a great time hanging out with Bond Girl at the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market on Saturday. (JennotJenn were you there?) She was slated to eat at Farallon that night, and Quince the next. Hope she reports back soon!

enrevanche have a great trip and don't forget to tell us about it!

Cheers,

Squeat

[memesuze]

Re: the CP Monday night dinners - what's the drill? Reservations how far in advance, how long a seating....

[Squeat Mungry]

Re: the CP Monday night dinners - what's the drill? Reservations how far in advance, how long a seating....

Their reservation policy is here. Generally, they take reservations a month in advance. Two seatings -- one starting at 6 and one at 8:30. I've been on Mondays a couple of times reserving as little as a few days ahead, but I'd say call as far in advance as you can.

[Bond Girl]

Thanks everyone for all the advice on my weekend. I had a wonderful time in SF, and Squeat is totally awesome in showing me the Farmer's market and pointing me to Quince. The food there is what Californian cuisine ought to be. I also had a great time at the Tartine Bakery. I met some interesting people and bought macaroons for my friends in New York. Now I can't wait to go back.

[JennotJenn]

The Cafe at CP is wonderful. I love it. Just wanted to tip you off to the Monday dinner downstairs, though, which is an absolute steal at $50 per person.

I had a great time hanging out with Bond Girl at the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market on Saturday. (JennotJenn were you there?) She was slated to eat at Farallon that night, and Quince the next. Hope she reports back soon!

enrevanche have a great trip and don't forget to tell us about it!

Cheers,

Squeat

I made it to the farmer's market, but couldn't make it that early. We got there around 10 or so. I wanted to meet everyone, but had a marvelous time anyway.

I bought a holy crapload of food and I finally found the tattoo design I want (the squid tile near the Sur La Table). Let's see...bought a couple types of whole dried chiles, including a smoked habenero for baked beans. Some of the spicy lemon pistachios from G.L. Alfiriei, a couple of vials of chile powder (I bought one medium hot smoked pimento, husband bought whatever the hottest one was). Oh, and some habenero jelly, which is so good on bread with triple cream cheese. Yeah, we like spicy, spicy food.

Other than the hot stuff, we bought 3 jars of marmelade from Frog Hollow, since they were 3 for $20, and I figured one would make a good gift for the coworker that covered my workload while I was away. I really liked their navel orange marmalade...not bitter at all (I don't care for the bitter Seville Orange), and plan on keeping a jar of that. Got a sour round from Acme, some macaroons and a pastry from the shop with the pretty bags (I'm a sucker for pretty packaging), some chocolates, Mt.Tam from Cowgirl, and some olive oil (from Stonewall, I think).

mmmmmm....so yummy.

[Squeat Mungry]

Sorry we missed you at the market, JennotJenn, but it sounds like you had a good time and got some choice goodies to boot.

Where did you eat while you were here? Any memorable meals?

Cheers,

Squeat

[tanabutler]

we bought 3 jars of marmelade from Frog Hollow, since they were 3 for $20,

I hope you got some of the Meyer lemon and the peach conserve. Dear Lord, they're good!

[JennotJenn]

we bought 3 jars of marmelade from Frog Hollow, since they were 3 for $20,

I hope you got some of the Meyer lemon and the peach conserve. Dear Lord, they're good!

We got the Meyer and the Navel Orange. Both taste amazing. The peach was good, but I'm a loyalist---my grandma's is better

Where did we eat? Hmmm, let me see if I can remember. We ate a lot.

We ate at Zuni the first night. Started w/4 oysters each. I had one native Pacific (can't remember the exact ones), pne of the flat ones (starts w/a W) one Miyagai (not the Hog Island, the other one), and one Barnstable. Husband had the same, except he had an Olympia instead of the Eastern Barnstable. The oysters we freakin' awesome. I haven't ordered a Cesar salad in years, but husband I ordered and spilt one. Really good, and you could actually tasted the anchovies. For entree we had the chicken, and for dessert we had the espresso granita. The chicken was good, but we wished that we'd stuck to ordering oysters. There may be cheaper places to get them, but theirs seemed super-duper fresh and of very high quality. Drinks: I had a Lillet on the rocks with a twist, DH had a single malt (can't remember which one) and a glass of wine. Their wine list was pretty small, but I can't complain...I was too jet lagged to want to drink much.

