Dark Shadows: It's Actually Dark

Last Friday night I was in need of some relaxation, so I went to movie theater to see "Dark Shadows," the newest collaboration between Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. The movie is actually based on the "Dark Shadows" TV series, which ran from 1966-1971. I hear you can still see re-runs on Sy-Fy and Chiller. The TV show was "scary." I say this because most of what came out of the horror genre in the 1960s is fairly laughable these days. "The Exorcist" came out in 1973, which I feel helped repair that genre's credibility (which then was later destroyed again with all five "Saw" movies).

Back to the Johnny Depp-Tim Burton connection. This is the right movie that the two men have collaborated on. I think the best quote I found to describe their relationship was when Burton said, "It's very nice to have someone that you can have a completely abstract conversation with and leave the room, feel like everything's fine, and then realize that if you pick it apart, you have absolutely no idea what either of you said." I translate this to basically mean they get stoned together and come up with crazy shit. The movies that they've collaborated on include gems, like "Edward Scissorhands" and "Ed Wood." This list also includes some questionable tastes, including "Sleepy Hallow" and "Corpse Bride." "Dark Shadows" actually ended up reminding me of their movie "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." And this is the perfect segue into my actual review.

The previews of the movies was light and funny, which the strangeness of Burton worked in. It's even classified as a comedy. While there were humorous parts, the majority of them are in the previews. Perhaps they called this a comedy based on the utter absurdness of the plot? Depp plays Baranbas Collins, a man turned vampire by a witch he slighted (there is nothing like a woman scorned) who then imprisons him in a coffin until he escapes and finds himself in 1972. Collins then goes to find his ancestors, which he finds in disarray and on the verge of poverty. He also comes across the witch who has made herself immortal so she can continue to destroy the Collins family (talk about a grudge). The witch is played by the fabulous Eva Green, who's magnetic on screen and dominates her scenes. I think I have a girl crush. Michelle Pfeiffer and Johnny Lee Miller prove they haven't lost their acting chops by playing the remaining Collins family. They each have a kid. The tween girl is played by Chloe Grace Moretz (who is the awesome young girl from "Kick Ass") and is pretty funny. Helen Bonham Carter play the family psychiatrist because she's married to Burton and good at being weird. Depp was underwhelming. It feels like he's started to play the same role in every movie, which may be similar to his real personality. At least there's a quality cameo by Alice Cooper (who is referred to as an ugly woman). And the movie had some super dark parts that were just kind of breezed over. For example, Baranbus does a fair amount of killing people, including innocent construction workers and a nice group of helpless hippies. And there's a very May-December romances that happens, which grosses me out in the same way as when I read "Jane Eyre" at age 13. I say wait for rental on this one. And don't invite small children to watch it with you.

Looking for Prospective Places to Dine?

Last night I went into the depths of SOMA, which I do not do often enough, and had dinner at Prospect. Prospect serves new American cuisine with a modern twist. They have a large bar area, make amazing cocktails and feature an extensive wine list if you are looking to imbibe in a liquid meal (although they'll also serve you smaller dishes). Or if you're a bit more peckish, you can sit at the communal table, which still has the more lively bar atmosphere. I really liked the interior of Prospect. It achieved being contemporary without being too formal or stiff, with harsh whites, angular lines and uncomfortable seating. The interior was more of a creamy white, which complimented the different wood tones features. There were a lot of unique lighting fixtures and the place have an overall sense of warmth.

Since I work in Sausalito, I'm never able to make it to city happy hours. If you do work in the area, check out their happy hour from 4-6p. Their specialty cocktail list boasted an array of eccentric concoctions. I had the Pompelmo Frizzante, which consisted of vodka, sparkling wine, lemon, grapefruit and vanilla. This "summer in a glass" as I call it would be so refreshing on a hot day. They have a few more upscale beers and a fairly lengthy wine by the glass list. If you're planning to get a bottle, be warned that the decent ones tend to be fairly pricey. However, they are one of those establishments that allow to bring in your own wine and just pay a corkage fee. 

For the food, we started off with a couple small plates. We tried the asparagus, which had a little too much butter/oil/sauce on it for my taste (why distract away from this beautiful vegetable), but featured an amazing crispy squash blossom stuffed with ricotta and summer truffle. Sadly, there's only one on each plate. We had the shrimp with calamari atop black quinoa, which was decent but not a staple on their menu. The last thing we tried was the ravioli, which was amazing, so I wish that was a menu staple. For my entree, I was torn. People had great things to say about the seared sea scallops, with fingerlings, broccoli rabe and charred onion potato puree. When the dishes came, the scallops did look tasty, but I'm glad I went with my gut feeling when it came to ordering (and later caused a food gut from eating too much). I ordered the New York steak, which sat on a bed of sauteed spinach with baby artichokes and sunchokes. There were also tiny sunchoke chips sprinkled on top to get that needed crispy element on the plate.There was also horseradish aioli and a beef jus that soaked into everything (which is a good thing). It was so delicious. My only complaint is that one of my sliced steak pieces was entirely a piece of fat. Otherwise, one of the better steak dishes I've had in this city. The dessert list looked too good to pass up so I ordered the banana parfait. I mean, how often do you see that on a menu instead of something like bananas foster? The creamy vanilla pudding was topped with caramel, roasted bananas (which tasted like they were caramelized) and nib crumbs. It was so good that even though I was already stuffed my this point, I cleaned my bowl (although I did have some help). 

