Have you tried the Three Twins cardamom flavor? Amazing.

There is a Mollie Stone's right off Bridgeway in Sausalito, that should be good for all your general grocery shopping including a good selection of produce, meat and seafood.

Fish Restaurant in Sausalito also has a fish counter where you can purchase fish to cook at home. Always top quality.

Mill Valley is the next town north and west of Sausalito and it's worth driving the mile or two to "downtown" to visit Mill Valley Market which is a specialty market with excellent meat and fish.

There are also two Whole Foods in Mill Valley.

The Strawberry Village mall is just 1 freeway ext north of Sausalito and the is a store called The Spanish Table with Spanish ham, cheese, wines and other products if you are interested in that.

That's just a start, there are a lot of great specialty shops in Marin.

Follow the link in the OP and then take a look at the clip from Larry David/Curb Your Enthusiasm to see an example.

It's been my understanding that they weigh the product first, the way that it is presented in the case. You pay that price.

If they do any additional trimming or cutting after that, then you either take the loss or take the trimmings/bones with you for another purpose.

There are a couple of places farming abalone on the Central Coast, who can sell it and supply it to restaurants. For example:

http://www.americanabalone.net/abalon...

I haven't been down there, shopping myself, but according to the Pillar Point Harbor hotline, King salmon is available, they don't give prices.

650-726-8724

My SO got a bottle at the Redwood City store. It's drinkable, but a maybe a bit past it's prime, has a slightly sour finish.

We visited the area about 6 months ago and among our favorites were Edmeades, for Zinfandel. Also, a great spot to relax and enjoy the view over the valley.

Handley has some unusual wines and a display of the original owners travel memorabilia. They were offering a few small bites of cheese and chocolate with the tasting (that may vary).

Also close by is Husch, very straightforward and simple, but nice wines at reasonable prices.

Wanted to like Roederer and Scharffenberger for sparkling wine, but we were not really that impressed with their wines. No reason to go to both, they are pretty similar, it's an OK stop if you like sparkling.

Handley has a nice sparkling wine. And Handley and Husch also make dry Gewurztraminer, which are not to everyone's taste but interesting to try.

Had a simple but very nice lunch at Buckhorn Grill, the venison burger was a big hit.

We loved Toulouse too, and it was very dog-friendly.

Allow me to digress a little here, we travel with our dog, so notes for other canine travelers.

Actually most places were dog-friendly, only Roederer, Schramsberg and Edmeades didn't allow dogs inside, but were fine with us tasting outside with the dog. Navarro (not too impressed with their wines or the tasting experience, very rushed) has a fenced in lawn area where you can let your dog run.

Since I no longer travel for work all the time, my chain visits have reduced dramatically. In fact, most of my recent visits have been chowhound/chow inspired.

If have been to McD's for the Fish McBites which were discussed extensively here and I eventually had to try them.

Most recently stopped at Carl's Jr. to try the Bourbon Burger and Cod sandwich, both of which were reviewed by the Chow Supertaster. SO said the Bourbon sauce was too sweet and he would have preferred the regular burger. I thought the cod sandwich was good, nice grilled fish with tartar sauce, lettuce and tomato. I would get that again.

We have also had 5 Guys and Popeye's in the last year (like both of these places) and I think that's about it. Most of these visits were when were on long drives and needed a quick stop.

When I want a quick meal while at home I will usually go to one of several independent places nearby that do takeout.

Don't forget the awesome Lucy Garcia in Spain who translated for him at El Bulli and was also in other Spanish episodes.

And there was a NR where he asked viewers to write in with their ideas for how they would host him in their location, and he picked a young woman in a Middle Eastern country (memory fails, might have been Saudi Arabia).

One thing that I liked about Anne Burrell's show was that she tasted the food during cooking, sometimes more than once, at various stages. Her stock statement was something along the lines of "I want to make sure this is going to taste good and not just hope it turns out OK".

Of course she also did the obligatory tasting at the end as well.

Because some people travel with carry-on only and prefer not to check baggage unless forced to.

