Fun and Food in San Francisco

Sara and I

Two weeks ago I traveled to San Francisco! The primary reason for my trip was a work related conference but I chose this conference in particular because my dear friend Sara lives in SF so I headed out a couple days early to hang with her. Our first order of business was to decide b/t driving up to Lake Tahoe for cross country skiing vs hanging around SF and Sonoma County for some spa-style relaxing. A quick look at the weather, and the expected 60 degree and sunny forecast for the city itself made that decision an easy one! So after luxuriously sleeping in, we had a late breakfast and headed up to Indian Springs Resort and Spa in Sonoma. Indian Springs is a resort originally built in 1913 with many upgrades since. Part of its claim to fame is the large mineral pool fed from water from 230 degree hot springs and geysers nearby. So you can bask year round in this beautiful, warm pool looking at the surrounding mountains. The water was roughly 92 degrees so even this preggars gal could spend a limited amount of time in there (though I mostly floated on a raft just dipping my feet in).

After we were nice and relaxed, we moved on to...well..more relaxation. In the form of massages. This was my first massage while pregnant and I was interested to see what, if any, modifications would be made. Basically, in short, when I was laying stomach down I was on a soft wedge device that allowed my abdomen to push down as far needed to be comfortable. No big deal. The message was good. I'm so spoiled with a husband who is a better masseuse than any professional I've encountered but it was still nice with the music and the smells and the pre-hot tub and the post- fabulous dinner at Solbar. It was such a great day!

The next day, we started with a great 5 mile hike on Mt Tamalpais in Marin County. While the day was overcast, and constantly threatened rain, the most it did was spit a bit. The temperature was nice- mid-50s- really excellent January hiking weather! There was enough elevation gain that we required frequent breaks to "look at the views" (read: catch our breaths) so as a bonus I could count part of this wonderful walk with a friend as exercise! And we saw an unidentified animal that I really think might have been a bobcat, which made this nature-lover's day:)

Me and 25 week babybison.

We then saw Silver Linings Playbook (was so-so) and popped over to a day spa that happened to have openings for both of us to have facials right before dinner. I'd never had a facial before. It was....interesting. It's nice to have your face massaged, it's nice to have fragrant lotions applied, but in my opinion it's NOT nice to have hot humid air blowing on your face for half an hour! I could barely breathe! At one point, I felt the beginnings of a panic attack as I was reminded of the last time I felt this trapped and hot, years ago in a small hut in Northern Africa......No joke.

I was visiting my cousin, Karin, who was in the Peace Corps living in a rural town in Mauritania (let's face it, all the the towns in Mauritania are rural except for the capital). She lived in a one room house, very luxurious as she was the only one living in it. One day, we were told a sand storm was coming. We did notice the wind had picked up a bit. The locals told us to go to our house and board up the doors and windows, making sure we had sufficient water and food. The sand storms can last for up to days. I was a little excited at first but once we were locked up in the suffocating hot, stagnant hut, my mind started racing with worst case scenarios. What if this lasted days? Was there any amount of money I could pay someone to drive me the hours to the capital where there were modern buildings with air conditioning and electricity to wait out the rest of the storm? (Obviously, this was a crazy thought- no one would be able to see to drive.). What if my heart exploded from anxiety? My cousin appeared calm, cool and collected so I did my best to hold it together, placing warm washcloths on my face repeatedly because the sensation of wet was better than the hot dry air. The storm lasted only 12 hours, much of which was at night so we slept through it. But, wow, it was an experience!!

So, lesson learned- facials aren't for me. But spa days and massages definitely are!

Sara and I had no shortage of delicious food during our two days together. Despite only living there for a year and a half, Sara has quickly learned the town like a local and had all kinds of fantastic eating plans for us. In total, we had four great dinners. In brief...

1. Nopa is a great spot that serves "urban rustic food" with local, seasonal ingredients. The space is cute and energetic with enthusiastic patrons and servers. To eat we started with the warm goat cheese with asian pear and fuyu persimmon- I really enjoyed this because I haven't had goat cheese in months out of concern it wouldn't be pasteurized, but this kind of place knows their ingredients well so I confidently enjoyed the creamy cheese when the server told me it was indeed pasteurized. For dinner I had the pasta dish that was so, so good but the details of which I can't remember and it isn't on the menu anymore (it changes frequently). But doesn't it look GOOD!!??!!

