What do you mean? I have a reservation. And it's quite early into service.

I already have a reservation at Nightwood. Yea I was wondering if I should show up a bit prior to opening at Ruxbin and try to walk in but from your post it sounds like it's not worth the hassle to do a walk in

i actually didnt look into either of those. from the sounds of this thread i'm probably going to perla. we like pastas and roasted meats. hehe.

yeah i'm probably gonna pass on walk-in at L&E.

thanks for the info. what if i'm between nightwood and ruxbin?

thanks for the heads up. have you had dinner there? i had a great brunch there several months ago. any standout dinner items or does the menu seem to change frequently?

thanks for your input. any particular dishes you had that were standouts form perla?

Thanks for the excellent recs as always. We were thinking of going to those walk in places quite early like though, like 5-5:30p or something, start of service, and then possibly go to a movie or just walk around after. I actually have reservations at Nightwood and Trenchermen for later in the night that Saturday in case we are quoted a crappy wait time. I'll show my fiance the menus I guess along with Naha and see what she says and then cancel one of the reservations.

just looking for some input / feedback. haven't been to either. was planning a nice, not-too-fancy dinner for a party of 5.

thanks

So my fiancé and I are headed to Chicago again. Looking for some input on a Saturday lunch and dinner.

For brunch / lunch I was thinking big jones. Haven't been there yet. I've been to Southport Grocery, Mhenry, Jam, Hot Doug's, Sprout, Purple Pig, North Pond, Longman and Eagle, Au Cheval, Little Goat Diner, The Publican, Carriage House.

For dinner I was thinking walk-in at Longman and Eagle bc we haven't eaten there for dinner or walk-in at Ruxbin as we haven't been there. Other ideas were two other places we also haven't been, Nightwood and Trenchermen. I wanted to try Goosefoot, Next or Bavette's Bar and Boeuf but they're booked. Also thought of going back to Elizabeth for the deer menu since we LOVED the diamond menu this past winter.

What are your thoughts? Thanks

Keep in mind we've been fairly recently (past year or so) to Elizabeth, Grace, Alinea, Yusho, Acadia, North Pond, Avec, Takashi, and EL Ideas.

Also, I will have my car so getting to somewhere is of no issue and with respect to price I don't have a restriction.

So following some afternoon tennis in Russian Hill my buddy drove us over to Deep Mission for a coffee at Philz, then some Humphry Slocombe. He also got some carnitas tacos at Taqueria Guadalajara. Damn Humphry Slocombe is good. Had a mix of the "secret breakfast" and "Vietnamese coffee" with their whipped cream. Such a great texture to the ice cream. Light. Smooth. Airy. No ice crystals. Good flavor. It's beer week so my buddy tried one of their beer ice creams and he seemed to enjoy it. I had a bite of his carnitas taco and that was great too. That's his spot for carnitas tacos. He said he goes to another place for lingua and yet another place for carne asada tacos.

Since I went to Slocombe should I still go to Pizzeria Delfina followed by Bi-Rite tomorrow for lunch? He mentioned that he likes Roli Roti and Ike's.

Breakfast at Boulette's Larder yesterday was delicious but kinda pricey. Poached eggs with pulled chicken and parmesan. Scramble with brown mushrooms, mache and lemon oil. Yogurt with lemon curd and citrus segments. Everything tasted so fresh and bright. The communal table offered a nice view into the open kitchen. The staff was friendly and attentive. We enjoyed it so much we are going back for lunch today with two friends.

Lunch at Marlowe yestersay was good but not great. Started with the crispy Brussels sprouts with lemon and salt. Certainly a nice snack. The little gem salad with avocado, market vegetables and citrus vinaigrette was my favorite item. The flavors were bright with just the right amount of acid. The little gems were super crunchy and the paper-thin slices of carrot and radish were beautiful. You guys have such great produce. My friend and I then got the chicken sandwich and the burger. Sadly the burger was medium-well, maybe even well, which was not our requested temp. The chicken sandwich was good but nothing special. Although the chicken was juicy and the exterior nice and crispy, it didnt really stand out as a sandwich I'll remember in a couple weeks.

Now dinner at State Bird. That was memorable. We had a nice spot at the bar seats on the dining room side rather than the waiting area side. The place was bustling even though they were to be closing their door in 30 min. My fiancé and I had the sea urchin pancake, a small order of the state bird, then nine of the passed around "provisions" and then finally the ice cream sandwiches and the cocoa pudding with milk chocolate pistachio crunch. Man that crispy quail was fantastic. I also really liked the pork belly with winter citrus although I had a very similar dish at ABC Kitchen in NYC back in 2011. Both desserts were solid. We broke apart the milk chocolate crunch and stirred it into the chocolate pudding and wow hat was good. Rich chocolate with crunchy, nutty bits.