The next day, Friday, we had lunch at La Taqueria. I had a burrito w/carnitas and avacado. Husband had the beef. The salsa verde or whatever the green sauce at the table was was the best thing about the meal, and that says quite a bit, as it was all quite good. I had a mandarin aqua fresca. Maybe it's because I'm still recovering from having given up sweets/soda/juice for Lent, but it was waaaay too sweet. Would have rocked cut with some lime juice and Sprite, though.

Friday night we humped it over to Berkely and had tapas at Cesar. Mostly I remember getting very drunk. We had the frites/fries/papas whatever with fried herbs and sea salt. Huge pile of them. I would seriously only order these if you have about 4 drunken companions w/you, as it's an insane amt. of food. Not too greasy, though, and I love fried herbs w/my potatoes. We also had the Marcona almonds (standard, always good for eating while drinking) and the bacaolo, which was nice and spicy. It reminded me of something that I still can't place. Anyway, it was good. I don't know if you guys have been, but it's a nice place. Very friendly, everyone having a good time. We got there sort of late, so they were out of a couple of the really good sounding specials, but other than that, a very good time. And if you go and get the cute bartender with the short blonde hair, she rocks. Oh, and we got out of there for a pretty reasonable price, considering the fact that their extensive , pretty reasonably well priced liqour list ate up 1/2 our bill, easily. I would recommended a trip if you're out that way. We checked out the Chez Panisse menu as we walked by, and I gotta say, I'm not too upset we didn't do it this time; looked like she was offering a lot of damn beets. I seriously don't know if even Alice Waters could get me to like beets.

Ok, so the best part about Berkeley was when we darted into Elephant (I think it was Elephant) grocery so husband could pee and I could get some fruit for breakfast. Holy crap, the dudes working in there were so funny. "You may use any exit you choose" and "I return to you sixty-five cents and a detailed record of our transaction" are now in mine and Dh's daily vocabulary. It was a nice night.

Saturday was FPFM in the AM, where we ate breakfast and snacked around. Lunch at Swan's. More oysters (DH had never had raw ones before, and just couldn't get enough once he tried them), some Anchor Steam, and a little crab. The guys at Swan's were really nice, too. Very pleasant, and the wait wasn't long (though made slightly unplesant by a loudmouthed old tourist dude and his friends), maybe 5-10 minutes. We did make the mistake of going to Fisherman's Wharf because I wanted to go to Musee Mechanique. I'm very glad we went there (dude, nothing like a grown woman in a skirt riding a mechanical horse while laughing maniacally...I drew a rather large crowd), but wish they'd kept it out in Ocean City.

We tried to find a particular Thai place for dinner, but that didn't pan out. If anyone saw a babbling, freaking out chick in the Mission around 9 PM on Saturday night with a normal looking but baffled tall guy, that was me. I get really sick and freak out if my blood sugar gets low, which it did after a day of walking all over the city and eating only oysters until 9PM. Not fun. So I finally got husband to realize that he needed to get me a soda, some peanut butter, and back on the bus. We ended up eating in some noodle joint on Union Sqaure near our hotel hat was pretty good...damned cheap, open 'til one, pretty tasty. Absurdly large portions, though. Which, actually, was appreciated at the time. I was ok after that.

Sunday was dim sum for lunch at Ton Kiang after walking through Golden Gate Park. Poor husband was so confused. He had no idea what was going on. He picked up on it after the first couple of rounds. However, he doesn't care for Chinese of any sort, and I always forget that until after we eat and he's sitting there looking unhappy. Oh well. He did enjoy the experience once he got into the flow, and did really like the potstickers and Chinese doughnuts (which I normally hate, but theirs were good).

Sunday night we ate at Oseteria (del Forno??? on Columbia near Coil Liqours), which was good, filling and cheap. We had the speck appetiser, two glasses of cheap but drinkable wine and a pizza for $30. We ate there for lunch the next day, too, since we were in the neighborhood. Oh, then we had second lunch (!!) at Truly Mediterranean...Spicy Hummus wrap.

