Imagine Dragons

May 31, 2013

On Friday night, Will and I got some drinks and food at Comstock Saloon, great start to a weekend!

And then off to the spanking new (and temporary) America's Cup Pavilion on the Embarcadero for the first concert in a summer series of concert, featuring Imagine Dragons.

Great concert!

Local's Corner

May 30, 2013

On Thursday night, Will and I met up with the Wallins for dinner at Local's Corner:

Little Gem salad with croutons, anchovy and capricious:

Salmon crudo with cherry, opal basil, snow pea and creme fraiche:

Cured halibut with grapefruit, sea bean and dill:

Roasted carrot with honey ricotta, coriander and wheat berries:

Beef tartar with smoked onion, cilantro, garlic scape and mustard seeds:

Rockfish with snap pea, trumpet mushrooms, carrot, and fava beans:

Cheese plate for dessert:

Raspberry pate de fruit:

I really liked Local's Corner, will definitely come back, great dinner!

Memorial Day Long Weekend 2013

May 27, 2013

A long weekend...so welcome after 4 months without a public holiday! Will and I kicked it off with cocktails for Friday happy hour at Trick Dog.

On Saturday morning, I went on a warm, challenging, but fun run with the SFRRC running group, we did a route that went through Alamo Square Park, so it was tempting to take a pic.

For the afternoon, I had a little babysitting date with Erez (adorbs!):

For dinner, Will and I headed down to Palo Alto to join Terrina and Simon for dinner at Palo Alto Grill, where Tim happens to be the bar/wine manager, and Terrina's good friends are the chef and pastry chef.

To start, we shared the beef carpaccio:

Sides of fried brussel sprouts with brown sugar and butter pecan:

Roasted asparagus:

Will had the Cowboy steak with an interesting presentation with the smoke:

I had the "Turf and Turf" of ribeye with pastrami, peppercorn and onions:

Some desserts to share: macarons and petit fours, brioche beignets, chocolate torte

It was a very good and fun meal, made even better by a fantastic catch up with Terrina, Simon and Tim!

Hard Water

May 18, 2013

On Saturday night, Will, Key and I checked out the new Charles Phan venture, Hard Water, called "an American Whisky bar".

A snack of "pork belly a cracklin' with sea salt":

Pimm's cup:

For dinner, the fried chicken with pepper jelly:

Sides to share, including the cheese grits:

Collard greens:

The boys had the banana-butterscotch fried pies fro dessert:

Dinner was good, not mind-blowing, but the drinks were fantastic.

Some Bay Lights after dinner:

Basel - May 2013

May 17, 2013

I was in Basel for a work week and meetings. I got in on Monday afternoon, and got in my standard run along the Rhine:

After a full day of meetings with my boss and peers, we went for a little wine tasting and then dinner at Der Teufelhof Basel.

Dinner at Bel Etage, starting with some amuse bouche:

To start, I had the terrine of Breton lobster:

SwissPrim filet of beef with roasted potato gratin and shitake:

In all the years coming to Basel, I had never finally crossed the ferry on the little Rhine ferry.

In the evening, I went for drinks at Acqua and met up with James, who just started his new job at Novartis.

After Acqua, we went for dinner at Rubino. Rubino features a "menu surprise", where you choose number of courses and "fish vs. meat vs. veggie" for each course, and the chef creates your meal. To be honest, I'm blogging this about 1.5 months after I ate it, and all I remember is that I opted for 2 courses, and ate fish for the starter and meat for the entree.

I also remember it was delicious.

Another great week in Basel!