This AM we tried Tartine's quiche and then bread pudding. Followed by some coffee at Ritual.

This afternoon will be our return to Boulette's Larder for lunch as I mentioned. Saison tonight. Not sure where to go for breakfast tomorrow. Maybe Plow as was offered as a suggestion. I think I will do lunch at Pizzeria Delfina and then some ice cream at Bi-Rite and then dinner with my fiancé at Atelier Crenn. Friday I may go to Craftsman and Wolves in the AM. We are having lunch with friends at Cotogna on Friday and then that conference dinner. Mid-day Saturday we are headed home. Maybe I can get some dim sum prior to taking off for the airport?

So we are in SF now. Arrived in the afternoon yesterday and walked over to the ferry building. Has half of a meatball sandwich and half of a shredded pork sandwich followed by a latte from blue bottle and a canelé from Boulette's Larder. Everything was great. We ended up going to dinner at Bar Tartine last night. No food or service issues. Actually the food was very good but we were sooooo stuffed and tired that we couldnt enjoy to the fullest. The farmer's cheese dumplings with parsnip purée and chard was my favorite item. Kind of reminded me of gnudi.

Thinking of going over to Boulette's Larder for breakfast. This afternoon Im meeting a friend for burgers at Marlowe. Dinner is at State Bird Provisions. Any items I should be on the lookout for at these latter two places?

very true

Rich Table was on my original list of places but I dropped it in preference after a friend of mine from SF said he had a disappointing meal there but he didn't elaborate.

What are your thoughts on breakfast / lunch at boulette's larder versus il cane rosso?

I'm definitively going to cotogna for lunch. Still not sure where to go for that Monday dinner.

I did find out where the Friday conference dinner is... Brindisi. I've never heard of the place.

I definitely want to go to boulette's larder for lunch. Do I really need reservations as their website suggests?

oh and i do have a saturday lunch open. and breakfast tues thru saturday.

yeah AQ sounds good but its not open monday and its not open for lunch mon-saturday so i wont have the opportunity to try it.

thanks for the suggestions

so, re: mission chinese, theres a mission chinese in NYC and i plan on going there in late march

i meant to also list craftsman and wolves. thanks for reminding me.

i definitely intending on going to marlowe for the burger

my fiance has a conference during the week and friday we are eating wherever her colleagues have arranged some group dinner. i don't know where it will be at this time. but i doubt it will be at a place i would have picked for myself

i already have a reservation. just wasnt sure if i should go

yea i wanted to walk in to frances. came highly recommended to me from a san francisco friend of mine. but i found that its closed on monday as you say.

sounds like bar tartine is the way to go? i can always do a mid week lunch at cotogna.

Thank you for your recommendations. I think AQ is not open on Mondays though.

thats exactly what i was thinking... go to cotogna for some apps/pastas at lunch time. pizzeria delfina is another idea. im a new yorker so i have had my share of good pizza. delfina's pie definitely looks from pics like a nice neapolitan style pie.

oh and that friday dinner is not something i can pick. i'm just not sure where we are going for it.

i guess i just need a monday dinner idea at this point

Actually I just realized I gave up my previous Cotogna reservation and now there's no opentable slots. I guess I could do walk-in as soon as they open. Anyone have any other suggestions for a moderately priced but excellent dinner? This is where we going so far:

Monday - open
Tues - Saison
Wed - State Bird Provisions
Thurs - Atelier Crenn
Fri - required dinner not sure where it is yet

Lunch ideas for the week:
Boulette's Larder
Tartine
Marlowe

Also taking suggestions for lunch

They'll be open by Feb 13 right? I have a resy and I'm flying from across the country. I'd like to know if I need to make alternate plans.

Already have a few break the bank dinners lined up. Have State Bird lined up too. Looking for an additional moderate priced option so I came up with these - Cotogna / SPQR / Bar Tartine. Location doesn't matter. Price doesn't matter. Just want the overall best executed food. I understand tables at SPQR are prob close together. That also doesn't really bother me.

Thoughts?

-thanks-

As a new yorker, I must say that I've been to Supino prob 5 times and it is nothing like New York style pizza. If anything it would fall closer to the category of neapolitan style but I'm actually not even sure I should say that. The pizza at Supino is kind of its own thing. The dough has a flavor and texture that I can't really compare to the typical neapolitan pies of say, Motorino, Keste, Lucali, Co, etc. As for your other places listed, Ive not been to any of them.