All that glitters is good.....

All that glitters is good.....

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Dinings Around Town

Last weekend I was going to a show at the Bill Graham Auditorium by the Civic Center. We were looking for a place nearby in Hayes Valley to eat and tried to get into Absinthe, which of course was all filled up. We ended up headed to a place across the street which none of us had ever heard of but ended up exceeding expectations. The place I speak of is Dobbs Ferry. The place is surprisingly large, which you can't tell from the outside. It was a Saturday night in a hopping neighborhood and we only had to wait 5 minutes for a table. The inside is very clean, with white as the main color, complemented with rich wooden tones. There's a good Birch brand art piece in the front room and a glass encased mini-Birch forest in another one of the rooms. The food is American, with a slight Italian influence, and a focus on seasonal Bay Area offerings. I got the mussels and clams, which is listed under the appetizer and is available in two sizes. I got the smaller of the sizes and it was more then enough for dinner. The "frites" are actually fried pizza crust bread sticks, which were flaky wonderful goodness. The rest of the table's portions were equally as large. A friend ordered the prime rib special and it was the largest piece of prime rib I've ever seen. I also ordered a side of the brussel sprouts, which were sauteed in chili flakes, giving them a delightful spiciness.


Last week I also tried out Parallel 37, which is the newish restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton in Nob Hill. You have to enter the restaurant by first going through the lobby, so you are fully aware by the time you get seated that this is going to be a decadent dining experience. It's named for the geographical latitude passing under the Napa/Sonoma wine region. Based off this, you know they're going to have a good wine list. The list is so huge that each table is actually handed an iPad, where you can browse the bottle selection by varietal or region. Let's just say I've never seen a $16,000 bottle of wine on a menu. Their cocktail list is pretty fun too. I lean toward vodka when it comes to liquor (that's the Eastern European in me), so I got the Vaudeville Punch (vodka, dimmi, caviar lime and rose lemonade). It was refreshing and not too floral. Our table tries a variety of the appetizers to start, including the crab cakes, polenta fries, bat scallops, kampachi sashimi and shortrib ravioli. While everything was good, the crab cakes stood out as a favorite for most people at the table. For my entree I ordered the Sonoma duck breast, which was cooked a perfect medium rare and very tender. So would I recommend this restuarant? Yes, if you are prepared to spend at least $100 per person. I think it would be very hard to escape for under that.


Last weekend was a friend's birthday, so we had a girl's night out in the Mission, which started at the Morac Restaurant & Lounge on 16th Street. Morac serves Middle Eastern food, with strong Mediterranean and Indian influence. We started out with some hummus, yogurt sauce and baba ganoush plates. They came with regular pita, plus these delicious fried pita chips. For dinner I got the grilled prawn fattoush salad. Fattoush is a Arabic bread salad, mixing lettuce, chopped vegetables, Middle Eastern spices and fried pita chips. I'm usually a big fan (get the fattoush salad at Blue Barn on Chestnut) but this one was far too heavy on this red spice I couldn't identify. It was spicy, it just made everything chalky in texture. However, the lounge and bar areas had a great vibe and I had a blueberry champagne cocktail which was superb. I would go there again to drink, but probably not to eat.


Friday, January 27, 2012

All Caturdays are created equal






Thursday, January 19, 2012

Life in the Land of Wine

I'm a self-confessed wino and I'm perfectly fine with it. I've found that in California, it's perfectly acceptable. They buy into that glass a day keeps the doctor away theory that everyone in Europe has been practicing for centuries. It's a good state to live in if you're like me. Move over Disneyland, I'm pretty sure Napa/Sonoma is the happiest place on earth.

Last weekend I found out that you don't even have to leave San Francisco to sample local wines. It was a long weekend and some friends knew of an event happening Sunday at Sutton Cellars. This urban winery, located in the Potrero Hill/Dogpatch neigborhood, was started in 1996. They purchase Sonoma County fruits and make affordable blends. They make "table wine" and "brown label wines," which can be anything from syrah to vermouth. While some wine bars around town carry their creations, they gain a lot of customers through the frequent tasting events they throw at their warehouse, which they somehow make seem just like a cozy tasting cellar. Each event also has a different food truck parked outside in case hunger hits. At the tasting I attended, I got to try 7 different wines for only $5. The man owns Sutton Cellars also works the events, bringing with him his passion for wine, which is rather contagious. The warehouse is a little hard to find, so make sure if you go to an event you find 601 22nd St (corner of Illinois).


