And the liquor store rec is perfect to accompany all the eats - I can bring things back home...remembering where I picked them up and be reminded of the experiences!

Appreciate the clarification and an update on what is best there; I think the lack of people made me rush to judgment.

I was at MGM last year about this time for dinner.....it was totally dead! We had a great time shopping at one of the larger Mideastern markets, but felt like its time had passed??? I had read about it and wanted to try it for years, but just couldn't get it done. I have to say - just the sound of Left Handed Cook is appealing!

Go for it! Who knows exactly what mood we'll be in......and quite frankly, I couldn't find any recent chat on the topic! Bring on the 'hole-in-the-walls"!

I have done Piccolo, The Bachelor Farmer...and have to say I love Broder's Pasta Bar. I have been to a few places that I consider hole-in-the-wall....minimal atmosphere, but great food for the price. I'm thinking of Matt's ande The 5 8 Club. Are there hole-in-the-wall pizza,Chinese, Mexican, Thai spots you can recommend?

So, we have 2:00 Benziger wine tour reservations -finish at 2:45. Head back to the city and drop off our rental car before 6 p.m. (big points there) and head to Lers Ros for an early'ish dinner. I appreciate your patience on these boards. I have spend at least 40 hours on the itinerary and another 40 on dining; and thenb about 20 on wineries...only to choose what was obvious from the start. But, if you're not from the area, it is all so foreign. I appreciate that you are patient with us tourists! I believe the rental car will do the tolls without stopping...only an extra $2 which is nothing.

When I was last at the W Hotel, they made a dandy MM - it was not in a copper cup, but, it was the best one I have ever had,.

There is a review on Yelp from July 2012..so, perhaps it is still around. I looked at their menu on line (San Francisco page) and it looks perfectr for us - though it is from 2011. We will definitely check this out on our way to lunch on our way to pastries at Knead! It kneads a Chowhound update! I couldn't resist that dumb play on words!

The last food "review" there was 2009 and it said the food was excellent. I'm going to give it a try. If nothing else, it will be a great view! And, I hope to post my reviews...so future travelers can put it on their list!

Will it take us about 1.5 hours to get back into the city if we leave Tiburon at 8 p.m.?

PLEASE weigh in on my last dinner. Per your recommendations, we won't be driving back to the city for dinner...my parents requested 7 p.m. be the latest we eat and someone suggested with traffic, it will be 8:30. Who wants to sit in traffic anyway?!? Someone suggested a dinner on the way back: Peteluma...can't recall the other towns...Mill Valley? Sonoma? Sausalito? In my post above, I have chosen Caprise in Tiburon. Thoughts?

How about Caprice in Tiburon for dinner? It looks like it wouldn't be terribly far out of the way? We'd finish with the Benziger tour about 3:30 and head south for an early dinner. And, then back to downtown San Francisco - hopefully to miss the traffic. I wanted something with a beautiful setting for our last dinner in the area; looks like they have solid food and great seafood. We already will spend an afternoon in Sausalito, so I didn't look there for dinner after wine country.

I so appreciate your input. I have to find a somewhat middle-of-the road choice for my parents. It seemed to me that the Mission was particularly known for Mexican ... so I went for that and some of the places did seem like there may be no room to sit. I like the 24th street suggestions - we can eyeball it on our way to Knead!

So, things maybe didn't turn out exactly as I had planned. I was too late for a noon tour at Robert Hunter and have a 10 scheduled...no breakfast on the way - other than coffee and a pastry "to go". I scheduled the Benziger Tour at 2:30 thinking we'd finish up at Robert Hunter at 2. So, we can explore and have lunch in the area between noon and 2:30 - maybe in Sonoma? I still have this vision of a beautiful picnic lunch overlooking a winery. So, maybe we'll drive into Sonoma or Glen Ellen to pick up provisions and go to Benziger early (or another beautiful winery in the area)and enjoy lunch.
For an early dinner on the way home, how about Caprice in Tiburon? It got me at the view and reviews appear to be good.

I can't switch our agenda and go to wine country on the weekend - I started planning so long ago and am committed to the Ferry Market on Saturday and Sunday evening we have Alcatraz tickets.

When would you expect traffic to be heavier ( approx when to when)? Is it mostly in the city or Sonoma Valley all the way in? Thanks so much for the input...traffic hadn't occurred to me at all. That is definitely not the way to spend the last evening of our vacation!

