Sunday, July 29, 2007

San Francisco June 2007



Dayne and I decided to take advantage of a client event I had going on in San Fran last month to enjoy a quick weekend. We hadn't been since our 1 year wedding anniversary 3 years ago! Traveling with Dayne is always enjoyable but this time it was made more so by an unexpected 2 hour delay getting out of SeaTac airport and Dayne carrying a small cleaned out Tabasco bottle of bitters in his pocket. Viola! Actual good martini's at an airport bar!!
Actually before we found out about the delay we had visited a new wine tasting bar in the airport which served up very good flights with very good food! So next time your in the central concourse I recommend you take a seat at the Vino Volo bar!

We stayed at the Kimpton Palomar in Union Square which was fantastic! Great price, wonderful location and they have a very clubby 5th floor bar. We decided to do a bit of shopping in Union Square the first morning and promptly found not only the Apple store (releasing the iPhone) but sales at all the great shops we love- huge sales!! It's now on the calendar that the weekend before 4th of July is a great time to head to the city by the bay.

After lunch we headed to MOMA for a wonderful exhibit by Matisse and then wondered the Yerba Buena gardens which neither of us had been before.

That evening we headed out to check out Bourbon & Branch a speakeasy style cocktail bar that Dayne had been wanting to try. It's smack in the middle of the Tenderloin District which is sketchy at best but once you arrive it is a fantastic place to have a drink or two! Not really a secret place but there is no address or sign posted and you do need a password to enter.



Dinner that evening was at Gary Danko where we hadn't been before. We couldn't get reservations so we waited for seats at the bar where we were served their full menu. I really liked that you could create your own 3, 4 or 5 course menu or go with their tasting menu!

They started us off with an amuse of asparagus soup with escargot that was absolutely stunning! I then had seared Foie Gras with Caramelized Red Onions and Cherries (of course!) while Dayne had Risotto with Lobster, Rock Shrimp, Zucchini, English Peas and Meyer Lemon. Next up was Pancetta Wrapped Frog Legs with Sunchoke Garlic Puree, Potato and Lentils for me.



Seared Sea Scallops with Sweet Pea Puree, Shimeji Mushrooms, Chorizo and Fava Beans for Dayne. Mains were lamb and duck in our true usual form but at this point there had been many glasses of wine (they paired for us) and the previous cocktails so I can't tell you the preparations!


and you will notice the photos in the set are getting blurrier and blurrier! oh well- that is what vacations are for! No dessert but cheese and mignardes rounded out a very enjoyable evening. I would absolutely dine here again and can see why it's remained such a popular restaurant as the food and service were top notch.

I can't explain why we felt the need to stop in at Cantina, a relatively new bar, but we did...lasted 1/2 a drink and finally called it a night!

After doing a bit of work the next morning we headed to the Ferry Plaza Market for our favorite lunch of oysters on the halfshell and a Cowgirl Creamery grilled cheese sandwich at Hog Island Oyster Co.. this time we also tried their oysters casino which rocked!


After lunch a bit of shopping for olive oil, ACME bread and chocolates rounded out our day (and carry on's for the flight home!)

More photos from our weekend in San Francisco here!

2 comments:

  1. We were SO sad to miss you on this trip. Hope we'll connect the next time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. us too! next time we'll give you more notice!!!

    ReplyDelete

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