For more information on Sutton Cellars and other city wineries, check out this recent article on 7x7,

Monday, January 16, 2012

A Long Weekend of Amazing Food

My new plan is that during the week I'm going to save money. I'm bringing my lunch to work every day and eat in for dinner. Of course there's rationale behind this, that because I'm saving all this money, on the weekends I'm now allowed to splurge and treat myself to absolutely amazing dinners. This weekend I ate two absolutely delicious dinners and two restaurants I definitely would be fine going back to.

Friday night I went with a friend to Absinthe Brasserie & Bar in the Hayes Valley neighborhood. This more upscale establishment offers traditional and modern spins on flavors from Southern France and Italy. The interior has a very French feel, with a lot of prints from the art nouveau period, leafy large ferns and red undertones. The bar, per the name, features cocktails made with absinthe that have a fun 1920s retro feel. I actually tried one without absinthe (perhaps too nervous about seeing the green fairy), the citron lemonade. It was crisp and refreshing, strong but not overwhelmingly tasting like liquor. The dinner menu offers snacks, soups, salads, a raw bar, domestic and imported cheeses, share plates and entrees. I'm on a huge oyster kick right now, so we ordered a couple of the Beau Soleil oysters. I'm still new to my love of oysters, so I'm not going to pretend I'm a connoisseur or can tell the difference between oysters from various regions. These oysters from New Brunswick were perfect sized and easy to such out of the shell. They were served with a peppercorn mignonette sauce, which had a spicy kick that mignonette sauces usually lack, providing additional flavor. For dinner I was a little bit difficult but it all worked out. I wanted the bistro filet but I'm trying to eat low carb, so while the cabbage-onion whipped potatoes sounded amazing, they definitely do not fit with the diet. The pork rib eye dinner had delicious sounding sides that included braised red cabbage and jalapeno-cheddar grits (not low carb but better for you than mashed potatoes), so the chef allowed us to get steaks with the pork rib eye sides substituted. I'm so glad we did this because I got my steak fix and the cabbage was braised to well and the grits were full of flavor. The menu is a little pricy but there are some options to come in a little cheaper. I got the bistro filet, which was $10 cheaper that the filet mignon and still was quite tender. All in all, an amazing dinner at a restaurant I would be fine revisiting.

Saturday night I went with a friend to Luna Park, on Valencia in the Mission. This place is so much fun. It's a trendier feel and they serve creative, whimsical food. They describe their interior as "kitschy flea-market chic," which pretty much sums it up. There's a bar area near the front, featuring fun tiki style drinks, complete with umbrellas and little plastic animals. While I had the sangria later, which was great, I started out with the Pisco Punch, which ended up being syrupy with a weird cinnamon after-taste that I unfortunately was just not a fan of. The dinner menu is fairly reasonably priced and we opted for the three course price fixed option for $33. For my appetizer I got the grilled artichoke with lemon aioli. I think this may be a matter of preference, but while it was soft near the inside, the outer leaves lacked that crispy char that something truly grilled would have. For my entree I had the grilled "Rocky Jr." half chicken, with roasted butternut squash and brussel sprouts. I can't resist a dish with brussel sprouts. The chicken did have that crispy grilled skin and smokey flavor on the outside, while being tender and moist on the inside. Now it's time for the best part of the meal, the dessert. I totally killed my low carb diet with this, but it was completely worth it. We saw a lot of tables around us getting the much touted "make your own s'mores" desserts, which looks really fun and kitschy. However, I've done this kind of dessert (yes Minnesota readers, good ol' Chino Latino) and while its fun to do, its not actually that tasty. Real s'mores over the fire pit are much better. I got the chocolate chip bread budding, which was possibly the best bread pudding I've ever had (although in strong contention with the giant brick of bread pudding you get at Rose Anglais in Chicago), somehow tasting like warm bread pudding while also tasting like chocolate chip cookie dough (it comes drizzled with chocolate and topped with vanilla ice cream, which I promptly scraped off and gave to my friend). My friend got the coconut creme pie, where the slice looks like a fifth of the whole pie, so I got to try a bit of that as well and it was quite wonderful. I would definitely come back to Luna Park, even if it was just to get that amazing bread pudding....



Wednesday, January 11, 2012

A meal in Mill Valley

The northern peninusla of the area is home to a surprisingly good amount of food. The other day I ventured to the Buckeye Roadhouse in Mill Valley, located near the foot of Mt. Tam. The restaurant looks like a lodge and the interior has the same feel. The main dining room features a large stone fireplace and an overall warm and inviting feel. 


