San Francisco/Napa Valley – November, 2013

Near the end of November, I flew up to Oakland, took the bart into San Francisco and checked into the Golden Gate Hotel on Sutter, a cute little bed and breakfast inn with a very friendly cat who wanders in and out of your bedroom!!!  I took a longgg walk down Post, up Hyde and over on Sacramento to have lunch at Spruce which I usually really enjoy.  This time the menu was rather limited and I was a bit disappointed with what I chose… 

Bus to the Legion of Honor to see the watercolors by the famous Swedish master Anders Zorn. There were also a few paintings on display by Matisse which I also enjoyed.  Had a fabulous dinner at Frances, one of my all time favorite restaurants.  It is small but so comfortable and friendly.  I ordered some winter squash with a green sauce, roasted beets with sunflower and sesame seeds and a warm cauliflower panzanella salad with kale and date.  Dessert was a delicious chocolate walnut torte with caramel sauce!

In the morning I rented a car and drove towards the napa valley, stopping at the cornerstone gardens (www.cornerstonegardens.com) in Sonoma.  What an incredible place!!!  There are several unique gardens designed by local architects and landscrape designers and some wonderous galleries and shops selling “big” art!  Definitely worth an hour or two stop!  On to Napa where I wanted to have lunch at Tarla Mediterrean Grill for obvious reasons!!!  “Tarla” means “fields” and the restaurant specializes in Turkish/Mediterrean fare.  I had some hummus/pita bread, a small spinakopia and some baklava.  It was a nice little restaurant but the food was not particularly memorable.  I wandered over to the Oxbow Market nearby and when it started to rain I headed on to Calistoga where I would be staying at Fanny’s (www.FannysNapaValley.com), an adorable bed and breakfast inn, for two nights.  I checked in, found my very sweet room and wandered down the main street of Calistoga, checking out the little shops which were still open.

Dinner that night at Redd in Yountsville where I had only had lunch in the past so I decided to splurge and go for the tasting menu. I was NOT disappointed!!!  It started with creamy sunchoke soup with sunchoke chips, followed by tuna tartare with Asian pears and fried rice, scallops with cauliflower puree, almonds and capers, duck breast with farro, kale and chanterelle mushrooms, Sonoma lamb with couscous and arugula and chocolate mousse cake for dessert!!!

In the morning I took a walk around town before having breakfast at Fanny’s.   Deanna fixed French toast with berries and syrup which was delicious and then I headed out to Napa to visit the Di Rosa Galleries (www.dirosaart.org) where I had booked a guided tour.  There are sculptures and very unique art inside the enormous house and buildings owned by Rene DiRosa as well as outside all over the grounds.  I was so fortunate to be the only one booked for the 10 a.m. tour so we spent almost 3 hours looking at some wonderous things!   Afterwards I drove to St. Helena and had lunch at Cooks on Main Street.  The portabello mushrooms and crescenza cheese on focaccia bread with arugula and theflourless chocolate cake with whipped cream for dessert were both excellent!!!

Driving back to Calistoga I stopped at the Bothe-Napa Valley Park and wandered through the redwoods until it started to get dark and then stopped by the Castel di Amorosa, an authentically styled 13^th century Tuscan castle and winery just to have a look around.  You can take a tour of the castle and sample their wines but it was too late to do either one.  I returned to Calistoga to “regroup” and then set out for the Farm in Sonoma (almost next door to di rosa galleries!!!) for a delightful dinner.  The Farm is in the Carneros Inn with high ceilings, a fireplace and fabulous food.  Again I decided on the tasting menu and had:  Mendocino uni with sunflower sprouts, crudo of Hawaiian kampachi with edamame and radish sprouts, lobster nicoise with tomato jam, California squab with toasted farro and slow cooked garden greens, crispy shortrib with truffled salsify, redwood hill goat cheddar with hot pepper jelly and ricotta beignets with persimmon four ways!!!

In the morning Deanna fixed crisp little apple puffs for breakfast and I returned to San Francisco and turned in the car.  Lunch at Prospect, a restaurant owned by Nancy Oakes of Boulevard was wonderful.  I started with kabocha squash hummus with pomegranate seeds and homemade crackers and followed with a prosciutto/eggplant caponata/arugula and burrata cheese platter.  Dessert was a decadent salted chocolate caramel tart with caramel sauce and caramel ice cream!!!  I could barely make it to the De Young Museum after all that food!!!  There was a veery extensive Bulgari exhibition of their jewelry through the ages which also contained some pieces from the collection of Elizabeth Taylor.  Ongoing videos of famous people were shown wearing some of the jewelry on display which was quite interesting to see.  David Hockney’s “big” exhibition was also quite interesting with his large scale, multi-canvas oil paintings and digital movies shot with multiple cameras of the English countryside.

