45 restaurants down, 55 more to go (must...find...strength.)

the san francisco chronicle published its "2008's top-100 restaurants" list over the weekend.

it was pretty interesting (and *extremely convenient* for mwah) that one of the trends michael bauer, the chronicle's restaurant critic, noted was:

"the majority of the restaurants subscribe to the 'organic and sustainable' philosophy, whether the food is Indian, Italian, Japanese, French or American. "

woohoo! i looked over the list, and it turns out that i've been to only about half of the restaurants.

going to have to try to slog my way through the other half for the rest of this year. i think i've got my work cut out for me. sometimes, i think to myself, "self, life can be so hard." *sigh*

list is below. anyone up for trying any of these places with me? LET ME KNOW!!!!

Restaurant Name	Type	Tried It
A Cote	French	N
A16	Italian	N
Acquerello	Italian	Y
Ad Hoc	American	Y
Amber India	Indian	Y
Ame	East-West	N
Aqua	Seafood	Y
Aziza	African	Y
Bar Bambino	Italian	N
Bar Crudo	American	N
BarbersQ	BBQ	N
Bay Wolf	California	N
Betelnut	Asian	Y
Bistro Aix	French	Y
Bistro Don Giovanni	Italian	N
Bistro Jeanty	French	Y
Bix	American	Y
Bo's Barbecue and Catering	BBQ	N
Bocadillos	Small Plates	N
Bouchon	French	Y
Boulevard	American	Y
Buckeye Roadhouse	American	Y
Cafe La Haye	American	N
Cafe Majestic	California	N
Canteen	American	N
Cav	Wine Bar	Y
Chez Panisse	California	N
Chow	Italian	N
Coco500	Mediterranean	Y
Coi	French	N
Cucina	Italian	Y
Cyrus	California	N
Delfina	Italian	Y
Dopo	Italian	N
Dosa	Indian/Pakistani	N
Ducca	Italian	N
Farmhouse Inn & Restaurant	California	N
Firefly	American	N
Flora	American	N
Fonda	Small Plates	N
Foreign Cinema	French	Y
French Laundry	California	Y
Gary Danko	California	Y
Greens	California	N
Hog Island Oyster Co.	Seafood	N
Incanto	Italian	N
Jai Yun	Chinese	Y
Jardiniere	California	Y
Junnoon	Indian	N
Kaygetsu	Sushi	N
Koi Palace	Chinese	Y
Kokkari Estiatorio	Greek	Y
La Folie	French	Y
Laiola	California	Y
Manresa	American	N
Martini House	California	Y
Masa's	French	Y
Michael Mina	American	Y
Nick's Cove	American	N
Nopa	Mediterranean	N
O Chame	California	N
O Izakaya	Japanese	N
Oliveto	Italian	N
One Market	American	N
Park Chow	Italian	N
Perbacco	Italian	N
Pesce	Seafood	N
Picco	California	N
Piperade	Basque	Y
Pizzaiolo	California	N
Pizzeria Picco	Pizza	N
Plumed Horse	California	N
Poggio	Italian	N
Poleng Lounge	Pan-Asian	N
Quince	Italian	Y
Range	California	Y
Redd	California	N
Rivoli	California	N
Rosso Pizzeria & Wine Bar	Pizza	N
Rubicon	California	Y
Shanghai 1930	Chinese	Y
Silks	Pan-Asian	N
Slanted Door	Small Plates	Y
Slow Club	California	Y
SPQR	Italian	N
Spruce	American	Y
Sushi Ran	Japanese	Y
Swan Oyster Depot	Seafood	N
Tartine	Bakery	Y
Terra	California	Y
Terzo	Spanish	Y
The Matterhorn Swiss Restaurant	German	Y
Ton Kiang	Chinese	Y
Town Hall	American	Y
Ubuntu	Vegetarian	N
Vik's Chaat Corner	Indian	N
Wood Tavern	Mediterranean	N
Yank Sing	Chinese	Y
Yoshi's San Francisco	Japanese	N
Zarzuela	Spanish	Y
Zuni Cafe	Mediterranean	N

lovely lilac!

lilac is in bloom! i was lucky enough to get a couple bunches from eatwell farms at the sf farmers' market this past saturday. i was stopped several times by people (young and old, men and women, believe it or not) asking me where i had bought them from, so either i looked especially good that day or lilacs are pretty popular. [hmmm, i wonder which one it was...]

i just love lilac's fragrance. personally, i think narcissus (paperwhites), gardenia, and lilac have very similar scents. i especially love gardenia; so much so, that even though it was probably WAY too hot, we - ok, "i," as if kevin cared at all what the flowers were - chose them as the main flower for our wedding. (september in napa gets pretty frickin' hot; i think it was like 90 deg the day we got married.)

eatwell had some instructions on making homemade flower preservative, which was super easy to make: in 1 quart of water, mix 1 tsp each of sugar and bleach and 2 tsps of lemon juice. i wonder if this works for all flowers? my guess is yes, at least, for hydrangea - another one of my favorites... which if i'm not mistaken should be in bloom soon too! :D

i had the added bonus of feeling like martha stewart (minus the insider trading scandal, of course, as i look terrible in orange and don't have any clue how to make shivs) when i got home and artfully arranged them in my bouquet vase. (ok ok, more like just jabbed the branches in willynilly. sheesh, you people are such sticklers for the "truth.")

i managed to take a pic of them, posted below - aren't they pretty?!