We started with the local, featured oysters, which were from Tomales Bay. They were served on the traditional bed of ice with horseradish cocktail and mignonette sauces. They were large and succulent with a sweeter finish. We also got the dungeness crab cakes with chipotle aioli. The cakes were large and meaty. The aioli was a good balance of spicy and creamy. For my lunch I got the dungeness crab louis, with avocado, broccolini, egg, tomato and cucumber. I can't explain how it was one of the best crab louis salads I've ever had, but I'll try. They heap the fresh crab in mass quantities over the top of the salad. The salad itself is made with uber fresh ingredients. I've never had broccolini in a louis before and and it added some needed crunch. The dressing automatically comes on the side and while it's clearly heavy in mayo like most louis dressings, it also has a tarter like tartness that gives the salad a little needed zest. Another person at the table got the slow-smoked spicy pork sandwich with hand-cut chipotle chips and coleslaw. I'm doing low-carb right now, otherwise I'm might have gotten that. It was piled high with meat and sauce. While the Buckeye's a little pricey, it definitely features a high quality of food.


Monday, January 9, 2012

Silent films making a comeback?

This Sunday I went with a friend who also enjoys random indie flicks to see "The Artist," a silent film that's getting a lot of buzz. It's currently nominated for 6 Golden Globes this year and 3 SAG Awards. The leading man, Jean Dujardin, won Best Actor at Cannes last year. This seems to be a polarizing movie, with people either loving it or hating. Hoping to not incite to many folks, I have to say I just liked it. I wish I hadn't read all of the glowing reviews because I went in with high expectations. On the positive side, the dog in the movie is adorable, amazingly well-trained and should be up for Best Actor. Both the lead actor (Dujardin) and actress (Berenice Bejo) deserve the praise they're getting, as it has to be hard to act with no words and they do a great job of showing emotion. Even though it's silent, there are a couple moments where you chuckle out loud, which is impressive. And the music does well and fitting the mood of each scene. This leads me to the cons of the film. The music isn't at a movie theater-loud level, so you can hear every move by everyone else in the theater, which is weird. I know they were trying to pay homage to the simple classic romantic comedies of the 1920s, but a predictable plot gets old for today's viewers. Also, I thought since it was a silent movie, it would be a little shorter than the average blockbuster but it's still 1 hour and 40 minutes. Overall, it was a nice change of pace from today's CG-animated films but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's the best movie of the 2011-2012 award season. It's probably a good one to see with the grandparents...


Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Rentals of Last Week

In case you couldn't tell by my previous post, I had last week off of work. Which pretty much meant I saw movies, drank wine and was generally useless for 10 days straight.... heaven. On top of all the movies I saw in the theater, I also saw a couple rentals which are worth mentioning. The first was the corporate thriller, "Margin Call." I remember seeing that this was in theaters but never knew anyone who went to see it. It's a plot that is very relevant to the current political and economic climate, with movements like Occupy taking off. The movies follows a couple key players in an investment firm the first 24 hours they discover a financial crisis, which probably mirrors the start of the U.S. one. There's a ton of big names in the film, such as Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley and Simon Baker. Quinto (Heroes) and Badgley (Gossip Girl) are primarily known for their TV acting, but they transferred well to the larger screen. The star was really (and I know I've already gushed about him multiple times) Tucci. He really just transforms with every role he takes. The movie was kind of scary, in that if this is how the financial crisis the turned our economy upside down start, based off the decisions of a few wealthy men, I totally get why everyone is hating on the 1%. I hated Badgley's character, who was fresh out of school and making a quarter million salary plus bonuses. I'm not going to lie, I'd love to be in the 1%, I just wouldn't want to get there the way these guys did and I would most definitely donate millions a year to the ASPCA. 


The other rental worth mentioning in detail was "One Day," which is based off the book by David Nichollos. This movie covers off on the whole spectrum of human emotion. There's moments of humor, joy, love, stress and death. I wasn't prepared for the roller coaster of emotion but it was amazing. My parents liked the book, so I think I'm going to have to read it. The leads were played by Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. They had really good chemistry together. And who would have ever though a movie would be able to make Hathaway look homely! Sturgess is supposed to be a ladies man for part of it and while I'm not physically into him, he masters that cocky attitude ladies love. Sometimes you watch romantic movies and it's just hard to get into them because they're so unrealistic, but this story could happen to anyone and is a real kind of love not invented and promoted by Hollywood. The English scenery also made me want to flee to London immediately.


