My wife swears by the oatmeal at The Stable. Sounds very similar to your description. Unfortunately, her last order was not as good as it has been. Hopefully just a one time aberration.

I agree. We've been going there infrequently for well over 20 years and I've found them to be very consistently good. Maybe not as surprising or eye-opening as they once were, but not "lackluster" in our experience. My wife recently went their for lunch and her comment was how much she always likes eating there.

I wouldn't be too worried about the lines at Hi-Lo. I may have gone there on the early side, but the lines have been no problem in my last two visits.

A seafood alternative might be Catch.

Wild Flour is actually right on your way from Hog Island to Paul Matthews. I'll add my voice to the choir that its worth checking out. In Freestone you'll also find Phelp's Freestone winery. Have not had their Sonoma pinot, but I find them reliably excellent.

Adding Armstrong Redwoods into the mix is what will really make your plan a stretch. An alternative would be to head into the coastal ridge in Cazadero where you will find the best Sonoma ridge pinots. Others may have ideas for which wineries are best to visit. But the road to those wineries will give you plenty of coastal redwood sights. The problem is that many of these wineries are way off the beaten track, making it hard to hit more than one or two in a day.

In Moss Landing, just south of Santa Cruz, well hidden from the Hwy1 traffic, Phil's Fish Market is a good place for sampling the local catch. Not fancy at all; probably not worth distorting your travel plans for; probably better for lunch than dinner... But I really enjoyed it and plan to return next time I'm passing through. Its surprisingly hard to find unpretentious places that serve fresh, locally caught seafood.

For brunch, I'd recommend Plow on a weekday. Billed as breakfast, but close enough. The weekend brunch menu is also great, but the wait can be daunting, so weekday breakfast is your best bet.

Other brunch favorites: Foreign Cinema, Butler and the Chef, Mission Beach Cafe.

If you liked Blowfish, I'm thinking you'll like Ichi sushi. Not the same, really, but similar in that you don't go there looking for your sushi favorites, you go there to let the chef take you someplace new.

Went back this week and was chagrined to find they didn't have brisket on the menu that day. So I tried a prime rib plate that was in its place. It was really delicious. Tender, well marbled, nice and pink the way I like it, with a subtle smokiness on the outside edges. Served with roasted cipollini onions and a horseradish aoli. Not what I was expecting, but really satisfying.

They've been consistent for years. They're my favorite, mostly for the quality of their meats and their consistent results. Their sauce is lacking, but everything else is stellar.

My recent favorite hash has been on Plow's weekend brunch menu. Like everything they do, its excellent. As I recall, the one I had at Local's Corner was tasty, really delicious, but kinda out there and not what I would call hash.

Its been a few years since I've made the East Bay circuit, but my favorite for a long time was Jimmy Bean's. This thread makes me yearn to go back. For me it was a better texture and flavor than Bette's Oceanview - which was, in my recollection, artful and beautiful, but a bit anodyne and crying out for salt, salsa, flavor...

Going back even farther into my memory banks: has anyone been to Home Plate recently? Have not been there in many years, but I used to love theirs.

OK, so I know this is out of range for this board, but...

Was with a friend who had the cioppino at Phil's Fish Market in Moss Landing. Oh yeah. A whole lot to love about that cioppino. I mostly sampled the broth with my bread, but that made me happy enough right there.

Puerto Allegre serves my favorite nachos. I always get the veggie ones. Theirs is not spicy, so I end up adding some of their salsa to it when it arrives at the table.

That said, I agree with sambamaster that nachos are such a simple dish, it will be hard to argue that one place serves the "best." Any place that mixes good fresh ingredients and manages to get the nachos to the table with some crispness left in the chips is going to serve a winner.

Same here. Used to be excellent, and its still the mainstay of the menu. But its been a while, and a new owner, since I had it. But it is also far from the OP's target zone.

Here's to a happy medium! I agree about the over smokiness of many Q places, especially Memphis Minnie's. Ostler's ribs at Bruno's were out at that end of the spectrum. I really loved his Q there, so I was expecting something along those lines. I think its clear he's aiming for a different style here. But I'm hoping it gets a bit more smoke. We'll see.

As I re-read what I wrote above, I think I was coming across too negative. I really liked the place, and now I know to ask for less lean cuts. If it gets a tad smokier, I'll be in heaven.

My experience was similar to yours. We really liked the space. The informal service was friendly and efficient. We plan to be back, probably a lot.

I do think they have room to improve the Q. Our brisket was beautifully cooked, nice and tender. But most of it was a bit too lean, or at least the more lean pieces were just a touch dry and over done. The more marbled pieces were pretty much divine. The ribs were on the overdone side too, might have been the luck of the draw. And the smokiness was not as pronounced as I remember Ryan Ostler's Q from Bruno's being. So I think there is room for improvement as they get used to their smoker. I didn't get a picture of the Pho-Que (pronounced fa-Q) but you should definitely check it out. It was the best thing on our table.

I attended the starter workshop at Sour Flour bakery at La Victoria and can recommend it. The workshop on dough development sounds really good too. http://www.sourflour.org/workshops/

For a group that large in that neighborhood, I'd check out the hotels, like Mission Grille: Ducca at the Westin, Luce at the Intercontinental.

Mel's could handle the group, but its hard to get enthusiastic about that option.

Also located in this backwater of the SF food scene: Cable Car Joe's and Manila Oriental Market

Others have mentioned the Ocean Ave Whole Foods and Canyon Market, but neither one is in the specific area you've specified. Manila market is, and it is really noteworthy. For me, the butcher is my go-to guy for pork, especially pork shoulder cuts. Their fish market is very interesting provided you don't much care about sustainability and sourcing. Lots of really good values and a near-Ranch-99 breadth of offerings.