All in all, a good place to eat and drink. I like the ambiance and the specialty cocktails a lot. The starters left a little to be desired but the entrees were superb. And the desserts were delightful. Just be prepared to spend a fair chunk of change there.

Delta Spirit Lights Up the Fillmore

The very best outcome of a show is when you see a band, either someone you somewhat like or don't really know much about, and they end up blowing your mind. This was my experience when seeing Delta Spirit at the Fillmore last Thursday night.

I've already raved about how much I adore The Fillmore. So far, my favorite venues in the Bay Area are the Fox Theater in Oakland, the Greek Theater in Berkeley and the Fillmore in SF. It's probably pretty awesome to be a smaller band that gets to play there, considering some of the legends that have been up on that stage over the years. We showed up to this show just in time to catch the second opener, Waters. Waters is a local Bay Area band, lead by ex-frontman from the popular Bay Area band Port O'Brien. The music was decent and they tried to keep the audience engaged, which can't be the easiest thing to do. I just wasn't drawn in by this local indie band. I almost felt that it was indie rock verging on 90s rock and the band's look didn't help that perception. The lead guy, Van Pierszalowski, worn a jean jacket with duct tape and looked like a cleaner, more showered version of Kurt Cobain. They almost reminded me of Dinosaur Jr in a way. Maybe they'd be better at a more intimate venue, but they just didn't resonate at the Fillmore.

Delta Spirit on the other hand blew me away. This band originates from San Diego and now resides in Long Beach. Their sound is a mix of indie rock, soul, street and just a twinge of alt country/folk. This tour was supporting their newest album release, "Rounder," which has the song "California" on it, which is one of my favorites of theirs. Delta Spirit dropped their first EP in 2006 and became an instant small band success, opening on tour for bands like Cold War Kids and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. I found a hilarious fun fact on their Wikipedia page, which says they store all their equipment in green plastic totes when they travel for shows. Fans of the movie Delta Force (starring Chuck Norris) have been known to follow the group from show to show. I'll admit, I've always liked them but used them more as background music. They grew on me more with this last album and now after seeing them live, I am officially a fan. They had great stage presence and an almost psychedelic light show.

On an another note, while I'm thinking about SoCal indie bands, I've been hearing a lot of buzz about The White Buffalo. If you're into a blend of indie rock and country, you should check him out!

Avenging an Often Misfilmed Genre

This past Friday night I went to the movie theater to see "The Avengers." No, I'm not a tween boy, I'm a 28-year-old woman and I am not ashamed to admit that I was psyched.  I made sure to see all of the superhero movies with characters that would be pulled in as Avengers. This entailed sitting through numerous end credits with horrible soundtrack music blaring, waiting for that one "secret" clip of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, collecting heroes for S.H.E.I.L.D. Before you see this movie, make sure to see "Thor," "Iron Man" (the sequel unfortunately, which is not nearly as good as the first), "Captain America," and "The Hulk" (the newer one with Mark Ruffalo, not the weird one with Edward Norton).

The main plot of this movie is that Loki (angry from feeling less feared, beloved and blonde than his brother Thor), comes through this gateway/portal to rob humanity of its freedom of choice. The gateway thing is made from this glowing cube and is a little weird. At this point in the movie, I was really hoping the whole two hours was going to be this farfetched. Upon arrival, Loki steals the cube and brainwashes people into helping him. One of the people he stripped of will was "Hawkeye," played by Jeremy Renner. I haven't read an actual comic book in probably 15-20 years, so I had no idea who Hawkeye was and they didn't expand much on his background. This seemed like a missed opportunity to add another layer of depth to the characters, especially with the underlying tension with the Black Widow. Fury (Jackson) then assembles the rest of the Avengers, which consists of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson) and Captain America (Chris Evans). Thor ends up coming back to Earth about halfway through once he learns about his brother's plight. Unfortunately, this does not mean a cameo by Natalie Portman, who was actually pretty good in "Thor." Gwyneth Paltrow does make a cameo as Pepper, Paul Bettany comes back as the voice of Jarvis and Stellan Skarsgard from "Thor" continues to be the main scientist in this field. And of course keep an eye out for the usual Stan Lee cameo. Also, it drove me nuts almost the whole movie, so to save others from this, Fury's assistant is played by Cobie Smulders, who's Robin from "How I Met Your Mother."