Movies not worth a write-up were the recent remake of "Fame" (I fast-forwared through most of the songs) and "I Hate Valentine's Day" (despite having Aiden from S&C in it).

Monday, January 2, 2012

A holiday at the movies

My family and friends are big fans of going to movies, so when I come home for the holidays it's a good time to catch up on everything in the theater. On Christmas Eve, I went with my family to see the 3D computer-animated film, "The Adventures of Tintin." I grew up reading the comic book series, by Belgian artist Herge. For Tintin readers, this movie combines three of the books, "The Crab with the Golden Claws," "The Secret of the Unicorn," and "Red Rackham's Treasure." For people unfamiliar with the books, the series is about a young investigative journalist, Tintin. Tintin and his dog Snowy end up on an adventurous search for sunken treasures that others are in hot pursuit of. This movie is produced by Peter Jackson and is Steven Spielberg's first time as a director on an animated film. While Tintin is voiced by the relatively new Jamie Bell, viewers will recognize famous voices such as Daniel Craig and Simon Pegg. For people familiar with the books, the movie is fairly entertaining, a nostalgic look at childhood books and includes a lot of the favorite characters. For people unfamiliar with the books, I don't think the movie would be that great. My main complaint is that they made Tintin look too young. It's hard to believe this boy who looks like he's fourteen is a journalist and going on kick ass adventures.


The next movie I went to see with a friend was "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." This movie is based on the thriller by Swedish author Stieg Larsson. I read the trilogy and loved it, but they are very dark books, so I knew the movie was going to be disturbing. There's already Swedish movies made of all the books, which were very good and true to the stories. This new American version of the first book is somehow more visually disturbing than its Swedish counterpart. Let's just say (and everyone who's read the book will know what I'm referring too), the rape scene and the revenge/tattoo gun scene are enough to make you queasy. I think this is in large part due to the amazing acting of Rooney Mara, who embodies the character of Lisbeth Salander and is exactly as I pictured her. She's already been nominated for a Golden Globe for her acting in this movie. Daniel Craig is also amazing as journalist Mikael Blomkvist. And for the ladies, you get to see a barely clothed Craig quite frequently throughout the movie. The breathtaking Swedish scenery is the perfect setting for the cold and eerie plot. My only complaint for this one is that while its an adaptation and I understand certain things need to be changed to make it work for the big screen, the ending was changed bit too much for my liking. The ending of the book was a little optimistic about people moving on from childhood trauma and finding happiness and the movie ending doesn't give the viewer this sense.


The third movie I saw in theaters was the sequel, "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows." I was surprised that they were making a sequel to the original that came out in 2009. I did not realize the first movie was such a success but it opened to an estimated $62.4 million in its first weekend in America alone, placing in second at the US box office to Avatar, which grossed $75.6 million. Its one-day Christmas sales broke records and grossed $523,000,000 worldwide, making it Guy Ritchie's biggest box-office success yet, and the 8th highest grossing film of 2009 worldwide, and domestically. On the domestic charts, it is the fourth highest grossing film to never hit No. 1 in the weekend box office, behind My Big Fat Greek Wedding, fellow Christmas opener Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, and said film's predecessor. Worldwide, it is the fourth highest in this category, behind Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Casino Royale, and The Day After Tomorrow. The new movie once again stars Robert Downy Jr. and Jude Law. They're both wonderful in it, but Downey really steals the show as the kooky detective. They go up again Holmes' legendary foe,  Professor Moriarty. Once again, I thought the movie was just a little above average. The acting was good, the directing was good, but there wasn't really any element that made it memorable for me. It was definitely not my favorite of the week.


The last movie I saw was the fourth in its series, "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol." I resisted seeing this one initially. The first was was amazing and revolutionary for its time. Then as Tom Cruise got older and more crazy, the movies became less and less impressive for me. The movie kept getting fairly good reviews though and then it killed it at the box office holiday weekend and is on track to exceed the entire total grossed by the third installment in only 17 days. If you haven't seen the third in a while, I would recommend seeing it again before going to see the new one. I totally forgot how the last one ended and the fact that Cruise's character, Ethan Hunt, gets married. The fourth movie exceeded my expectations and was actually pretty good. Tom Cruise actually looks better in this one than he has in the last several. As usual, he does all his own stunts, which is pretty impressive. Jeremy Renner joins the cast and Simon Pegg returns, bringing with him some much needed comedic relief. And the scenery is breathtaking as usually and will give you the itch to travel. I would have to say "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" was my favorite movie of the week, but this one was surprisingly second.