Cable Car Joe's? Great burgers. Great shakes. Really great, fresh ground burgers. But value is the problem. I was willing to pay top dollar for their burgers because they were that good, but when they switched to plastic cutlery they lost me. I'm a greasy spoon kinda guy, but paper plates and plastic forks just seem wrong when you're paying $14-$17 for a 6oz burger. But if you haven't tried their burger, forget the atmospherics and check it out.

I can verify that the new crew at Broken Record is serving some very interesting dishes. Our party shared the three entres: mac & cheese, oxtail stew, and steamed mussels with chorizo in a cream sauce. Everything was great, but the mac & cheese was the consensus winner. The starters looked interesting too. The food was heavy, but a bit less so than I remember.

I would also add the Dark Horse Inn, just down the block from Broken Record, to your list. A friend swears by their Sunday Dinner menu. I haven't tried that, but the two times I went their bar food was quite good.

Does your chef friend have a particular focus? Are they into breads, pastries, sweet or savory... French pastries in particular or anything with a crust?

My obsession is the croissant. And for my money, Sandbox rules, and their pain au chocolat is even better than their plain croissant. The Sofitel in Burlingame is probably #2. Knead's is tasty but not as well crafted in terms of mille feuille delicacy. Tartine scores well on both craft and flavor, but for me it falls short because they are just too large and vary between burnt on the outside or gooey on the inside. Obviously, croissants are the subject of endless debates, so don't expect consensus, just use the controversy as fodder for a good crawl!

For breads, in addition to Tartine I'd include a trip to La Victoria and Sour Flour breads. Arizmendi deserves to be on the crawl, though they are not my style. Liguria bakery's focaccia is an old-school treat that deserves to be added to the crawl. Their bread is worthy as well. Finally, the levain bread at Outerlands is to die for. The only way I know to enjoy that is to go there, and their lunches are more focused on their breads than dinner, so I recommend heading there for lunch.

And of course, you should include a survey of sour dough breads. I never go directly to the bakeries for that, since the loaves can be obtained fresh from so many grocers. Maybe others can provide tips on how to get a chef's tour of the bakeries.

Our household has consumed countless Zante Indian pies, both meat and veggie. When my kids come back from college they crave two things: a burrito first, then a Zante's Indian pie. Its an only-in-SF treat, and its delicious.

I agree that the pie fresh from the oven is way better than reheated slices. The crust is thick and doughy, and if the pie sits too long that veers towards soggy. So its important to get fresh, whole pies. I'd add that they include packets of red pepper flakes and mint and tamarind chutney for a reason. Its Indian food, so adding some chili heat enhances the pie nicely. And the doughy crusts are better with chutney. I have not ordered from their Indian menu is over a decade - with Spicy Bite two doors down the road, I can't imagine why I would. Zante's is all about their Indian pie. And that's enough.

I bow, gratefully, to both of you for you're encyclopedic answer to my query. Now I know that that I'm looking for ban-ban ji, which could fall loosely in the dan dan umbrella. The preparation I'm craving definitely used shredded chicken with julienned strips of cucumber with a nice, intense, spicy sauce. Sounds like I should head to Spices II. Information like this is why I spend so much time reading here. Thank you!

I've been wondering the same thing. Is the peanut sauce version, served cold/room temperature with cucumber strips and chicken a variation on DDM, a bastardized American dish, or something else?

In particular, I used to love the cold noodle salad from the lunch menu of the old Sichuan on Kerney that closed after Loma Prieta. A poor approximation of that dish is still offered on the menu at all Henry's Hunan locations that are descendants of the Kerney restaurant. But I find the current incarnation to be bland, unlike what I remember. I'd be very interested to seek out places that offer better versions of the dish.

While in line at a nearby grocer I had a brief conversation with the chef who was picking up some produce. When I asked about what may have changed there that would explain the apparent improvements, he said it was mostly a matter of the staff being more experienced and them hitting their stride. Sounds like there has been a healthy continuity in the kitchen - maybe aside from the pastry chef? In any case, I thought it was kind of interesting that they are benefiting, not from something new or innovative, but from continuity and experience. We consumers of good food are forever looking for the Next New Thing, but when it comes to delivering good food consistently, newness and change can be a problem not a virtue.

In my limited experience there, I like their nigiri better than the maki. And I stick with the specials, or better yet, let the server steer my order. Prices are not cheap, that's for sure. But each time I got there, something really wows me.

When I posted about Ichi more than a year and half ago, http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/751277, I asked for other opinions because I don't think this place is a typical sushi joint. The careful sourcing of sustainable fish is comparable to Minako. But Ichi combines that with a more creative approach. Or something. I still can't quite put my finger on it, and I'd love to hear some of the sushi experts here give their impressions.

That older Matterhorn was on Noriega, no? I went there once in the '80s and it was an anachronism even then.

Vino Rosso has a limited selection, but I see some Friuli and Alto Adige labels on their list: http://www.vinorossosf.com/winelist/

Do they sell cooked crab? We get live crabs there, for sure. Just not sure if I've seen cooked there or not.

St. Vincent is open for one pot lunches, Tuesday-Friday

Tacolicious is newish. So is Mission Cheese.

I don't know about the price, but Rainbow sells them in bulk. I find that you can ask a worker there and they will sell any bulk items in the quantities they get from their suppliers.

My wife got a pair of 2 lb'ers from Sun Fat, same price, also very much alive. Based on advice from a friend, we had them quarter the crabs live, brought them home and more or less immediately (~30min?) cooked them and were very happy with the results. Simpler to cook and clean, very fresh, and we were not about to do the live quartering and cleaning at home! She also check out Manila Oriental Market that has them at the same price but not the same freshness / quality.