We may end up there :) thanks!

We tried to get in at Matchbox and they took my info and said they would call back with details. 1 week later I hadn't heard anything so I followed up and they told me there's no space.... gggrrrrrrr. We're trying Tabaq Bistro- I'm relying on the ambience to carry the party as it's got pretty mixed reviews but group dining narrows ones options quite a bit!

Sadly at Masa 14 Th-Sun at peak hours they enforce an $800 food/bev minimum for small groups with an additional 22% service. That might be easily attainable for some crowds but not ideal for us, we had to cancel the rez. We are trying Tabaq Bistro- reviews seem pretty mixed but group dining is usually kinda a crapshoot anyways right? Hopefully the rooftop dining makes up for any flaws in service.

I'll check it out- thanks for the suggestion!

That sounds really great- thanks for the suggestion!

Hi DC Hounders,
I'm in charge of securing a restaurant for a bachelorette party in the DuPont/Logan circle area. I've never personally travelled here so I am lost about the options!
Ideally we'd like a place that will accommodate 12 festive young ladies (we should not be festooned in anything tastelessly phallic though) for dinner and drinks. I think a modern type place offering small plates (like modern Japanese) would be great- the kind of situation where the $-conscious attendee can get away with finding a few bites for under $20 but where it's also possible to get a full dinner if you want. I'm nervous about the large group dynamic- some people "already ate" and just want a cocktail, others are starving and looking to fill up. Is there a casual, fun, slightly classy place where a gaggle of girls dressed up for a night out could reliably get drinks and eats before hitting the nightlife?
Thank you for any and all input!
Ashley

Oysters & champagne could make for a lovely lunch! Thanks for your input- at this point I think the plan is to decide on lunch over dinner at the Publican, hehe. So we'll scrap the rez at Topolobampo (but good to know they do have a lunch-style menu). I will update when all is said and done (and eaten). Cheers!

Wow those noodle dishes have me salivating. I'm so happy for all of these suggestions- I'm moving to Chicago in a few months so eventually I will try all of these places. Thank you!

Aha- I had wondered about this. Thanks for the heads up. Lula had definitely piqued my interest, I will put that in my pocket in case we need to get away from the madness downtown.

So maybe line up at Frontera, and barring a timely meal head over to the purple pig? This may be the plan. Thank you!!

Thanks- this looks like a good option. The only thing I"m concerned about is that their menu seems pork/charcuterie-centric, and we may saturated after the Publican! I'm sure we can find some good nibbles there.

Thanks for the tip! I will definitely get there for pickle soup, whether it's this visit or not.

Hello Chicago Hounds,

I am making last-minute plans to do a lunch with my Dad in Chicago on Friday. We will be stuffing ourselves at the Publican for a late dinner on Thursday and will surely wake up a touch hungover. So, lunch should have lighter options (or be small plate friendly). Dad doesn't drink beer, but wine is an absolute must (how else will we chase away the fog of the previous nights' excesses?). BYO would be acceptable too.

Neither of us are from Chicago, and we won't have cars. He's staying near the loop, I'm staying in Lakeview. So, anywhere that's accessible by public transit would be ideal. He may head straight to ORD from lunch, I'm in less of a hurry, so if it's off the beaten path but somewhat "en route" to ORD that would be cool too.

Frontera grill would be my first choice. How early would you have to get there to sit down at lunch on Friday? And what kind of wait are you facing if you're not there as soon as they open? I see I could get a rez at Topolobampo too... if we took that would we be locked in to a larger/heavier lunch than at Frontera?

Chinese is a favorite hangover lunch food of ours too- any suggestions for somewhere fresh, not overly greasy, authentic that has a passable wine list/BYO?

Finally- we're polish but we rarely eat our ancestral food. I don't think we'll be interested in one of these smorgasbord type spots. I see a lot of praise for Podhalanka, but I didn't see Zupa Ogorkawa (pickle soup) on their menu which is my all-time favorite polish dish. Anyone know of a spot that does this well?

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for all the great suggestions, my list is getting longer and I'll definitely try to hit all these places eventually! We've finalized our weekend of dining after both mine and my dad's research- we are doing Quince, Laiola and Zuni. I'm hungry already, it should be lots of fun!
Thanks again for the great reccs!

We'll only be in the city for the weekend unfortunately, but it's still a possibility. Dad's on board with Laiola it seems, but is interested in trying Fifth Floor now (especially since we are staying at the hotel palomar, no reason to skimp on the booze if all we have to do is carry ourselves to the elevator!). So I suppose the reasoning has become one *fancy* night and one *fun* night.
Can't find tons of feedback on fifth floor, but it seems scattered-ly positive. The menu looks nice for sure.

Thanks nosh, Dad's been to Chez Panisse before (I'm dying to go) and I do think lunch at the upstairs cafe is very possible this time around. It's high on my list and I really like Berkeley in general. Canteen is an intriguing suggestion, I'd read so much about their brunch (my dad is not a breakfast guy at all) that I didn't really get to the part where they excel at dinner too. It sounds right up our alley, I'll put it on the shortlist! Thanks!

thanks for all the tips chutney, laiola sounds interesting and i look forward to hearing more about aziza! it's so hard deciding but at least he visits twice a year, so hopefully i'll check off all of these places by the time i graduate!

Laiola might be just right. I'll run it by my dad. What about Aziza (vs. Laiola)?

Edit to add: Does Laiola have a wine list by the bottle, other than the sparse selection listed on their website? That might be a dealbreaker...

Hi SF Chowhounds,
I'm a student in Palo Alto and my dad is a foodie/wine merchant from Canada. Every time he visits we like to visit a few new spots in SF, and this time I'm a bit stumped as for what to try. A little about us:

SF faves: Zuni, A16, Range
Mentionable: Salt House, Perbacco
Won't go back: Slanted Door (I think Tamarine in PA does better anyways), Greens

Other criteria to keep in mind: Me & my boyfriend are students, my dad and his friend 50-somethings who are not turned off by a boisterous, fun room. We all really like the atmosphere at A16, for example, so nothing too stuffy. More important than atmosphere is focus on fresh, local ingredients and excellent wine.

Any of you out there with similar tastes have a specific recc? We are doing Fri/Sat/Sun, and right now my only leaning is to Bar Tartine for Friday. Sunday we might just do Zuni again because we have never been disappointed. For Saturday was thinking Orson (recent threads indicate this might be risky) or Town Hall (too stuffy?), but I'm not getting a good feeling from what I've heard that either of those are just right. I guess by the time we've combed the best of SF we should expect a few misses though.

He'll be out the weekend of Nov 21-23. Thanks in advance for anything you've got!