I have my agenda set (though trying to be flexible) and want to plan meals around it. There will be 4 of us staying near Union Square. We will have a car for two days, but hope to take public transportation and walk mostly. I'm arranging meals around our locations and trying to get a variety of the best your city has to offer with mid range pricing. We'll grab something very light most mornings and be on our way and eat lunch around 11 and have fairly early dinners - we'll make reservations where we can and hope to get in without more than a 45 minute wait for dinners. My mother is a coffee/sweets person all day, so I'm hoping to fit in pastries, ice cream, coffee bites as well.
Friday night - *Scoma's* (dad wants seafood and is very conservative)
Saturday - we'll start the day at the *Ferry building* and eat our way thru before heading to Golden Gate Park and ending up in Haight Ashbury area for *Little Star Pizza* *Sweetie Cups* possibly sometime in the afternoon
Sunday - walk Golden Gate Bridge and spend some time in the Presidio before brunch at *Blackwood*. Afternoon in Cow Hollow and Marina with a snack stop at *Chestnut Bakery* before the 5:40 Alcatraz Tour Light meal after Alcatraz at *15 Romolo* before heading back to our hotel
Monday - Take a China Town tour and have *dim sum* somehwere that tour guide recommends Afternoon to Coit Tower and exploring North Beach *XOX Truffles* for a snack with dinner at *Sotto Mare*
Tuesday - Explore Mission District with lunch at *Poc Chuc* *Bi Rite Creamery* for a snack Pre-baseball game drinks at 21st Amendment - maybe a bit to eat; maybe eat some unusual outrageously priced ball park food at the game, just because we're there!
Wednesday - We'll be going to Muir Woods and Sausalito - grabbing a sandwich at a deli or perhaps *Scoma* if the weather is nice and we want more sunshine Back to the city for dinner at *Kokkari Estiatoria*
Thursday - We'll leave the city to tour "Benziger" - not for the wine, but for the experience. Purchase a picnic lunch at *Glen Ellen Market* and dine on the grounds; possibly go to Charles Schulz museumm(or another winery just to look) before coming back into the city to eat at our last meal of the trip at *Lers Ros*

I have searched out the menu - it looks like a wonderful spot with delicious food, but I'm afraid Chicken Solavki will deter my parents! I fear I'm searching for Applebees in a foodie paradise!

Canteen's menu is inacessible to me. They will not be interested in duck, veal, or short ribs. San Francisco is a town of the unusual! Joyous for some......exhausting for me trying to plan! :) What were you able to order?

My husband and I will be vacationing in San Francisco with my parents for a week beginning 9/21...which is my father's 77th birthday. I'm going to subject him and my mother to the likes of Sotto Mer, Frascati, Off the Grid, and Lers Ros while we are there, but want to please him on his birthday...I wasn't expecting his birthday dinner to be so difficult! We will want to eat fairly early because of jet lag, but I want reservations definitely....unless you think we can get in at 5:30'ish without one. the atmosphere should be on the warm and cozy side, allowing for conversation (not a modern, open space that is loud). Not more than $35 per entree ideally. No need for crazy techniques. He likes ordinary solid food ~ steak, seafood, chops. I'm having some difficulty deciphering atmospheres. I have found Bix, Baker & Banker, or L'ardois Bistro. We are staying near Union Square and plan to take public transportation. Your suggestions/choice are greatly appreciated!

2 dinners near MOA are needed. We'll arrive Monday for dinner and leave Friday. We have one breakfast to eat out and we'll head to Marias for corn cakes. We have 4 nights and we are tentatively thinking of going to Matt's (did 5 8 last time) and Broders (were there last time and loved it!). We loved Crave at Galleria...but we should try something different. We'd love to try asian, but this board is all-over with recommendations! We like anything. Character is always an added plus. Price is no object. As we'll have our own vehicle, staying near MOA, but have dreadfully early mornings, we'd like to dine somewhat close. Help us round out our agenda!

Honey, where are you? I just purchased mine - they 'cryovacked'??? it?? and it was $25.99 a pound! No sale here!

I'm planning to make beef tenderloin with a port sauce for Christmas Eve. Can I do french onion soup with it? If so, what sides would you suggest to complement? Potatoes feel too heavy; don't want to do popovers as the soup will include bread. Green beans seem too ordinary. Thoughts?

How about the ham that you "brine" for a few days in advance. It isabsolutely delicious...really easy - just need to plan ahead and so many wonderful side dishes go with it! Kids love it if they try it. We never have leftovers - and if we do, there are bidding wars to take them home. I can certainly provide the recipe.