Dinner that night was at Gary Danko. Oh yeah. Very good, though it was hot as nuts in the dining room (WTF with that heat wave?). I felt really sorry for the cooks...had to be unbearably hot in the kitchen. I ordered the oysters with osetera caviar and asaparagus in cream. Mmmmmm so good. DH had the tuna w/avacado and enoki mushrooms. I tasted it. Wasn't blown away, but he seemed to be in some sort of heaven.

We both ordered the beef with nettle rissoto and morels. The online menu lists wild boar, which was not on the menu that night, to my disappointment. I ordered mine medium rare erring on rare. It was cooked perfectly, and with lots of morels. God, I love morels. DH ordered his rare, and it came cooked a little more than he wanted, but still no more than medium rare. The only problem with that dish was that the asparagus on the plate was overcooked. We had the cheese plate. Lots of "Ghastly, stinky cheese" (TM the travelocity gnome). Very good. Since it was super hot in the dining room, I think the term "room temperature" was taken a little too far...a couple of degrees cooler on the cheese front would have been good, I think.. We had more than I can remember, I do remember eating Morbier, which was pretty cool. Not my favorite, but I liked it ok. We had a ColoRouge, a triple cream (I think...it was soft whatever it was), very good and runny. Roaring Forties, a blue cheese that tastes like black walnuts (Mmmmmmm...our favorite). Gosh, can't remember what else. Then dessert and coffee...DH had sorbet, I had the rhubarb napoleon. Mine was good. DH's had what looked like a purchased cookie.

FOr Danko, I would recommend two things: the little nibbles that come out after dessert? Can 'em, or get better quality.And those cookies w/sorbet? Same deal.

Ok, this is far too long and husband needs the computer.

[Squeat Mungry]

Thanks for the report, JennotJenn! Sounds like you had a good time in spite of the freakishly insane heat we had while you were here.

Did you make it to the Anchor Brewery?

Cheers,

Squeat

[ehemann]

heres a couple of my old favorites... bill's hamburgers for a burger bigger than your head, gordo's for killer burritos, and i know its trendy but i love the irish coffee at buena vista and the diner style service.(plus it was around the corner from work at gary danko. If you've been to the laundry and didnt try his older bro's place bouchon, you should i really dig the blood sausage there.

[JennotJenn]

Thanks for the report, JennotJenn! Sounds like you had a good time in spite of the freakishly insane heat we had while you were here.

Did you make it to the Anchor Brewery?

Cheers,

Squeat

Yeah, what was up with the heat? Still, it was better than the weather in NC. My mantra has become "2 1/2 more years until I graduate and we're outta here...". The weather and air quality here are, er, less than desirable to us, and we can't wait to move elsewhere. Preferably San Francisco, Seattle, Portland...someplace cool and clammy.

Anyway, yes, we did the brewery. I took one of the greatest pictures of my life there, too. I'll try to post it on my (as yet to be fully developed) website. It was so much fun. I spent most of the tasting trying to pretend that I wasn't drunk. Unfortunatly, since it was really hot outside, we'd walked uphill from the busstop, and they didn't have a water fountain, I pounded those first two glasses, so I wasn't doing such a hot job at the pretending to be sober part. Anyway, it was waaaay cooler than the Guinness Brewery, I thought. Husband loved it, too.

Cannot wait to come back.

[enrevanche]

Big thanks to all who offered advice in advance of our trip to San Francisco. It wound up being a *huge* success; we ate like kings and didn't even really put a dent in our list of recommendations (a return trip is clearly in order!)

To recap: It was my wife's 40th birthday, and we took a long weekend in San Francisco as her present. Got a terrific hotel deal on the Internet (Hotel Juliana on Bush Street, on the cusp of Nob Hill and an easy walk to Chinatown and Union Square) and headed out to see the sights and eat some great meals.

I really don't think we had a bad meal the entire time we were there (well, there was this one touristy joint in North Beach that I went into against my better judgment, but let's let that go.)