2. Solbar-
This was my overall favorite dining experience. A combo of the relaxing spa beforehand, being out in Sonoma County, the marvelous wine flight (don't worry- I had only 4 oz), the food, the company, our wonderful server who happens to be a marathoner (yup, I tipped well when I learned this!), the ambience-- just a great couple hours of relaxing, enjoyable, LIFE! I wasn't surprised that my food (hot and cold dungeness crab appetizer, petaluma crispy duck breast with garnet yam stew and beignets with Bailey's Irish cream sauce) was stellar- the restaurant won a 2012 open table diner's choice award as well as a Michelin star. For future reference, the spa (which we did not partake in, but looked nice though pricey) was voted #1 spa in the Americas and #10 in the world by Traveler magazine. Might be worth checking out as a weekend trip in the future.

3. Perbacco- This was a beautiful Italian restaurant near the financial district. Sara's mom was in town my last night so I got to have dinner with them both, which was great! This restaurant was oh-so-cute and the food did not disappoint.



4. Firefly- This is where we ate the first night. It is a cute, neighborhoody type place with excellent food. One thing I really appreciate about San Francisco is the neighborhood feel- so many small restaurants, coffee shops and boutiques. Definitely a great place to get into the feel of begin in SF!


Other sights in San Francisco:

On one of my daily runs!

Look at the middle pic- handheld pot pies!

This guy is wearing hooves!

It was a great trip and I was SO happy to spend time catching up with Sara. But after a week on the West Coast, I was definitely missing home. And now with the third trimester just around the corner, I won't be traveling for a while! Guess I'll have to just enjoy the rest of winter in Chicago. If only we'd get some snow!

Slurping Turtle

Main dining area- we were in one of the upstairs tables.

For Adam's birthday I wracked my brain to find a restaurant that was new, fun and just his style. We're taking a break from the "gastronomic Olympics" that are mutl-course extravaganzas such as Next and Goosefoot for a variety of reasons. I know he likes Asian food a lot. So when I found Slurping Turtle, nominee for best new restaurant of the year for the 2012 Time Out Eat Out Awards behind Next, I knew it had to be good. And the laid back style and reasonably priced food was just what I was looking for.

Walkway to the door.

Slurping Turtle is the brainchild of Chef Takashi (of the renewed Takashi restaurant) and his goal was to re-create the "culinary experiences" of his childhood in Japan, essentially "Japanese Comfort Food". From our sampling of the menu, he definitely succeeds.

The space is very cute- an all glass, two story front, a fun walk down a interesting hallway to get to the inner front door. The restaurant is modern and sophisticated, full of light wood and glass, yet extremely comfortable- a place where adults could go before a night out or after work or where young families could bring their (well-behaved only, please) kids for a family dinner. We were seated in one of the handful of booths upstairs that overlook either the restaurant or the street.

We started with the Duck Fat Fried Chicken and the Pork Belly Snack, both of which were wonderful. The Pork Belly Snack is a MUST HAVE. Each was garnished with delicious vegetables and sauces to create complex flavor profiles, unique with each bite. So good.

Pork Belly Snack on Rice Bun

Adam then moved on to the Takashi roll composed of Wagyu beef and the usual rice, veggies, etc with foie gras on top. It was excellent. I had the Miso Ramen Dish with miso broth, braised pork shoulder (SOO GOOD), bean sprouts and a multitude of other delicious garnishes. It was really good and HUGE. Definitely recommend splitting just 1 noodle or soup dish and trying a sampling of sides and appetizers to get the most of of your tasting experience here.

For sides we had the pickled cabbage which Adam liked (I was plus/minus) and the fried brussel sprouts which were AMAZING and another MUST HAVE. I do like brussel sprouts in general, but I don't think you have to like them usually to LOVE them in this form. They were gently fried with soy sauce making them crunchy but still light and delicious and still veggie-like. Absolutely amazing. I seriously considered ordering a second helping and our server noted that frequently people do. You can't miss out on these brussel sprouts (and how often do you hear that?).

Quail egg "shot".

We sampled three (small) desserts to round out the meal. Adam had a quail egg, which was a new (and good) experience for him. We also had a sampling of 3 macaroons and the sea salt ice cream. All were good, but no must haves in the dessert arena so go ahead and get an extra appetizer or side instead when you come!

All in all, this was a great dinner place with really excellent food in a comfortable, but still cute and urban environment. We will be back!

Happy camper.

Slurping Turtle strives to recreate for our guests Chef Takashi's childhood culinary experiences in Japan, the essence of Japanese Comfort Food. The turtle is a symbol of longevity in Japan. We invite you to join us in our quest for the Everlasting Noodle.

