A January 2005 trip to San Francisco by CBKovarik
Quote: My wife and I love living in the Bay area. One of the top reasons is the food. Here are some of our culinary journeys.
Restaurant | "Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton"
First, the basics. Service is perfect. The wine list is enviable (with many affordable options as well), and there's even a surprisingly excellent (and affordable) Scottish whiskey menu. But the food stole the show.
The sampling menus are the best way to go about it. Several of the dishes that we still talk about are the foie gras (pure sin), lobster tail with concord grape sauce, squab, and the desserts--mine even included a huckleberry soda!
Very expensive, but definitely worth every penny.
Member Rating 5 out of 5 on August 8, 2005
Ritz-Carlton Dining Room 600 Stockton Street San Francisco, California 94108 (415) 296-7465
Restaurant
As far the entrées, we've had mixed results. The salmon (prepared with apple) was incredible. The monkfish was good, but nothing to write home about. We were very mixed on the lobster pot pie, now infamous. The presentation was exceptional, but we were disappointed when the pot-pie breading was removed and not served. The lobster and seafood inside was good, but what made it fascinating was the vanilla sauce served with it. I can still conjure that flavor to mind.
Overall, we like Aqua, but we love the appetizers.
Member Rating 4 out of 5 on August 8, 2005
Aqua 252 California Street San Francisco, California (415) 956-9662
Frankly, this is a great place for a unique experience and a fairly decent meal. The menus are set from $37 to 57. We had the asia-dilla (average) and ahi burger (quite good) and black noodles and orange lamb for entrées, with miniature ice cream cones for dessert.
The "transgender illusionists" will make you look twice. It really is amazing how authentic they are! Approximately every hour, several will get up on the bar to dance. It's quite a show!
Member Rating 3 out of 5 on August 8, 2005
Asia SF 201 Ninth St San Francisco, California 94103 +1 415 255 2742
Restaurant | "Gary Danko"
On the plus side, the food is everything that you expect. Absolutely fabulous. The fish and game were unparalleled. Oddly, however, my favorite memory of this is the cheese cart. The cheese service was excellent, and although I can't remember the exact cheeses, all were excellent and professionally described.
Again, although I think that our service issues were most likely rare, the food is worth it. Prices are approximately $50-80, depending upon how many courses you select.
Restaurant Gary Danko 800 North Point At Hyde Street San Francisco, California 94133 (415) 749-2060
Burger Joint 700 Haight St. San Francisco, California 94117 (415) 864-3833
This is Tracy's second restaurant, and it is exceptional for a straightforward steakhouse with a few twists. I hear that it is quite packed on ball nights, but it was a wonderful, productive place for a business meeting the night we were there.The steaks are excellent, all featuring grass-raised steak from Niman ranch. Starting off with the nightly special soup, a pumpkin creation, did not disappoint. We had the fillet ($37) and rib eye ($39), both perfectly cooked. We were pleasantly surprised when ordering sauces for the steak—after deciding between the five, the waitress informed us that all five sauces are served (butter-blue cheese (also great on the fries), wine shallot, chimichurri, red wine shallot, and Bearnaise). To join the steaks, the fries are an absolute—perfectly salted and cooked—some of the best that I've had in SF. The asparagus with lemon was also an excellent pairing.Dessert was not too much of a disappointment—a smores sundae with toasted marshmallow and butterscotch pudding finished a wonderful meal.
Member Rating 4 out of 5 on March 12, 2006
Acme Chop House 24 Willie Mays Plaza San Francisco, California 94107 (415) 644-0420
Rubicon 558 Sacramento St San Francisco, California 94111 (415) 434-4100
CBKovarik Los Gatos, California
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