San Francisco business trip(ode to Chowhound)

out of these 4 restaurants-

bacar
foreign cinema
salt house
ozumo

yays/nays?

Foreign Cinema - assuming the movie is decent and the weather cooporates.

johnny wrote:Foreign Cinema - assuming the movie is decent and the weather cooporates.

in my tacit research Foreign Cinema most appeals...but, I've been informed chances are it's Bacar

which doesn't discount the probability of still dining/viewing at FC

thank you for the vote of confidence, though...I like to trust my instincts and FC sounds good

Hi,

I guess I am a bit dense, how is this an "Ode to Chowhound?"

Regards,

It's just the type of stupid question with no detail as to the criteria, desires of the poster, etc that dominates chowhound.

It's not quite your traditional ode

gleam wrote:It's just the type of stupid question with no detail as to the criteria, desires of the poster, etc that dominates chowhound.

It's not quite your traditional ode

Cute!

Chowhound response: Go to Ruth's Chris Steak House!!


LTH response: A direct answer to the question at hand with an eloquent explanation as to why, closing with "also go to Swan Oyster Depot!"



I certainly prefer the latter.

How did you pick those 4 restaurants and are you open to any other suggestions?

gleam wrote:It's just the type of stupid question with no detail as to the criteria, desires of the poster, etc that dominates chowhound.

If this were truly Chowhound then:

1. You would be castigated for being off-topic.
2. Your post would be moved to another board.
3. Your post would be deleted from the other board to which it had been moved.
4. You and the next 4 generations of your family would be banned from Chowhound.

RevrendAndy wrote:How did you pick those 4 restaurants and are you open to any other suggestions?

I didn't pick them and yes. All the usual suspects(and my faves are booked out the wazoo)

There's a restaurant convention in town...and these are third/fourth tier choices.

I researched the four somewhat...none really standout in my mind, but thought I'd both rib CH and get some off-the-cuff responses with my ode

I was in SF fairly recently and had great meals at Town Hall and A10. Don't know if you tried those places. I ate at Bacar a year ago and thought it was just ok.

For something more casual (perhaps breakfast?), I would suggest Canteen

Andy's Better Brother wrote:

gleam wrote:It's just the type of stupid question with no detail as to the criteria, desires of the poster, etc that dominates chowhound.

If this were truly Chowhound then:

1. You would be castigated for being off-topic.
2. Your post would be moved to another board.
3. Your post would be deleted from the other board to which it had been moved.
4. You and the next 4 generations of your family would be banned from Chowhound.

Sounds more like eGullet to me.

Christopher Gordon wrote:out of these 4 restaurants-

bacar
foreign cinema
salt house
ozumo

yays/nays?

mid-jan '07 business trip Placeholder Certificate 1959(why do you come here? why do you hang around?)

Ahhh...olde Morrissey songs make me smile

San Francisco(etc):

tartine-

how about some Smiths, then? "I'd rather not go back to the old...neighborhood" ...one of my yesteryear haunts Guerrero and 18th-ish... this was our first stop in the city: a cashier dressed as if she just stepped out of one of Lautrec's bar scenes except for the bundled dreads and tats *wonder if she's in a band* sexy breads pulled from the hearth, piled up on a table, lovely thyme-accented gourgere, espresso(for me), cappucinos(for them), bright, summery lemon tart, eclair, but I don't like chocolate so I just splooshed out the cream

then a stroll up and around Dolores Park, cigarette dangling from my lips to one of my favorite golden hour views of downtown

in & out animal style-

out in Larkspur where we were staying with friends in their spectacular, recently-purchased ark...they had their blood drawn by an insurance croaker at the kitchen table then it was off to In & Out(they didn't exist in the Bay Area when I lived here...it was always Carl's Jr., feh...) Burger rocked...fries, I liked, but as the sage advice goes...you gotta eat 'em quick

on the bridge-

Japantown Mall, bland, plebian mountain vegetable soba, tasty soju drinks in koolaid colors, horrific Japanese pizza---soppy cornmeal "crust,"
chef boyardee sauce, julienned wakame

(original) beard papa-yay! vanilla-speckled custard-filled creampuffs! Others did chocolate and chocolate-covered chocolate, but I don't do chocolate, so there

eddie rickenbacker's-

cocktails, beers, outside with friends(old and new)

owner just inside the door asleep on the couch

slanted door-

dear SD, what's become of you? You're in a beautiful new-to-me space. It's see and be seen. You employ the services of a hot, gargantuan, tattoo-sleeved, hairy, musclebound Aussie waitron who has a tendency to hunker down next to patrons and run through a menu brought to life by his delightful accent. You also retain the "expertise" of a snippy sommelier with bad breath. But what of the cuisine? You've let yourself slide, I'm afraid: now it's merely Californian with a hint of Vietnamese. And okay for all that---we shared shrimp and jicama roll(served sans dipping sauce, yet surprisingly highly-flavored), grilled quails(tasty, grill-y), chicken claypot(eh...pretty much the usual caramel sauce), spicy squid(another one a bit pedestrian, flavorful, decent chile-heat, kinda eh...the waiter warned us off this one opining it was way to spicy...-for him-), grilled Australian free-range lamb rack(waiter rec. and imo the best dish...the tamarind sauce catalysed the unexpectedly-strong lamb...I loved it), spicy Catalan Farm broccoli w/ honshimeji mushrooms and pressed tofu(tofu yumm-o)...what'd we have? A drier Riesling, I believe and cocktails and beers and then more at the bar after dinner.