Slurping Turtle strives to recreate for our guests Chef Takashi's childhood culinary experiences in Japan, the essence of Japanese Comfort Food. The turtle is a symbol of longevity in Japan. We invite you to join us in our quest for the Everlasting Noodle.

Eating with my girlfriends

There are many oddities in medical training. One is that every 3-4 years we finish a phase of training and a good percentage of our co-workers move on, to new training programs, to new jobs, en masse. The end result of this for me is that most of my closest friends are now scattered across the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific with countless stops in between. This week I was lucky enough to have two of my closest girl friends here in Chicago with me! It was great! So what did we do with ourselves? We laughed. We ate. We exercised. We didn't really sleep. Repeat.

Here are some of the places we visited.

We started Wednesday with a night at Bar Toma with my dear friend from medical school, Bonnie. Also in town was her (and our) friend Eric. It was an absolutely perfect Chicago night. Pleasant temperature in the sun, pleasant temperature after sundown, just perfect! Bar Toma is a great spot, flush with all the usual accolades of a fabulous chicago spot including Time Out Chicago Eat Out Award 2012 best new pizza, Food and Wine best new pizza, Chicago Magazine's 20 best new restaurants. The chef is Tony Mantuano from Spiaggia which is the only 4 star Italian restaurant in Chicago. He's also the chef at Terzo Piano (see my review here) on the roof of the Modern Wing of the Art Institute. Bottom line: the pizza is fabulous with interesting fresh ingredients and the place walks the walk in addition to talking the talk as noted above.

The sauce parade on every table.

Thursday night we headed to an old favorite (actually, I think it's only been around for a few years but we go there so frequently it seems like it's 'old' in the best sense of the word!), Lillie's Q on North Avenue. This is a BBQ joint. The next question out of any self-respecting BBQ lover would then be what kind of BBQ? The answer is ALL! Texas style focuses on the meat preparation with lots of wood  cooked meats and often no sauce. North Carolina style involves vinegar or mustard based sauces. And Memphis style (my personal favorite) involves sweeter, tomato based sauces with variable amounts of heat. All are good and in the hands of Lillie's Q chefs, all are great! Other amazing tastes include the fried pickles and the shrimp and grits. So good!

Oh, and they have moonshine! Adam enjoyed many a moonshine cocktail waiting for us gals to arrive and he definitely recommends the adult 'Cherry Coke'. I was lucky enough to have a night with two of my very favorite women in the world as Sara joined us direct from San Francisco. I'm so lucky to have such great friends from different phases of my life who get along so well. I swear they were planning a vacation together and they weren't planning on inviting me! (Don't worry, I invited myself.)

Bonnie, me, Sara

Friday, after Sara and I went to the Triathlon expo, we headed down to the South Loop to meet up with a friend from residency. We stopped at a casual but delicious pizza sports bar called Flo & Santos. They do one thing and they do it well. We paired our pizza with a super nutritious (but absolutely delicious) basket of onion rings (don't judge- we were preparing for our triathlon!) and a couple (few?) glasses of Allegash Whites. F & S is a Polish themed sports bar with exposed brick, 'tavern style' pizza, peirogies and plenty of friendly bartenders. The chef/owner was intrigued by our body marking and after chatting with us a while kept our steady supply of beer going gratis:)

Saturday night after making all our triathlon preparations, working out, and napping, Sara and I rallied to check out the brand new City Winery. This is a great spot on Randolph- one of a string of many good spots on Randolph, but definitely one worth checking out. It's a HUGE space, with a great outdoor eatery, a large bar area, a really huge main eating area as well as cute eating nooks on an upper level and by the fireplace, and more tables in a separate room with a stage where small bands and comedians put on shows. They make their own wine with grapes from various regions. I had a great Cabernet Franc from some Russian River (CA) grapes, delicious! We started with Risotto Balls, which were good but fried to my surprise. For meals, Sara tried the Seawater Tofu Steak and I had the duck breast. Both were very good. We then had the lava filled chocolate cake for dessert. The food was as good as expected, but not better than expected. But the great space and the excellent house wines make it worth a visit.

I almost forgot to mention brunches! Yes, the girls and I became ladies who lunched/brunched for a few days. Twice we visited the very convenient and almost impossibly popular Wildberry just down the street from our apartment. This is a solid brunch spot with something for everyone. It's not super chic and not super unique but has all the usual offerings including omelets, skillets, specialty benedicts, with plenty of dessert type offerings such as tiramisu pancakes and red velvet french toasts. The place often has a huge gathering of people outside but has many tables both inside and out thus the line moves quickly.