Particular highlights/standouts include:

-- Tacos at Taqueria La Cumbre in the Mission District. I told the friendly counter ladies that we had travelled all the way from New York to eat tacos at their place, and they outdid themselves--had I paced myself a bit better I could have happily eaten there all afternoon. (We also had a celebrity sighting - fellow New Yorker and foodie Calvin Trillin was eating at the next table.)

-- Seafood at Scoma's in Sausalito (after a fabulous morning tramping around Muir Woods.) It was admittedly a little pricey, but along with killer views over the Bay we had amazing saffron-y Dungeness crab bisque, and I had an exquisite grilled (very rare, as requested) ahi sandwich...

Memo to self: first, win the Lotto. Then look for a house in Sausalito...

-- Cantonese food at the R&G Lounge. The salt-and-pepper crab was spectacular, as was the small crock of hot-and-sour soup I started out with (authentically hot *and* sour, easily the best rendition of this soup I've ever eaten.) Other standouts were a clay-pot potage of scallops and shrimp, and a stewed-beef-and-vermicelli in a potato bird's nest.

-- The special "birthday dinner" was at Chez Panisse Cafe (upstairs), and it was amazing in every respect. New garlic pizzetta, breathtakingly fresh salad greens, braised organic free-range chicken, ginger cake with Meyer lemon creme. I was also pleasantly surprised at how reasonably priced their wine list was, and the utter care with which everything (even the small dish of olives that came to the table) had been selected. Everything that was being served downstairs was available a la carte on the Cafe menu upstairs, so I really don't feel like we missed anything by eating at the Cafe. Far from it, in fact.

The best food experience of all, however, may have been the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building on Saturday morning. As we tasted the samples of fresh fruit (and bought peaches, apricots, and cherries to eat back at the hotel), and as I wolfed down a late breakfast from the food stalls (scrambled eggs, slab bacon and fresh tomatoes on a baguette), my wife and I started whispering conspiratorially to each other about picking up stakes and moving. You are so lucky to have such a wonderful resource - the Greenmarkets in NYC don't hold a candle to what you've got.

Also, thanks for the logistical advice about spending a day in wine country. As none of our party were really willing to be designated drivers we wound up hooking up with a tour company that did focused day tours with small groups, and left the driving to them. We visited four wineries (one big commercial establishment and three mom-and-pop operations), had a wonderful time, tasted some really good wine and came back to our hotel with our purchased bottles and a moderate-to-severe buzz . The suggestion about hitting a deli beforehand and picnicking for lunch was dead on... we washed down our sandwiches with a good bottle of pinot noir and were all very happy campers.

We're already planning our next trip.

Thanks again, eGulleteers, and maybe we'll see you next time we're in San Francisco.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Exactly the same thoughts I had on Scoma's in Sausalito, enrevanche! I, too, left Sausalito and wanted desperately to return! A beautiful place to spend eternity .. and the seafood at Scoma's was amazing as well! Garlicky, buttery huge shrimp on linguini ... to die for ...

Similar experience at Chez Panisse .. we ate upstairs, as well, and felt it was superb in both the experience and the food ...

Thanks for posting on your trip .. will be in that area in late August and you have rekindled my appetites, both culinary as well as city-wise.

[jschyun]

(We also had a celebrity sighting - fellow New Yorker and foodie Calvin Trillin was eating at the next table.)

Holy cow! I would kill to sit next to Calvin Trillin. But then I would probably make a fool of myself. You didn't get an autograph, did you?

My only celebrity sighting is waiting in line at Elixir (Los Angeles) behind Ellen Degeneres. I didn't realize it was her until she was leaving, but the voice was so familiar...

[enrevanche]

(We also had a celebrity sighting - fellow New Yorker and foodie Calvin Trillin was eating at the next table.)

Holy cow! I would kill to sit next to Calvin Trillin. But then I would probably make a fool of myself. You didn't get an autograph, did you?

No, no autographs.

I have a memory of this encounter that is better than any autograph, however.

Carrie's mom and dad met us in San Francisco to help celebrate her birthday, and were with us at La Cumbre.