pizzeria pico-

Larkspur, redwoods, woodfired pizzas, swimming with the drowning sun, musical chairs so we don't all get tanned down one side, rose', white pizza, potato pizza, eggplant/shrimp/tomato pizza, gorgonzola pizza where we sub-arugula
*we had to order an arugula salad to be placed atop the pizza...it was stressing the poor California girl server the fuck out*
for pancetta=
friends don't dig pig, margherita pizza, get buzzed in past the oven
*cool!* to use the men's room.

bacar-

see and be seen, but more of a Dockers crowd, asshole barstaff, friendly waitstaff, annoyingly tiny men's room, expensive-for-what-it-is California cuisine: sonoma foie flan(mmm...buttery foie), diver scallops(tender), applewood-smoked bacon-wrapped venison *I was in a deer mood, and, as expected, the bacon totally overwhelmed the meat...good herbed spaetzle, tho'*, they were out of Old Chatham's Nancy's camembert so I went with a favorite, Cowgirl Creamery Redhawk with honeycomb...no one wanted to share my stinky cheese, alas...more for me...
...someone else picked some cult red and there was an Italian and also a gin gimlet from the asshole bartender and...armagnac?...maybe? I can't locate my files...maybe later...

taqueria guadalupe-

Who knew how closely Sonoma resembles the Texas Hill Country? We had the county to ourselves. Scheduling difficulties led to a commes ci commes ca approach to the tastings. But, this blip concerns tacos:
good on-par-with-some-of-Chicago al pastor and carne asada, mexican Coke, filling and for much less than the trendy market across the street

...as we were leaving a sax player struck up something husky and mournful in the nearby park...perfection

mayo/rodney strong/pedroncelli-

Mayo: bang for your buck(compared to the Napa culture) great host, freewheeling, knowledgable, poured extras...esp. a mysterious port

Rodney Strong-the sun descends the apex of the Mayan temple blinding acolytes schlepping towards vinoculture, cool former Edgewater denizen and vivacious blond pour, lead us through some complimentary reserves, more port, talk about the Bears(dear god)

Pedroncelli: what a train wreck

I was looking forward to this one...about the only thing credible about House of Glunz is that they introduced the s/o and I to Pedroncelli mother clone zin a few years back. Otherwise The Glunz family is pretty damn assy and their store is a crypt.

Anyway, Pedroncelli. We drive up and spy a taco truck...well, we were looking for one, actually, but this was mere transportation for the dipshits awaiting inside...not tacos. Pedroncelli was hosting a "tasting" party for a band of exceedingly-sloshed early-twenty somethings. The one elderly woman hired-on to pour was in-her-cups herself. There were two other patrons behind the bar(which I imagine is illegal) helping out by damn near filling the revelers' glasses to the top. Meanwhile drunken granny could barely be bothered with us and her pours...damn!...she might as well have used an eyedropper. And the children across the bar apparantly stole a bottle of port...poor granny just couldn't find it and gave up after awhile. I didn't see the theft. Sucky.

Lark Creek Inn-

Charbay blood orange vodka and soda
accolades impasto the wall near the men's
Charlie Trotter letterhead with love to his mentor
the menu looked fucking tasty, but we were only there for drinks

stroke the redwood grove while waiting for the valet


pizzeria pico again-

this time order in
still tasty
add on a different pizza(can't remember what at the moment...I was benadryl-d out of my mind anyway)
serve our own arugula
Spanish wine from Spanish wineshop that was out of original choice
(they also offered for sale the largest paella pan I have ever seen)

tip: no one wants leftout shrimp pizza the morningafter

prop room(long beach airport)-layover, no car, obviously, nothing nearby, crappy food, the chicken fingers were moist, beer

bumping this w/ new content(see above)

I've been away from the SF Bay Area so long, I don't even recognize most of the restaurants that have been name-checked!

On our recent visit back there, we finally got around to going to House of Nanking (been meaning to do that since, oh, 1990?) and I was completely shocked to find that it was actually really good. We were prepared to experience what happens to a establishment after it is "discovered" and endlessly feted, which we figured couldn't be anything good; turns out the tofu with Chinese greens was one of the most marvellous things I have ever put in my mouth.

I will dream of it tonight.

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:I've been away from the SF Bay Area so long, I don't even recognize most of the restaurants that have been name-checked!

On our recent visit back there, we finally got around to going to House of Nanking (been meaning to do that since, oh, 1990?) and I was completely shocked to find that it was actually really good. We were prepared to experience what happens to a establishment after it is "discovered" and endlessly feted, which we figured couldn't be anything good; turns out the tofu with Chinese greens was one of the most marvellous things I have ever put in my mouth.

I will dream of it tonight.

yep, the only resto I had prior knowledge of was The Slanted Door in it's Valencia incarnation

I had heard of Tartine(it's rather famous), but had never been