I made these Sunday evening as part of a grazing dinner. Where we had cheese and bread and a few other things to nibble on. So they were actually more of an appetizer, but I would probably serve them on soft rolls (bolillos) as tortas if they were the main focus of dinner. Maybe with onion/cilantro or pickeled onion garnish.

From the chef/owner/family of the Fresca and Pasion restaurants in San Francisco.

This restaurant is located in the Pacifica Beach Hotel (at the corner of Highway 1 and Crespi), in a restaurant space that has been empty for a while and never in the past housed a restaurant that was even remotely viable. It was very sad that is great location had gone to waste for so long.

The Puerto 27 team has done a wonderful job of redoing the space and are also serving some tasty Peruvian food.

The views are wonderful. Especially today, on a rare, hot and sunny Pacifica day. The interior is clean, streamlined and modern. The open kitchen at the back of the room is completely new and all shiny stainless steel.

There are three walls of windows, so most tables also have a great view. The restaurant is actually across Highway 1 from the beach, but is up on a little slope which helps with views. The bar area in the center of the restaurant is elevated from the main dining tables, so there is still a nice view. There are TVs in the bar showing baseball, but with no sound, and not visible from most tables. Nice Latin music soundtrack in the background.

The menu is similar to the Fresca restaurants in San Francisco. Our bartender/server was very friendly and interested in what we thought of our dishes.

Our server described the menu as "medium plates", so we shared three.

We sampled the Empanadas which had very light and crispy shell and a filling that tasted more of olives than of the beef. They were served with a side salad.

Scallops, two huge seared scallops with a crunchy topping served with sauteed spinach.

Lomo Saltado, sirloin with fries and vegetables covered in gravy. The beef was tender and very flavorful, fries were crispy when the dish was first served and then soaked up the gravy, making for a savory dish.

There are many more delicious sounding options to try on the menu.
These "medium" plates range from about $10-20.

There is a full bar and the Pisco Sour is a specialty. There is a short but interesting wine list, most available by the glass. California, South America and Spain are represented on the list. Same with the beers on tap and by the bottle, small but interesting choices, including a couple of Peruvian beers.

It's a great start. They don't have a full website up and running yet for menus. So I don't know the exact details of when they are open. I think it's just for dinner right now, maybe lunch in the future.

I am happy to have a good spot within walking distance. I hope they do well here. Everyone come on down, it's supposed to be warm and sunny for the next couple of days.

Chipotle Meatballs, page 287

The dish was successful, and was happily consumed by the household. I don't usually use the food processor when I make meatballs, but it's necessary to incorporate the bacon into the mix for this recipe. I liked the light texture of the meatballs that resulted from using the processor.

I picked this recipe because I had some ground turkey in the fridge that needed to be used and I was looking for something different than a spaghetti and meatballs type dish. This delivered on flavor. I used two chipotle peppers, plus 2 tbls of the can sauce as per the recipe for the sauce. Next time I might just use one, it was quite spicy.

The mint seemed like an odd herb to use, and I may have used a bit less than the 1/2 cup called for, but it's flavor was not really noticeable in the finished dish.

One of the things that I like about this book, is the "riffs" or variations on many of the recipes. Bayless does mention that other herbs can be substituted for the mint. Also that other ground meats can be used, rather than the ground pork that is in the main recipe. So, I went with turkey because that's what I had, but I would like to try the recipe with pork sometime. I also used mint because it grows like a weed here and I always have some in the backyard. I could see using parsley just as easily.

Also, I switched the preparation steps. I mixed the sauce ingredients in the processor first and then set them aside in a bowl. Then with just a quick rinse of the processor I mixed the meatball ingredients. If you do it the way it is set out in the book, you would have to completely wash the processor after mixing the meat, before you did the sauce.

That could be a tough schedule. As other posters noted, SF does not have a huge number of late night dining options.

If your flight is delayed, or if you have to clear customs, your 11pm arrival means you may not be out of the airport until much later.

