[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid: April 21, 2008]
A spring holiday and well deserved. Off to San Francisco for my very first visit, April 1998.
Shocked by the steep hills in the middle of the town! Mildly taken aback by some of the Tenderloin dive bars too.
I started out at one of the swanky hotels atop Nob Hill, the Huntington. Very nice, although it did mean a sharp climb or descent to get anywhere. I wandered over to the Top of the Mark for a sazerac and the views.
Dinner was at the Ritz-Carlton Dining Room, then run by former Le Cirque chef Sylvain Portay. The ambience was very R-C, dark and formal with plenty of trolleys. The menu boasted flexibility: apparently I could any number of courses in any order, and the kitchen would adjust the portion size appropriately.
After a taste of white salmon with a glass of Taittinger, I started with classic braised sweetbreads "Grand-Mère", served with a poached egg and dusted with black truffles. A rabbit ballotine followed with an onion marmalade, and some rabbit confit on toast. A Californian red seemed the appropriate choice, and I chose a Beaulieu 1994 Private Reserve, which must, I think, have been rather expensive.
After a warm salad of lobster with morels, I returned to meat with a peppered loin of venison and sweet potato mash. Cheese, of course, and some digestif or other. No hill climbing after that meal.
I was somehow fit enough the following day for a very long walk around the city, covering the Tenderloin, the old Barbary Coast area, the City Lights bookstore, bits of North Beach, and Fisherman's Wharf, where I lunched on a crab sandwich.
I trailed back along the Embarcadero, and through the Financial District to Union Square. The evening, I confess, was devoted to a fascinated bar crawl, taking in The Lost And Found Saloon, the famous beat poet hang-out Vesuvio's, and the bizarre Chinatown dive Li Po's. I returned to the last two haunts only last year, and reported back.
Balancing the previous evening's excess, dinner was a grilled sandwich and a glass of Charles Krug Cab at the Huntington.
SF MOMA the next morning, enjoying some Cornell vitrines, then a tour of some private downtown galleries. Memorable because of the strong temptation to invest in a lovely bronze with a 5k price ticket. Plus transportation and insurance. I demurred.
Lunch was traditional and substantial, the oyster-packed Hangtown Fry omelette at John's Bar and Grill. The evening: a concert performance of Sondheim's "Do I Hear A Waltz?"
California feeding continues next week, with some good dining in Monterey and Santa Cruz.
