The Plan: Eat, drink, and bond for four nights and three days while exploring San Francisco without the monumental distraction of a major professional obligation to get in the way of the fun.
The Players: Moose and Goose, plus the Sister, Brother, and Sister-in-Law of the Goosians.
Base Camp for the Adventure: Hotel Monaco on Geary Street, which we would recommend even if it didn't welcome dogs, but it does! Plus: Free coffee and tea every morning and a wine reception every evening! Oh, and a goldfish in your room if you selfishly left your dog at home but still want to have a pet around!
Where We Ate: Boulevard, the Slanted Door, Poggio (Sausalito), Sears Fine Food (breakfasts), Sam's Grill, Barbara's Fishtrap (Half Moon Bay), Sutro's at the Cliff House.
Best Bites: Goose loved everything she put in her mouth, including the cute little Swedish pancakes from Sears, but she was especially impressed by the cellophane noodles with green onion and dungeness crab meat at the Slanted Door, duck breast roasted in pancetta at Boulevard, and the ahi tuna tartare at Cliff House. Moose was determined to enjoy food without seriously sabotaging five months of strenuous dietary discipline, so her choices were a little more restrained than Goose's (and she logged several miles on the treadmill at the hotel), but she ate well and felt good doing it. She loved the salad with grilled calamari she had at Poggio as well as the halibut with cilantro, lemongrass, and kaffir lime she had at the Slanted Door. Oh, and the salmon in whole-grain mustard sauce with celeriac puree at the Cliff House was pretty yummy, too.
Bottom line? We didn't have a bad meal the whole trip. Sam's Grill was underwhelming food-wise, but the great service and the stepping-into-olden-times vibe of the place made up for that disappointment.
Here are some photo highlights of the culinary part of the adventure:
Slanted Door: The aforementioned halibut is in the foreground (two orders); that's sauteed baby spinach and asparagus with king trumpet mushrooms in the background.
Barbara's Fishtrap: Dungeness crab louie salad tasted as fresh and wonderful as it looks.
Sutro's at the Cliff House: Ravioli with an arugula and walnut pesto that was good but not as great as the tuna tartare. We didn't have a chance to snap a shot of the tuna before an overly zealous waiter mixed all the artfully arranged ingredients together, so this will have to do.
Sutro's at the Cliff House: The dining room at sunset. Comradde PhysioProffe trashed the joint in a comment on the previous post, but we're thinking maybe he hasn't visited since a recent renovation. Try it again, my friend -- Looks great, tastes better! And if you dine on a Tuesday night, you can sip a fine bottle of wine for half off the usual price!
A good time was had by all, lovelies. We hope your summers are off to a similarly delicious start, whether you are combing a beach somewhere or shopping for your next girlfriend at the Mother of All History Conferences or toiling away in some dusty archive. Leave us a little postcard in comments to let us know what you've got planned for the sultry summer of 2011. The denizens of Roxie's World care deeply about everything that's on your plate, too. Bone appétit, my pretties.
YUMMY! Thanks, Roxie: I'll be in SF later this summer and will consider following the moms' lead.
ReplyDeleteRox forgot to mention my lunch at Poggio--sweet pea and ricotta filled pasta with poached mussels, lemon butter. 'twas quite lovely, and the ferry ride over to Sausalito is indeed quite the treat. Plus the bro, sis, and sis-in-law were all carrying on about their lunches--esp. about the pork fennel sausage with broccoli rabe, red onion and mozzarella. There are places we didn't get to try (so many promising meals, so little time) so of course we will just have to return. Wish the dog could just fly with us in coach. . . .
ReplyDeleteAnd I do think that Comrade PhysioProf has just not been to Cliff House lately, which now touts a damned tasty meal with a breathtakingly spectacular view, even if you're not there at sunset (which is, ahem, just when we happened to be :).
And the Steins exhibit at the SFMOMA--oh my.
Mmm. . .mmm.
--Goose
Yummy! I can't wait to be in SF later this summer! And thanks for reminding me, Roxie, that I should be bed-hopping at the Berks instead of sweating for an hour and a half a day in Takoma Park. Hopefully my radiant skin and limber, stretched muscles will compensate me in the future for missing the fest.
ReplyDeleteThere's a GREAT dog walking park on the southwestern edge of the city, not far from SF State, Fort Funston, so Ruby can go next time!
ReplyDeleteOoooh, good to know, Bardiac. Now if we can just persuade the moms to buy Ms. Ruby the first-class ticket she deserves!
ReplyDeleteI think the heat from all that Bikram is getting to you, Ms. Enszer. Simmer down and get back to writing that diss. You'll be ready for the next Big Berks, with or without bed-hopping.
Boulevard is fucken awesome! The best is to sit in the bar at one of the small tables. Other outstanding places in San Fran are Fifth Floor (in the Palomar Hotel), Restaurant Lulu, and (oh, god, please take me there) Swan Oyster Depot.
ReplyDeleteMark took me to Le Cheval in Oakland which he thinks is BETTER than The Slanted Door! I have not been to both so cannot compare, but I liked it very much! And I adore Sutro's at the Cliff House, but was taken to another place nearby for great crab louie this time: The Beach Chalet, also overlooking the same beach.... I remember Playland and the skating rink and much more.... Having lived off and on in SF and Piedmont since the 50's....
ReplyDelete