San Francisco and what to do in it

"the castro used to be one of those neighborhoods with no good restaurants"

I wouldn't say this, but def. it was trended towars homier comfort places rather than fine dining establishments.

Star means happy?

According to the person who answered the phone @ Starbelly, it does.

And the unnamed consultant whose idea the name was.

I haven't been to Starbelly mostly cuz I'm not a big fan of Beretta and I believe they are owned/run by the same folks, right?

beretta pizza sucks a little, but the drinx are good, and the hostess was really nice and brought me and @nnie some free bruschetta when we were freezing waiting outside forever

not that that answers the question of if they are the same owners

hey you folks! i will be in town with the boyfriend from the 22nd until the 27th, if anybody wants to meet me this is your chance. really excited to explore yr city btw, this thread is full of good hints

― elmo leonard (elmo argonaut), Sunday, May 16, 2010 2:29 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark

yo not sure about how available imma be, but id love to drink a beer or eat a burrito w u dudes

http://www.amquix.info/humor/sneetches/sneetchlogo.gif

Right! I mean seriously why wouldn't you tell everyone that was where the idea came from??!! Fear of lawsuit??

We went to Frances early last night (5pm!), sat at the bar, and really enjoyed it. Our waiter was less-than-helpful, but who cares, because the food was perfect. The gnocchi with favas and morels was particularly great. I tried to get a 2-person reservation for my birthday in late June, and was told they only had 9:45. I guess we'll have another early dinner at the bar...

hey, i tried frances last night! it was kind of impromptu because my boyfriend and i were down in the castro visiting his friend (one of the sisters of perpetual indulgence iirc) but were lucky enough to be seated at the bar immediately. really great meal, asparagus with brown butter hollandaise made me spastically roll my eyes it was that good.

at the moment i am convalescing after having stuffed myself at brenda's soul food @ polk & eddy. we were recommended by a friend who knows the owner, and it happened to be a few blocks from our hotel. we had to wait a while to be seated but def worth it.

my daughter and i will arrive there tomorrow! we have an unexpected trip to the san jose area that arose suddenly (i.e., yesterday). i love california.

very sad my wife can't go, but otoh, now she can spend a few days with our talon-clawed four-week old kitten.

I like Brenda's a lot. I'm really bummed I don't work in that neighborhood anymore.

We thought about going to Frances on Saturday, but it didn't work out (ended up at Szechuan off Clement instead lol how quickly what you want to eat can change). Ended up making reservations for mid-July (eek.) Amusingly I'd eaten at the okay Hawaiian places that was in the same location six-billion years ago.

I am back in town but a little travel-lagged. If anyone wants to throw something together tonight (dry) or tomorrow (rain?)...

You want to go to Spectrum/Wooden Shjips with me and the wife, Steve?

i think im gonna miss you guys, elmo. tonight is my last graveyard shift on KUSF, so i gotta go to bed early tonight and will probably be a lil tired after show and work tomorrow, then takin my lady to the airport wed night. glad you hit frances and liked it, and hope i catch you next time!

Finally went to Foreign Cinema on Sat night. Do you ever eat food that's so good it makes you, like, wriggle your shoulders in your seat? Mine was like that! Plus, I love how it's open, light and airy - being cramped or unable to see makes me feel less like eating.

http://calibersf.com/2010/05/20/charles-w-cushman-kodachrome-photographer/

so many great pictures

elmo? sorry dude, im booked... hope you have/had a great trip.

's okay -- my dance card filled up wicked fast. i'm meeting up w/ table tonite @ aunt charlie's but wasn't able to get together with any other ilxors -- hope no hard feelings!

when come back bring pie k?

update: just had the fake chicken sandwich from rhea's. holy crap this is a good sandwich. thanks sfilxors!

hey i just wanted to put in a recommendation for the hotel i was at -- hotel carlton @ sutter & larkin ('tender nob' lol). great rates ($89-109/night) for a smallish king room w/ walk-in closet, friendly staff, would stay again.

<3 u SF, miss u already

Did you peek in at the restaurant, Saha?

I had breakfast at the Saha when I stayed at the Carlton. It was terrible, but I doubt that says anything about the restaurant.

Props to the Carlton from me too. Only bad thing was that the wi-fi was extremely slow.

I haven't been to Saha in a while but it was a pretty cool place to get a decent Arab dinner cheapish before going to shows at the GAMH.

didn't even get to saha -- i didn't really give it a chance tbh, was too eager to go 'out' and eat

Frances is absolutely as great as everyone was touting it to be. Wow.

i kinda want to try this Frances place now. maybe after a month of employment.

Steve, I have good news for you.

Hehe, actually knew about that. I get a discount there but it's still pretty pricy imo. shrug.gif

Good meat, good cheese, good wine...

The only thing that ever really tempts me into Bi-Rite is their ham selection... I can find better seafood, beef, chicken elsewhere for less.... but their hammmmmmmmm ugh.

I had their soft-serve ice cream this weekend. It was ridiculous.

4 reals? i tried a sample and it was non-ridiculously equal to their other ice cream (NB: cold night, i'm not huge on ice cream). MWhite, do you know if the Bi-Rite will have ice cream (to compete with the new Humphrey Slocum outpost in Faletti/Dellesio)?

4 reals. I love soft-serve though and it was the salted caramel flavor. I think a soup version of that might be great.

yeah the salted caramel soft-serve is dope. the line of hipsters waiting for their scoops of honey lavender and ginger brown sugar while the soft-serve window is walk-right-up = pathetic and anti-summer imo

MWhite, do you know if the Bi-Rite will have ice cream (to compete with the new Humphrey Slocum outpost in Faletti/Dellesio)?

I don't. Other competition is 3 Twins on Fillmore.

Honey Lavender ice cream sounds awesome right now. My sister and I made some in the south of France one summer.

"while the soft-serve window is walk-right-up = pathetic and anti-summer imo"

Yeah it's crazy. The line is around the block when you can just get your soft-serve in seconds.

disgusting savages

not that I don't take M. White's point, but it's one thing to crave the honey lavender and another to just turn up your nose at soft serve.

I turn my nose up at waiting in line.

Not really feeling the Humphrey Slocombe love. I like trying new flavours but the few I've tried haven't actually tasted that great, including something basic like apple sorbet. Haven't tried the coffee one though, and I should because I <3 coffee ice cream. They had a limoncello one that was awesome as well. But I'll go for Bi-Rite every time. (I have tubs of salted caramel and honey lavender in my freezer right now!)

Booked a meal at Range for my anniversary, anyone been?

well then stop by the soft serve window on Sunday for salted caramel

i have got to get there on a Tuesday for the spicy mexican chocolate...

and maybe tonight for balsamic strawberry

(xpost)

It's been a while but I liked Range.

Btw, the cardamom ice cream at 3 Twins is delicious.