Dinner at Nopa, another of my favorite restaurants, was great fun.  I like to sit upstairs overlooking the kitchen where you can see all the “action”.  I had crisp flatbread topped with tapenade, squash, caramelized onions and crescenza cheese sprinkled with arugula.  Dessert was a chocolate pot of cream with cocoa nib cookies!!!

In the morning I stopped by the Xanadu Galleries on Maiden Lane designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and housing some very fine Asian art.  Lunch at Cologna near Jackson Square was a burrata cheese salad with beets, a crisp slab of freshly made focaccia brad and a “chocolate bar” for dessert.  Bart back to Oakland Airport and a quick flight home.  It was a really great trip.  I saw so many new and wonderful things, tried a few new restaurants, tasted some delicious food and thoroughly enjoyed myself!!!  Until the next time!!

San Francisco and the Napa Valley - October, 2012

After a quick one hour 20 minute flight with Southwest Airlines I arrived at the Oakland airport about 10:25 a.m.  I took the Bart into San Francisco, left my bag at the hotel and started to walk towards Spruce (www.sprucesf.com) on Sacramento where I had lunch.  Passing Grace Cathedral and many old interesting homes in the Presidio Heights area, I arrived at Spruce on Sacramento, another very cute little shopping street.  Lunches are always wonderful at Spruce and I was delighted with my golden potato gnocchi with red kuri squash, poached egg, pecans, sage and toasted pumpkin seeds.  Dessert was an adorable little plum tart with walnuts and tiny little plum slices. 

I walked down Stanyan Street to Fulton where I entered Golden Gate Park.  Since it was such a beautiful day I walked around Stowe Lake and into the Japanese Tea  Gardens.  Afterwards, after a quick stop at the hotel to check into my room, I took the bus to my favorite restaurant in the city Frances (www.frances-sf.com) .  In order to dine at Frances you have to plan two months ahead to make sure you get a reservation.  It is a small casual “bistro” with delicious little plates so creatively prepared.  My first course was a canning glass jar filled with cauliflower puree topped with little roasted florets on top and served with thin lavash bread topped with nigella seeds.  Second course was a baby kale salad with duck confit and medjool dates followed by pumpkin risotto with roasted chanterelle mushrooms and parmesan cheese.  Dessert was a little chocolate torte and “pecan pie” – a pecan tart topped with chocolate “cake” and served warm with caramel sauce and nut ice cream.  Everything was sooooooooo good!!!

Breakfast at Sugar Café and then a walk to the ferry building with all its food stalls and little shops, up the embarcadero to pier 39 and then to SFMOMA.  There were some new works by Alessandro Pessoli and a small exhibit called “Paul Klee’s circus” but nothing exceptional.  Three course lunch at Michael Mina (www.michaelmina.net) was outstanding!!  First course was ahi tuna tartare with habanero infused oil which has been a traditional dish in his restaurants for many years.  Second course was seared ahi nicoise w/Jidori hen egg and a crouton topped with chopped hard cooked eggs and tomatoes.  Dessert course was a chocolate and peanut “abstract” with caramel, peanut ganache, etc.  Afterwards I took the bus to the De Young museum which is open late on Friday nights and saw the exhibition on Rudolf Nureyev, the famous Russian dancer/choreographer.  There were 80 costumes which he wore in his ballets and many photographs of him dancing.  The William S. Paley Collection of modern painters was also very good.  Later in the evening I had dinner at Nopa (www.nopasf.com) and sat upstairs overlooking the open kitchen.  The place is always bustling with people and the food is creative and excellent.  I had duck breast with cranberry beans, walnuts, arugula and warm grapes and a chocolate torte with hazelnut caramel and whipped cream.  The bus system in San Francisco is so fantastic that it is easy and cheap to get around so I took the bus back to the hotel…

In the morning I took the bus to the Enterprise Rental car lot and headed to Muir Woods just over the golden gate bridge.  I took a really nice hike through the redwoods to a lookout point where you could see the bay bridge and the panorama of the ocean.  It was such a perfect day.  On to Yountsville where I had lunch at Redd (www.reddnapavalley.com) .  which consisted of tuna tartare with yellow fin and hamachi, a small order of scallops with cauliflower puree and butterscotch pudding with two little shortbread cookies for dessert. 

It took another 2 hours to get up to Gualala and St. Orres (www.saintorres.com) where I stayed the night but the drive was beautiful especially along the coast.  As it was a weekend night I could only stay in the hotel; otherwise, there is a two night minimum.  I prefer staying in the little cottages in the meadows but will have to plan better next time!!!  Dinner in the lovely dining room overlooking the pacific ocean was the delicious wild mushroom ravioli and decadent chocolate cake for dessert.  I slept with the window open so I could hear the sounds of the ocean….lovely….