I cut the tortilla. They served the huevos rancheros with a large steak knife and a fork. It was meant to cut the heuvos rancheros which had a tortilla on the bottom. I can't imagine being able to pick this up and eat it with my hand.

I had reviewed prior posts and asked for downtown breakfast suggestions....my comment to the 'ify' breakfast situation downtown was - someone needs to open something! :) I'll be in town again this coming weekend and may try Firelake. It is interesting...most of the hotels downtown were full to capacity on Saturday night (I know that from talking with the Foshay's front desk)....so...someone could make some money! I'm not sure if it is implied in some of the messages or not....but, it seemed that HK's menu selection was smaller. ?? We happened to be downtown and those I was travelling with weren't open to a car trip for breakfast. I'm also sorry about recent posts about Maria's. I never got there when it was consistently good. Cheers to all the discussion about this topic - even if it is disagreeable; people's perspectives are fascinating.

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Firelake
31 South 7th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55402

I have loved, loved, loved Hell's Kitchen in the past. True, I haven't been there since they changed locations. A group of 5 of us went this past Saturday morning. We had 8:45 reservations. Going on line 2 weeks ago, there were reservation options from 7-8:45 and 12:45 and after. After some deliberation, I selected 8:45. We arrived promptly and were quickly seated, as there were only about 5 other tables of diners. By the time our food arrived at 9:15, there was a line and chatter and the lines continued, with a 30-60 minute wait. They simply don't take reservations between 8:45 and 12:45. I would have appreciated them being transparent about that. Our waitress brought us water and was ready to take our order. We hadn't really had a chance to open the menu. I was with others who had never been before....they were looking at the surroundings and soaking things in. Our waitress was gone brusquely. She reappeared perhapds 3 minutes later and then told us the specials in the most incredibly rushed voice you can imagine. it wasn't that they were busy. We began looking at the menu and I mentioned their famous peanut butter, sausage bread, and porridge. We were discussing them because they are unique and one needs to look at the menu descriptions - it isn't like a simple order of scrambled eggs and 2 slices bacon, for example. Again our waitress was back. We ordered beverages and it was clear that she was miffed that we weren't ready to order. Note - we had been sitting for 7 minutes tops! When she came back with our beverages, we ordered. the sense of rushing continued. She'd literally snatch the menu from our hands and be on to the next person before each had placed their order. So it went. Suffice it to say, we were rushed! Our food came in decent time - not fast, but not an overly long wait either. Lemon ricotta pancakes and the special Reeses peanut butter pancakes were declared wonderful. Another guest had the biscuits and gravy. It was plentiful, but the taste was only of spicy sausage and the biscuits were a very thick hard variety that the gravy could not permeate. I ordered one of their menu features - heuvos rancheros. It was luke warm and a pile of globs. I could not cut the tortilla, despite it being served with a steak knife. The overall flavor was from the cloyingly sweet "salsa". It was awful. I was embarassed to have brought guests. I will NEVER go back. Poor service will be trumped by great food and very good food with only good service will be OK with me also. I do not recommend you waste your time on a breakfast or brunch at Hell's Kitchen. Whatever has gone wrong with them?

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Hell's Kitchen
80 South 9th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55402

OK people. We did the 8:30 reservation at Hell's Kitchen for Saturday. I was tempted with Manny's...but, have never been and some of your reports aren't so great. I have loved Hell's Kitchen in the past...but, have never been to the "new" location. I think if one wanted to make money, you should open a breakfast spot in downtown Mpls!

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Hell's Kitchen
80 South 9th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55402

Can you specify which of these are "downtown"? We were hoping to go to Hell's Kitchen, but reservations for our group of 5 are limited to 8:30 or 12:45 on the weekend. Thank you!

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Hell's Kitchen
80 South 9th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55402

Often, I have to bring some sort of snack mix to an event that doesn't require heating or chilling. I mean along the lines of your basic Party Mix or Ranch'd Oyster Crackers. Would you share your favorite snack mix recipe?

Pork ribs baked in the oven - plan to finish them on the grill, but you can easily broil them. Potato salad, calico beans, not sure what else will round it out, maybe watermelon and feta salad; but making a Honey Date Tart (my Father loves dates). I'm going to make the potato salad, beans, and tart today. I'll also start marinating the ribs today. Beans will cook in the crock pot tomorrow. Ribs will be ready to go into the oven - need nothing more than time. Watermelon salad needs to be assembled at the last minute if I make it, but everything can be ready to go together.