Amusingly enough, my in-laws are from Kansas City, Missouri (Trillin's hometown, too) and went to the same high school he did. They didn't go at quite the same time as he did (he is a few years older) but Mr. Trillin went to school with my father-in-law's older brother, and both my father-in-law and mother-in-law were there at the same time as one of Mr. Trillin's younger sisters.

So it was like old home week there. My in-laws went over to the table to greet Mr. Trillin, and the next thing I knew, he had challenged them to sing the Southwest High School (mascot: the Indians) fight song. Whether Mr. Trillin was testing their bona fides, indulging a perverse humorous streak, or a little of both, I cannot say, but my father-in-law, no shrinking violet, happily belted out the fight song.

A good time was had by all.

[tanabutler]

What a wonderful, wonderful write-up, enrevanche. I'm so glad you enjoyed yourselves. Delightful all the way around.

[Gary Soup]

(We also had a celebrity sighting - fellow New Yorker and foodie Calvin Trillin was eating at the next table.)

-

Were you there for lunch? His "date" may have been Laurel Wellman.

Laurel Wellman on Calvin Trillin

[enrevanche]

(We also had a celebrity sighting - fellow New Yorker and foodie Calvin Trillin was eating at the next table.)

-

Were you there for lunch? His "date" may have been Laurel Wellman.

Laurel Wellman on Calvin Trillin

Gary,

We were in fact there for lunch... and Mr. Trillin was sitting with an attractive young lady who appeared to be interviewing him. Clearly, it must have been Ms. Wellman.

Actually, he modestly denies being a food expert. But a group of patrons recognized Trillin, who apparently had gone to school with somebody's brother. "Well, if you're eating here, it must be good!" exclaimed one.

"It's like truck drivers -- that's right," answered Trillin.

Heh. Yep, that was us.

That's hysterical. I will forward this article to my in-laws. They'll get a real charge out of it. Thanks for pointing this out.

[jschyun]

We were in fact there for lunch... and Mr. Trillin was sitting with an attractive young lady who appeared to be interviewing him. Clearly, it must have been Ms. Wellman.

Written evidence! words fail me...

Actually no, they don't. What a wonderful story! Classic. I'm still waiting for the day when I go to some chocolate fair/seminar/class and meet my other hero, Lora Brody.

[tanabutler]

So where is a nice mid-range place to take my dear (and best foodie) friend for his birthday today? Where could we eat and have a glass of wine and get out for under $50? Atmosphere is nice, but not fancy or dressed up.

[winesonoma]

Take a ride up to the town of Sonoma only 45 min from Golden Gate Bridge. Lots of choices in that price range. It's warm and sunny out today and wine tasting is a bonus.

[tanabutler]

That's too far. He's got to go back to work.

[pim]

Chez Papa does lunch on week days. Take a little care with the menu and you likely could get out for around $50-ish.

[chaud-froid]

So where is a nice mid-range place to take my dear (and best foodie) friend for his birthday today? Where could we eat and have a glass of wine and get out for under $50? Atmosphere is nice, but not fancy or dressed up.

You could probably do this at Piperade, Bizou, or Fringale. I've been meaning to try Tonno Rosso -- it is also in this price range but I can't vouch for the quality. A step above pricewise would be Zuni or Jeanty at Jacks.

[Squeat Mungry]

So where is a nice mid-range place to take my dear (and best foodie) friend for his birthday today? Where could we eat and have a glass of wine and get out for under $50? Atmosphere is nice, but not fancy or dressed up.

tana, one place you might consider is Bistro Clovis on Market. In fact, I'm going to have dinner there on Friday to celebrate my birthday! (Assuming that the horrible flu I've had for the past week clears up sufficiently.)

When my friends asked where they could take me for my birthday, I remembered that I had been meaning to try this place for dinner (I had several great lunches there years ago when I worked nearby). I have heard only good things about it, and the prices are reasonable. Their selection of wines is supposed to be especially good, and the room itself is quite charming in an informal sort of way.

Of course the Chronicle hasn't reviewed it since 1990!

Anyway, hope you have a great time wherever you end up, and Happy Birthday to your friend!

Cheers,

Squeat