Downey as Iron Man was by far my favorite part of this movie. The brilliantly written character, mixed with Downey's natural quirky personality, infused humor into the movie without being cheesy. While I really liked this movie, I will admit there were quite a few cheesy one-liners that did miss the mark, although not enough to achieve the awesomely bad status. There is a secret clip at the end of the credits in this one as well. It didn't make any sense to me and apparently it signifies something that will be tied in to upcoming Marvel Comic films.  I saw this in 3D, and yes, I know a lot of people are not enthused with the 3D movie movement but this one was pretty awesome. It's not a movie that was made only for 3D and I think it will translate fine to 2D. There's just enough action in this one to make it worth the couple extra bucks to spring for the 3D tickets and wear uncomfortable plastic glasses for two hours. I say, go see it in theaters if you ever liked one comic books or superheros at one point in your life.

Looking forward to a sunny Caturday!

Young Adult = Immature Movie

The other weekend I was sorely disappointed after watching the movie "Young Adult." The previews made it seem funny and I was sad I didn't see it in theaters. Now I'm thankfully I saved myself $10, a large Diet Coke and a small popcorn with two layers of butter. The movie is written by Diablo Cody, who made a name for herself with the brilliant flick "Juno." I was actually a huge fan of her's before she got into the movie world. Her book, "Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper," was such a good read I couldn't put it down. The whole thing is an interesting and witty backstage look into the world of stripping. Anyone from Minnesota who reads this will get the lowdown on each strip club in Minneapolis without having to actually go there. I used to live in the Warehouse District, so I used to walk by Sex World everyday on my way home from work.

Back to the movie. Cody sets this story in Minnesota. Charlize Theron plays Mavis, who hails from a small town in Minnesota. After college she became a success being the ghost writer to a Twilight-esque book series that hit it big. Like all successful people, she moves to the big city of Minneapolis. After getting divorced, she gets it in her mind that her destiny lies with her ex-boyfriend from high school. The problem is that he's happily married with a newborn baby. Mavis heads back to the small town to win him back. Basically Mavis is a delusional, alcoholic, narcissistic hot mess. Charlize plays her well. My problem is more with the role itself. There's mention that she was the popular mean girl in high school, but that's about all the background we get on her. There's no likeable qualities about Mavis, so you don't root for her, so the viewer never gets drawn into the movie on more than a surface level. Her family plays a very minor role in the plot, when they could have been used it as an opportunity to explain how Mavis ended up the way she is. I'll spare you all the other boring plot parts and skip to the ending. Spoiler alert: I am going to rant and rave and give away the ending. But I don't really think I'm going to spoil much for people who haven't seen it. Mavis has a giant breakdown in front of everyone and exposes her visit's ulterior motive. It's very awkward and sad. Then she goes and sleeps with this handicapped guy she's become drinking buddies with. After that experience it starts to sound like she starts to realize she needs to get some help and is thinking of reforming. But then the handicapped guy's sister (who worshiped Mavis in high school) tells her she's special just the way she is and that she's so much better than everyone else in town. Mavis agrees and immediately heads back to Minneapolis and that's the end of the movie. It was like the entire movie had no point. It left me completely unfulfilled and frustrated. I feel like the movie had so much potential. It could have been a dark/ironic comedy, but nothing is funny about it. It could have been a story of growth and change but she's a hot mess in the beginning and a hot mess in the end. I would wait until cable to watch this movie, if you watch it at all.

Yuuuummm, Burgers!

Earlier this week a friend from Boston was in town and we were looking for a good place to grab dinner in the Marina/Cow Hollow area. With the amazing powers of Yelp reviews, we stumbled across Umami Burger in the Cow Hollow neighborhood, on Union St by the Fillmore intersection. Umami has been a popular burger chain in SoCal for many years and opened it's first (and only thus far) San Francisco location last fall. Umami serves gourmet burgers, with custom toppings, cheeses and sides. They grind their meat in-house, purchased from local purveyors only. 

While burgers are associated as being an all-American dish, this restaurant mixes this conception up with a Japanese influence. In Japanese the word "umami" refers to something with a pleasant savory taste. The decor of the restaurant reflects this influences as well, with wood paneling, samurai swords and Japanese insignias. Umami does not have a liquor license and unfortunately their beer and wine list is not too long. We ordered a glass of sauvignon blanc and then focused on the food. 