[yeah, we finally found the camera-battery charger. turns out it wasn't "misplaced." we're just "blind." it was where it always is...for some reason we couldn't see it.]

natty and nice: spruce restaurant

Last night, we had the chance to try out a relatively new restaurant in san francisco's laurel heights called spruce. our friend buffy started a "supper club" and last night was the first dinner of what hopefully turns out to be an every-6-weeks or so event.

spruce is owned by the guys who brought us the village pub in woodside, ca. a lot of our friends love that place. actually, what i should say is ALL of our friends love tvp. for some reason, no matter how much i want to love it, i'm always disappointed. don't get me wrong: it's a very yummy-looking restaurant. all that burgundy/red velvet and dark wood... unfortunately, i think the food there is only ok. maybe kevin and i are always ordering the wrong things. who knows. that said, they do have a very nice pimm's cup, even though it's kind of a random drink to have on the menu.

anyway, i digress. we were talking about spruce. the unexpected bonus of going to dinner here was it turns out the restaurant
"showcases only the freshest, local, and organically grown produce as well as naturally-raised meats, line-caught fish, and perfectly aged cheeses." later in the night, we found out the restaurant (along with the village pub) not only has a direct partnership with a 5-acre organic farm in woodside that grows a good portion of its produce, but it also sources as much of their ingredients from farms that use sustainable methods.

dinner started out with some passed hors d'oeuvres. there were 14 of us so we were in the private dining room. some of us were meeting each other for the first time, so this was a nice way for everyone to mingle and chat a little before sitting down to dinner (in fact, with the exception of buffy and alex, kevin and i didn't know anyone there. i know! considering how introverted we normally are, that was brave, right? gold stars for the both of us! ;). i don't know if i remember all the apps, but what i do remember were gougeres, arancini, salmon blini, and boudin blanc sausages. (they were all good, although i wasn't a huge fan of the red pepper/almond sauce that was served with the arancini.)

about an hour later, we sat down to dinner. it was a set menu that started with a lettuce and herb salad with an olive oil vinaigrette and green olive crostini (i think it was picholine... i luv picholine olives). the salad was just aight; i'm not a huge fan of bitter greens, but the crostini was YUM.

next, we had a pasta course of celeriac and mascarpone ravioli topped with black trumpet mushrooms. i loved this dish. i've actually been thinking about trying to cook with celery root; there's a lady at the sf farmer's market who's had them for the last few weeks, and there are a couple recipes in alice waters' Chez Panisse Vegetables cookbook that look tastylicious. after last night, i think this weekend i'll be picking me up a couple of them to play with. (if they work out, i'll make sure to post recipes.) the salad and ravioli were paired with a very nice 2006 trebbiano from ca dei frati.

for the meat course, i chose the pork tenderloin with crispy pork belly and a bean ragout-y type side. i don't usually order pork, so this was me being adventurous. turns out i should have ordered the fish (dorade); kara gave me a little taste of it...awesome. the fish came with sunchokes, orange, and olive vinaigrette; there was this amazingly light creamy sauce that totally made the dish. the waitstaff f'd up and thought i was having the fish (is that a compliment or an insult?), so i was served the wrong wine (a 2005 verget pouilly-fuisse), and i didn't get a chance to taste the pomerol (a 2005 chateau vieux maillet).

as for dessert... as p likes to say: yummers. it was a trio of mini desserts: a teeny tiny sponge cake with shaved chocolate anchored with a daub of whipped cream; a mini mango "trifle" with a meringue cookie in the shape of a pirouline; and a small chocolate eclair with a chocolate caramel ganache. sooooo... like i said, there were 14 of us...i finished my desserts first. by a long shot. i inhaled it feller-style. only faster. (yes, it's possible.)

so overall, i'd give spruce between a 3-4 out of 5. the food was very tasty (despite my disappointment in the pork v. fish, with me losing); the decor was very nice; the service was only ok. a couple times, my water glass stayed empty for much too long, and once, i had to ask for more water - as if i were at a korean restaurant. (ahem.) and when a couple of us wanted to try a little of the red wine, the waiter said he'd come back, but never did. maybe the brain farts were because we were in the private dining room. not sure... but considering dinner was about $300/couple, i don't know about you, i expect way better than korean-restaurant service. not doing something as basic as keeping water glasses filled at $150 a head is a big ding in my book.

but all that aside, and before you think i'm a spoiled princess, i'll say that i would definitely go back to spruce. i've convinced myself the water sitch was b/c of the private room, and i loved the fact the food was very much obviously driven by what's in season. at the minimum, i'd go back so i could have the dorade and inhale some more of those desserts. my plan is to go back during the summer to see what they can do with all the amazing, seasonal produce. (can you say "HEIRLOOM TOMATOES"?!???!? wheeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!! i can!)

so, give spruce a try. a very fashionable and seasonally-driven restaurant where you can see first hand that sustainable ingredients absolutely can = delicious. this pursuit of deliciousness so far is working out just fine ;)