In the morning I walked along the bluffs overlooking the ocean in Sea Ranch, a very unique community of homes, before heading back down to Yountsville for lunch.  I had a delicious roasted grape salad and fig tart at Bottega and then drove on up to Calistoga stopping at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park.  It is a lovely park with several trails through the redwoods and up to some nice view points as well.  I stayed at an adorable little bed and breakfast not to far away called Fanny’s (www.fannysnapavalley.com) on Spring Street.  After checking in and organizing myself I wandered along the main street filled with cute little shops and museums and had dinner at Jole (www.jolerestaurant.com)  in the Mount View Hotel.  I ordered the tasting menu and loved every bite!!!  It started with a mushroom empanada, scallops with curry and fresh pumpkin, duck breast and duck confit with celery root puree and stout cake with pumpkin ice cream to finish.

Deana, the innkeeper, fixed an amazing breakfast for me in the morning:  crisp apple pastry, fresh fruit, thin vegetable frittata topped with organic greens, baby tomatoes and shaved parmesan, muffins, bagels, coffee and juice!!!

After a nice leisurely walk around town, I drove back to San Francisco to return the car.  I wandered around the Jackson Square area to visit some of the art and poster galleries before having lunch at Cotogna (www.cotognasf.com) , a casual little Italian bistro.  First a pear, prosciutto salad with smoked almonds and arugula followed by luscious tortellini filled with cheese and butternut square drizzled with brown butter and sage.  Dessert was a thin crisp plum tart topped with honey ice cream.  Now I was ready to hop on the Bart and head home!!!

San Francisco - 2011

You can’t beat Southwest’s $30 each way special from Orange County into Oakland!!  It takes about one hour on the bart from the airport to downtown San Francisco and costs less than $5 – what a deal.

I stayed at the Hotel Beresford (www.beresford.com) on Sutter Street, a very reasonable bed and breakfast inn with Sugar Café (www.sugarsf.com) (coffee house by day, lounge at night), almost next door.  Even though breakfast is served at the Hotel Beresford, I prefer the muffins and coffee at Sugar Café to start my day.  First, I visited the Museum of Performance and Design (http://www.mpdsf.org/) near the opera house.  On display in the hall were miniature toy theatres.  These theatres, scenery and characters were sold in paper sheets, subsequently mounted on cardboard, cut up, then used for home performances.  Also, down the hall was a rehearsal room where you could listen to that evening’s opera being sung!!!

Lunch Spruce (http://www.sprucesf.com/) (grilled tuna salad and peanut butter bar) was delicious!!!  I took the bus to the Legion of Honor (http://www.legionofhonor.famsf.org/) where I saw Pissarro’s People, 100 works of art made by Camille Pissarro over the course of his entire career and the mourners, 37 tomb sculptures from the tomb of John the  Fearless.  There is always something interesting going on there.  Dinner at Frances (http://www.frances-sf.com/) , a delightful little restaurant on

17^th street

.  I had a duck confit salad with kale and dates, scallops with lemon risotto and mushrooms and a chocolate “clafouti” with caramelized bananas for dessert!!!  It is a hard reservation to get but well worth the trouble.

The following day I took the ferry to Sausalito which takes about 40 minutes and is a lovely crossing.  From the town center I leisurely walked to Fort Baker about a nice hour’s walk to

Murray Circle

in the Cavolo Point Lodge (http://www.cavallopoint.com/) .  The restaurant is nice and cozy inside and the food is delicious.  I had a Nicoise salad with rare tuna and pumpkin chocolate cake for dessert.  I intended to walk back over the Golden Gate Bridge like I did last year but it was closed to pedestrians.  Instead I “hitched” a ride with a very nice couple who drove across.  I wandered down

Union Street

before heading to Saison (http://www.saisonsf.com/) later that night for dinner.  I sat outside by the pizza oven and it was fun to watch some of the dishes being prepared.  The food was delicious and many unusual ingredients, i.e. sea urchin, deer, red quinoa were incorporated into the menu; however, it is veryyyy expensive to dine at Saison so keep that in mind when you make a reservation!!!

The next morning after a delicious muffin and coffee at Sugar Café I walked down to the Asian Art Museum (http://www.asianart.org/) to visit the Maharaja exhibit which was a dazzling collection of nearly 200 artworks of India’s great kings.  Lunch at A16 (http://www.a16sf.com/) on

Chestnut Street

was an arugula salad with dates, shaved pecorino romano cheese, toasted almonds and dandelion greens and a chocolate budino for dessert, a creamy chocolate tart topped with gros sel –  so yummy!!