BART stops running at midnight, so that means taking a cab into the city and/or back to the airport. Bars close at 2am.

A lot of the concessions in the airport are closed overnight too. So you should make sure you bring some snacks with you in case you are stuck in the airport overnight.

http://www.flysfo.com/web/page/atsfo/...

Scanning through this list, the only thing open overnight is Subway.

Sorry, I am sure your next SF trip will be better.

The newer stores are more like full service markets in that they do have a fresh meat and produce section. Although they are not gourmet stores, if you hunt around you will find some well known brands at very good prices. Like the Muir Glen tomatoes that I pulled out of the cupboard last night, I don't remember exactly what I paid, but probably about half of what Safeway or WF charges for them.

I couldn't do my entire shopping there, but I go about once a month and look for the interesting items. It's kind of fun, but not the place to go if you are in a hurry.

You can also find non-food household items, personal care, cleaning stuff, etc. Let's not forget wine, some great (and a lot of not so great) deals there too.

Stores are individually owned and operated, so even though they all get products from the same central warehouse, each store is stocked somewhat differently.

There is an ongoing topic on the SF Bay Area Board about current finds at the various local stores. That will give you an idea about what kinds of things you can find there.

SF:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/898464

also on the California board:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/799746

I didn't see a similar topic on the San Diego board. It would be good to start a local topic because things vary so much from store to store.

I like the new show too. It's not as much about food, but he has been moving in that direction and the show is on CNN not FN. Have been a Bourdain fan for quite a few years now and the new show is probably the best thing happening on Sunday night.

Did you know you can use the EYB Bookmarklet tool to add online recipes to your bookshelf?

You can get this from the EYB home page. It adds a button to your browser toolbar and when you are viewing an online recipe you want to save, you click it to open an EYB window.

Depending on the web site, EYB can read in necessary data about the recipe (title, photo, ingredient list) or just gets the link and you can add the details yourself. Once you save it, it shows up in your recipe searches, just like cookbook recipes.

I think your friend has it wrong. Hotel restaurants that are used to a lot of business travelers are usually very prompt and even brusque in their service. After all, most business travelers are not eating in the hotel restaurant because they are out for a fun evening. They are either tired and hungry, have an appointment to get to or have more work to do.

Sounds like the restaurant was severely understaffed that night, maybe in the kitchen too.

Roseville is about 20 minutes or so east of Elverta and you have lots of choices there. Nugget Market is a great all around market for meat, seafood, produce and bakery, There is also a Costco if you are a member. Bel Air is another local supermarket that has good quality and service in the meat department.

I like the crab sandwich. I like the green chile soup more than the artichoke. Cioppino is good, but maybe not the best around. They also have fresh seafood specials. Sometimes they even have abalone, but that is pricey.

I am not really a dessert person, but their pies are well known. You can buy the pies frozen at some local markets. You can get them at Oceana Market in Pacifica.

I think it's a great road trip stop for the history.

From Incanto's web site:

http://incanto.biz/group-dining/

We ended up paying $130pp including wine.

Skip Pacifica and just drive south from SFO to Highway 92 and then take that directly to HMB.

Lots of choices in HMB. It would really help to know if you want something quick and casual or a nicer meal. Do you want to sit outside, etc.

For casual in HMB I would go to Chez Shea, for nicer, Pasta Moon. Both are on Main Street, so no water views.

Another option is driving another 15 or so miles further south and stopping at Duarte's in Pescadero. Not everyone here is enamored or the food, but I have enjoyed a few things there and it has quite the history, if you like that sort of thing. Also in Pescadero is Harley Farm, goat dairy where they make and sell some lovely cheese (no restaurant).

Here's a topic from another CH who has reported extensively on HM lunches:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/876929

Yes, I think that's what I said. It affords privacy, but you don't feel isolated from the main part of the restaurant.

I am sure the other diners were appreciative of the separation when our pig arrived and everyone got up to take photos. :)

Thank you steveburstein!

It's a year later and we have just taken another trip down to Paso Robles.

The Albertson's was amazing. You would not imagine this kind of selection in a supermarket.