Perennial-Virant is another good brunch spot especially for those in the Old Town area. It's a trendy spot for dinner and increasingly becoming a top ten brunch spot in Chicago, which is a competitive space in which to excel. Adam had the 2 egg skillet with black beans, chow-chow, spiced onion, smoked capriko cheese, and cilantro. I had the local tomato salad with cantaloupe, pickled watermelon vinaigrette, candied pistachios and basil with a side of cheesy grits. Sara had the omelette w/ mouton frays, shaved summer vegetables and pesto. Oh, and we of course sampled both the mimosas and the bloody mary's and we were all satisfied:)

It was a great week of socializing, eating and drinking. I must admit, though, I'm ready for some home (Adam) cooked meals:)
 

Very Tardy Puerto Vallarta Restaurants Post

Our view of the kitchen from our table.

Sara did some great research into which restaurants in Peurto Vallarta were fabulous and worth our time, money, and tastebuds. Both of her picks were wonderful. The first was Teatro Limon, an open kitchen restaurant run by an American ex-pat named Bruce and his wonderful British ex-pat wife, Julia. Bruce is one of those guys who is wildly inappropriate, completely ADD, but so well intentioned and goofy that he wins you over despite the riduculous things he does and says. The restaurant concept is essentially "open-kitchen, open-menu". There is no set menu, rather Bruce and his gang find the freshest ingredients they can and make whatever the heck Bruce feels like making. He simply asked if we had food allergies then let the food flow. (Without me telling him my love for bison, that's what he choose for my main course!)

Us w/ Bruce. We had no idea he had his shirt open. Hilarious!

It's been over a month since this tasty dinner so I don't remember all the details of our meal, but it was all very good. The mojito we had to start with was out-of-this-world. Bruce and his wife essentially worked the room (all 6 tables) and we got to learn a bit of their history. They both ended up in Mexico for different reasons. Bruce was actually working for Paul Newman in Canada and came to PV on vacation and never left. They ended up together when Julia had a fall, breaking a bone, and required some help. She didn't know many people in PV at that time and Bruce ended up taking care of her despite not knowing her very well. Let's just say they know each other well now!


While we were eating our dinner, a group of 3 ladies walked in and by the way they were joking w/ Bruce, we could tell they knew each other. She we ended up chatting w/ them a bit and eventually Bruce invitied us over to their table and we ended up sharing (complimentary) cognac and hearing how this eccletic group of Americans ended up in PV (two of the ladies were in their 60s, very happily married and the 3rd was a young lady Air Force vet they met through a theatre group called The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas). A wierd and wonderous group, they were.

When they found out we are physicians, out came the BP cuff! When people hear I'm a doc it's pretty common for them to start assailing me with the health issues of themselves and their loved ones, but I've never seen anyone whip out a BP cuff! That was a new one. Apparently Bruce's BP is high and he's been taking his pressures regularly. Of course, we then all had to take our pressures. Yes, this is what you do at a high end restaurant in PV Mexico in the middle of the night!

Between the restaurant, Bruce, his wife and their goofy friends, the night ended up being quite an adventure!

Our table was the one in the middle-left.

The second restaurant we tried was called Vista Grill. The main draw of this place was the view. Absolutely beautiful. Hence the name. The food was very good as well. We both had pistachio encrusted Chilean Sea Bass and it was so wonderful. Since Sara is a wonderful friend and is willing to humor me with my 'early bird special' eating habits, we were some of the first customers there. But I like to think that's not the only reason the young male servers were flocking around our table. We were right on the edge of the balcony and it was a windy night, but they insisted on repeat attempts at lighting our table candles. First one guy came over and lit them repeatedly, immediately to see them blow out. A second guy came over and did the same. We tried to explain that a) someone already tried to light them, b) the wind was the problem and c) we were fine without romantic lighting. Knowing Spanish might have helped in that conversation, I suppose.

Yummy dessert.

Then a third young man came over with a votive and tried to light the candle then place the votive around it. That worked for a few minutes. The whole thing was quite humorous. Even more humorous was a ridiculous comedy of errors that resulted in one of our water glasses flying over the balcony. Sara moved her chair closer to the table and bumped it. One of the glasses started to tip and in my attempt to save the wine (priorities, right?) I further pushed the glass in jeopardy and it landed on the table, broke, then bounced over the balcony.

We immediately froze and listened waiting for someone on the lower balcony to scream or curse or something. When nothing happened, I peered over the balcony and saw the broken class on the awning below. Phew.