There are 10 different burger options, plus a special of the day. One burger that is limited to only the San Francisco location is the bacon wrapped scallop burger. This scallop patty is topped with crispy pork belly, sweet chili sauce and garlic aioli. I'm a Midwest girl and we like our beef so I didn't get one, despite reading fabulous reviews about it. I opted for the special of the day, which was a burger topped with their homemade beer-battered cheddar cheese, roasted green chilies and a chipotle sauce. This was by far one of the juiciest, flavorful burgers I've had in a long time. All burgers are served medium rare (which I prefer), so for my friends who do not like them dripping and slightly bloody, you'll need to ask for well or well done. One of my friends got the Port and Stilton burger, but he was disappointed because the caramelized onions overtook the bleu cheese flavor. While these 6 ounce burgers are quite filling, they do not come with sides. Our tables split and order of the skinny fries and the tempura onion rings. The tempura onion rings were crispy and delicious but the skinny fries were your average fries and lacked salt or seasoning. One thing I will give to Umami is that their house-made ketchup is pretty good. I hate ketchup but this one was actually tolerable. It was less sweet and had a small kick to it. I'll still stick with my garlic aioli though! For dessert (if anyone has room for dessert after a meal like this), they serve snack cakes from LA-based Cake Monkey bakery. They also feature ice cream cookies sandwiches, with inventive flavors from San Francisco's own Humphrey Slocombe (such as salt and pepper, fluffernutter or secret breakfast-cornflakes and whiskey). I'm pretty disappointed I didn't leave room for dessert!

Overall, I wouldn't agreed with the 4 out of 5 star rating on Yelp unless you're focusing on the burger offerings only. The ambiance is nice but doesn't knock it out of the park. The limited alcohol options are a bit of a letdown. I really liked my burger and my friend from Boston loved her's, so it gets good reviews for the most part. I wish I could have skipped the sides and gone with dessert. Burgers are priced from $10-$15, with side dishes ranging from $3-$7. This seems a little steep to me, as there are so many other gourmet burger places in the city where you can get a burger and side for under $20 easily.

UPDATE: I was just informed that they have a secret menu. Apparently there are cheesy tots on this menu that would change my opinion on Umami's side dish offerings. Even better, it's not easy cheese drizzled on top, but actual cheese based inside each tot! Bet those ones don't get soggy.

Claude and Claudine

No, these are not two French twins with matching berets. They are restaurants in the Financial District of San Francisco, just northeast from Union Square. As someone who lives right above Union Square, I often struggle when trying to find a place to eat. Everything is very touristy, kitschy and way too expensive for the quality of food being served. San Francisco is the capitol of the foodie crazy! We take our cuisines very seriously. Some of the best chefs in the world have restaurants here, we have fresh ingredients year around and feature a while range of diverse ethic food.

These two restaurants, along with an Irish pub and a pricy Southwest European restaurant (Gitane) make up Claude Lane, a cute little alley between Bush and Sutter, right before you get to Kearny St. Cafe Claude is a French style bistro that offers live jazz on the weekends. The outside looks like something you would seen in Paris and don't be afraid to sit outside, there are heat lamps! The inside has a vintage Parisian feel, with plants, vintage tables and chairs and French art and maps. We ended up sitting outside, as it was a chillier night in San Francisco and the wait inside was at least an hour. I started out with on of their 1920s inspired cocktails, the egalite (vodka, lillet blanc, st germaine elderflower, lemon juice), which was cripsy, refreshing and a good balance of the strong flavor profiles mixed in. I went with my mom and she ordered the pate de champagne, a pork pate seasoned with black peppar and red wine, served with a side of crisped french bread. I love, love, love pate so of course I stole a couple bites. It was one of the better pork pates I've had in a while. For my entree, I got the Thon (which correct me if I'm wrong), does not seem like a French dish. It's tombo tuna served ahi style on top of flageolet ragu, shaved fennel and winter chicories, with thinly sliced kumquats topping it off. While seemingly not French, it was actually a quite tasty dish. I liked the acidity of the kumquats with the tuna. My only thing is that Cafe Claude advertises being affordable, but I would give them $$$ over $$. And if I want to pay $$$ for French food, there are better upscale options (although not as close to Union Square).

The other restaurant Claudine, is owned Gitane, but is more affordable. They served New American and French food, with an emphasis on Northern Californian seasonality. They don't have outside seating, since they're located on the corner of the Lane, facing Bush. However, the inside is smaller and very modern. There's a cool circular bar in the front that you can sit around. They have wine on tap, so I was immediately a fan. A lot of the wine was local and the bartender was very knowledge and let us taste before making a decision. To eat, I got the half roasted chicken, with Yukon potato-artichoke mash and arugula. I was super excited about the mash and while it was good, it didn't live up to my expectations. The chicken was good, but nothing special. I think the best thing I tasted there was the cranberry-orange bread pudding with bourbon cream. I hadn't had a bread pudding before that had that edge of tart fruitiness, so it was very enjoyable. The prices are a lot more reasonable that Gitane. If I went back to Claudine, it would probably just be for a glass of wine and some of that bread pudding.