Apparently they have a wine buyer that knows what is happening with local wines and stocks stuff that you will not find even in SF (or anywhere).

There is an area in the front of the store (with tasting area, we didn't go when a tasting was on) that has all the local wines at excellent prices. Many are priced less than at the wineries, if you buy six bottles.

Of course it's still worth going to the wineries to taste, and there are wines that they only sell at the wineries, But once you have done that you can find some good deals at Albertson's.

Disclaimer: we live in California so we don't have to worry about shipping. We can just buy it and drive it home.

A belated report, but since no one else has posted, I thought I would start the topic and I hope that my fellow Chowhounds who attended the dinner will join in to add more details, their own impressions and more photos.

First of all many thanks to our organizer, who arranged the dinner.

Sunday evening, at 5:30pm sharp we arrived at Incanto on Church Street in SF. Most of us were assembled outside when the restaurant opened its doors. We had the maximum of 17 people for the Dante Room at Incanto, which is a small alcove behind the main dining room. It affords privacy, but is not completely removed from the rest of the restaurant.

The menu was four courses:

Boccalone antipasto platters

Salad course: Choice of
Redleaf Little gems, herbs & ricotta salata
Rucola, radish, pecorino & lemon vinaigrette

Whole Roasted Pig
side dishes, young turnips with their greens with lemon and chili
Bloomsdale spinach, guanciale & shallots
Pig and side dishes were served family style for the table

Dessert: Choice of
Milk chocolate-caramel bonet & cocoa nib brittle
Tahitian vanilla cake, Albion strawberries & vanilla ice cream

Two wines were served. A Nebbiolo rosato with the starter courses and a Sangiovese with the main course. I did not note down the specific wines, but I am counting on other diners to supply that information. Both wines were very good and worked well with the courses.

As the pig was carved, We were first served the moist delicious meat and crispy skin. There was also a bread stuffing which was rich with the flavors of roast pig. Then later the offal parts were presented and passed around the table.

Our main server made the evening a delight, he was informative, entertaining, efficient and attentive to individual requests, even with the large group.

The chef who cooked our pig came to the dining room to talk about the cooking process and then carved it for us.

(I am sorry that I did not get the names here, can anyone else fill in?)

The food was delicious, as was the wine. The company was also great. Most of us had not been part of a chowdown before and it was a lot of fun to meet and talk with everyone.

Everyone received a take home bag with more porky goodness.

I also have a lot of magazines taking up space, so I understand.

If your magazines are in good condition and you have good sets of them you can sell them on Ebay (or other auction site of your choice). Saveur in particular goes for a pretty good price. (Although I personally will keep all my Saveurs.) So check there to see if anything you have is worth selling.

Eat Your Books is a web site that indexes cookbooks and magazines. When you join you can create a personalized list of the books and magazines that you own and then use their site to search your collection. They do change for this service, but I find it well worth the $25 annual fee. They only have a few years worth of magazine back issues indexed though, so that doesn't help with the old issues.

I also have lot of old magazines to go through and I will probably put most of them up on Freecycle and just keep any issues that are of particular interest. I am also fond of the old obscure magazines, so I will probably keep those too.

As for the more mainstream publications, like Cooking Light for example, I don't feel very nostalgic about most of them. The recipes from ten years back in that type of magazine seem very dated.

Stopped by Poppy's Crab Shack (it's actually a trailer) the other weekend when we saw them parked by Montara State Beach. Had a "Naked" crab roll which is just crab and Strauss butter on a nice roll.

It was great, lots of fresh, sweet crab meat, delicious. I will stop by again, soon I hope, because I would like to try their dressed crab roll and crab chowder.

http://poppyscrabshack.moonfruit.com/...

I bought Gran Cocina from the Good Cook for $12 on a special sale in February. I think they may have a similar sale on now.

It's huge and looks lovely sitting on the coffee table, but I haven't even opened it yet.

I am going to vote for Bayless because I also have that one and his recipes are accessible and I would like to cook more from it.