You can't take us anywhere.

All in all, two wonderful nights and I'm so grateful for Sara for taking the time to find these great spots!

Sara and I. Happy campers.

GT Fish & Oyster

After my week of birthday gifts, and a casual but delicious birthday dinner at home of spaghetti and meatballs, we set out for my birthday meal out over the weekend. Adam chose (and I approved) GT Fish & Oyster, a 2012 Chicago Bib Gourmand winner. We realized that we hadn't had a dinner out together in ~ 2 months! Wow, we've been busy.

Our table was the one for two by the window:)

The front room

We got there a bit early so we started with a drink at the bar. I choose a bottle of 2008 Palliser Sauvignon Blanc from Martinborough, NZ. It was the first North Island Sauv Blanc I've ever had and it was amazing! It had the usual fresh, clean, drinkability of the South Island SB's but had an added layer of complexity. Delicious!

Next we had oysters. My shellfish loving husband tried to order 2 dozen (TWO DOZEN!) oysters and I was "that wife" that over-ruled his ordering (look, it had to be done), because I thought we needed to save stomach room for the additional delights on the menu!

GT Fish & Oyster's menu is small plates which is great because it allowed us to try that many more items. Here's what we ended up with:

--Bento: tuna sashimi, octopus and mussels, hamachi. The tuna sashimi was a really stand-out. I highly recommend it!

--Grilled Caesar Salad: romaine hearts, cherry tomatoes, parmesan, oyster crouton


--Clam Chowder: neuske's bacon, house made oyster crackers. THIS WAS INCREDIBLE!! It came out in a jam jar and when they opened the lid table side, the warm, chowdery fumes were the best sensation of the meal. So wonderful. Come here for lunch, for dinner, late night, whatever, just get here for this chowder!!

--Bigoli and Clams: white wine, garlic, red chili


After dinner, I was not completely exhausted for a change (I sure could get used to NOT being sleep deprived!) so we took a walk around Chicago. We did some sight seeing:

And some snow sitting:

And then we had a quick nightcap at Tavern at the Park on our way home. It was a great way to ring in my thirty-x year :)

Naha

Yea! Hurrah! Success!! Can you tell I'm excited about this place? I'm going to cut to the chase and say this is the 3rd best restaurant I have EVER eaten at in Chicago, behind Moto (#1) and L20 (#2, w/ old chef, I can't vouch for the new one ). The fact that it was an unexpected find made it a very special night, indeed!

Naha is a New American restaurant that focuses on seasonal ingredients, local whenever possible. It won a Michelin star and it is well deserved! I've mentioned before that what makes a restaurant stand out is, of course, amazing food, but also the service, the ambiance, and the attention to detail. Naha excels at all of the above.

First of all, we showed up at 7pm on a Friday night w/o a reservation and the maitre'd said "no problem, we have a high table in our lounge area where we can provide the same menu as the restaurant." We didn't get a dirty look, we didn't get a "oh, let me see what I can do" that too many Chicago restaurants have as their trademark snottiness before bringing you to your table. Just a great 'can do' attitude;) (And the place was full w/in a matter of minutes.)

Sitting in the lounge was actually great. We had a full view of the restaurant, w/ all it's simple, modern ambiance. The glassware and plates were very pretty- all different shapes, some w/ the trademark Naha design. The table bussing was perfectly timed. The waitstaff was pleasant and gave us plenty of time to relax b/t courses.

The menu at Naha changes so frequently that the one on-line does not include our meals! But here's some of what we had:

scallops with rhubarb, granny smith apples, bacon

copper river salmon w/ gulf pink shrimp green city market asparagus


farm plate of squab wrapped if La Quercia prosciutto, Kurobuta Berkshire pork belly and sweet breads with a "hash" of "deep purple" potatoes, charred scallions, onion jam and savory

creme fraiche cake, strawberry hibiscus sorbet, rhubarb 

This was the kind of restaurant where you eat every single bit of garnish because each is DELICIOUS and they all fit together like the details of a rich, well written novel. Yum! 

This restaurant experience convinced me I need to focus on food photography. I eat out a lot and I blog about it a lot, so I really should take my own excellent pictures. So from now on, no shame, I will bring my GOOD camera (not my point and click) and do it right! I'm sorry I didn't do that at Naha, their food looked as good as it tasted!

After dinner, Adam and I enjoyed a nice leisurely walk home. Some sights along the way:

The Wrigley Building

Smith & Wollensky, a Chicago staple steak house

All in all, a great summer night in Chicago!