On to the DeYoung Museum (http://www.deyoung.famsf.org/) to see the Art of the Anatolian Kilim exhibit.  Kilims are hand woven flat rugs created by nomads in Turkey.  Each tells a story, weaving hope for good fortune or longing for love into the motifs.  Dinner at Prospect (www.prospectsf.com) created by Nancy Oakes of Boulevard.  I had an unusual cauliflower salad with pomegranate seeds, cucumbers and feta cheese, bacon wrapped quail with lentils and celery root puree and a chocolate bar with ginger ice cream for dessert.  Every dish was delicious!!!

On Saturday morning I walked down to the Ferry Building where there is a great Farmer’s Market.  All around the building are stands filled with vegetables, cheeses, fruits, etc. as well as hummus’ and Indian chutneys to try.  There are also restaurant food stalls, i.e. rosa pistola, selling barbecue pork sandwiches, bacon and eggs, etc.  This is a happening place to be sure.

 Afterwards I wandered around Jackson Square and the little shops surrounding it, finally ending up at the casual Cotogna (http://www.cogognasf.com/) created by Chef Tusk of Quince.  It is a bustling little place with an open kitchen and wonderful food.  I had beets with crème fraiche, tortellini with zucca, brown butter and sage and a chocolate tart for dessert.  I can’t wait to go back and try some other items on their ever changing menu.

Altogether it was a fabulous trip!!!

San Francisco/Napa Valley

The Trip:

San Francisco is always a great city to visit as it houses great museums, restaurants and unique neighborhoods for wandering. I stayed at a great hotel called Crescent (www.crescentsf.com) – centrally located and very reasonable.

Museums: The Asian Art Museum (www.asianart.org) has a wonderful exhibit on Shanghai and their museum shop is always eclectic.  The De Young Museum (www.deyoungmuseum.org) is open late on Friday nights so, after a nice wander in golden gate park, I saw the birth of impressionism exhibit which is on loan from the Musee d’Orsay in Paris.  The exhibit contrasts realism and impressionism in a very interesting way.

The Comtemporary Jewish Museum (www.thecjm.org) has an ongoing “exhibit”.  A trained female scribe is writing the entire text of the torah by hand and periodically is available to answer questions.  There are many rules regarding the quill, ink, paper, etc. which must be adhered to as well as the fact that each word must be spoken out loud before written.  Quite incredible!!!

Restaurants.I had lunch at A16 (www.a16sf.com) where I sat at the counter watching food being prepared and had a delicious thin crusted mushroom pizza. Sunday brunch was at their sister restaurant SPQR (www.spqrsf.com) where I had a unique little burrata and pepperonata “salad”.  Dinners were at Nopa (www.nopast.com) which included a delicious roast broccoli “salad” with fingerling potatoes, bacon and poached egg and Baker and Banker (www.bakerandbanker.com) where the quail stuffed with quinoa and bacon was only exceeded by the XXX chocolate cake!!!

Yountsville.  I have always wanted to eat at Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc Restaurant (www.adhocrestaurant.com) in Yountsville so I rented a car on Saturday and was on my way but not before visiting the Farmer’s Market at the ferry building in San Francisco.  On Saturdays from 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. vendors from all over the bay area come with fruits, vegetables, pastries, cheese, etc. to the ferry building to sell their wares.  Restaurants such as Rosa Pistola set up stands to serve pulled pork sandwiches, fried eggs and potatoes, espresso, pastries and breads of all kinds.  It is a wonderful place to have breakfast and browse with the view of the bay bridge always in sight.

Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen (www.cindysbackstreetkitchen.com) in St. Helena was my lunch stop and the rare tuna salad with nori and udon noodles was beautifully prepared and flavorful.  I wandered around St. Helena a bit and then drove into Yountsville where I stayed in a cute little room at the Bordeaux House (www.BordeauxHouse.com), walking distance from Ad Hoc.  Yountsville is filled with little shops and great restaurants such as Redd, Bouchon, Hurley’s, etc. so it was fun to just meander before dinner.  Dinner at Ad Hoc is prix fixe so there are no decisions to make.  However, if meat is on the menu as it was the night I dined there, a fish option is offered.   The menu was:  haricots verts salad with mini potato wedges, olives, prosciutto; halibut (or steak) with corn, peas, mushrooms and pea shoots; cheese course with pine nuts and honey and a little mini paris brest filled with praline cream – absolutely superb and the cost - $49 + tax and beverage – not bad for a Thomas Keller experience!!

When I return to San Francisco on my next trip I think I will take the ferry to Sausalito and eat at Avatar, an Indian Restaurant I have heard is quite wonderful.