skwid's Profile
Best restaurant view of Golden Gate Bridge fireworks
True, but the Claremont has elevation on its side (the Claremont is the big white building on the hill) while HKEO and Skates are at the level of the bay.
Best restaurant view of Golden Gate Bridge fireworks
I think the restaurant in the Claremont Hotel in Oakland should have views, not sure about every table.
Root Beer -- housemade or good bottle selection??
Pacific Coast Brewing in Oakland on Washington usually has a house made root beer available.
Food trucks recommendations for our wedding?
We had a taco truck the evening before our wedding for a pre wedding party. We used the El Ojo de Agua guys and were very satisfied. They did limit the menu a bit but I'm sure that is negotiable. Details are at: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/504380
El Ojo de Aqua
el ojo de agua is in the south west corner of Derby and International. The building there is painted with an el ojo de agua logo and the truck in the parking lot still has the old address and the great tacos and horchata's. It looks like el ojo de agua has found a permanent home a couple of blocks from their old place. Not quite as convient as the original but not far away
Annual birthday dinner dilemma
What about Gather in Berkeley? We took my in laws and they seemed to like it
La Tur cheese at Costco for only $5.89 each!
Nope, the Vintage Olive Oil is in Glass bottles.
La Tur cheese at Costco for only $5.89 each!
That's true. The 2010 Vintage oil was picked in October/November of 2010 so the oil is pretty fresh (as far as imported oil goes).
La Tur cheese at Costco for only $5.89 each!
Costco now has the 2010 Vintage Olive Oil out. highly recommended.
Btw, back to La Tur. It is entirely possible that some of the wheels could last beyond the "best by" date. I've also had wheels that were spoiled before the "best by" date. Cheese is a perisible item and as such can and will go bad before it should (or stay perfect long after it should have gone bad), just depends on what bacteria inhabit the cheese wheel.
Looking for a restaurant with an exceptional cheese plate.
Nice cheeses there but the carts I got in France had two levels on which the cheeses were placed. Just not enough cheese in those pictures. You pretty much have to say "some of everything please" to the Manresa cart.
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Manresa Restaurant
320 Village Lane, Los Gatos, CA 95030
Looking for a restaurant with an exceptional cheese plate.
I don't think you will ever be able to get a cheese course like they have in France. I was amazed that they would roll out this cart with 20 to 30 cheeses and just let you pick to your hearts content. I really liked this part of French meals :)
All that said IIRC The Dinning Room at the Ritz Carlton hotel in San Francisco had something like this. You should call to make sure they are still doing it though.
Commis equivalent, open on Monday/Tuesday?
In Oakland Plum is probably the closest thing to Commis and I would highly recommend a meal at Plum.
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Commis
3859 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, CA 94611
La Tur cheese at Costco for only $5.89 each!
This is a great price. However be careful as the La Tur can spoil and become amoniated in which case the cheese is worthless.
Where else can I sit at the counter and watch the magic?
You could go to Canteen and sit at the counter as Canteen's kitchen is almost as small as Commis'. Most restaurants have a much larger kitchen than Commis so you don't get to see quite as much. At A16 you can watch the pizza guy and the meats getting cooked (two different stations) if you sit at the counter. We did that a few weeks ago.
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A16
2355 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA 94123
Commis
3859 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, CA 94611
Commis - Chef Counter or Regular Table?
The menu is the same at the counter as at the tables. They at one time did a single seating at the counter with a different menu but have stopped that.
The four course menu is $68 and we got three amuse's in addition to the four courses (and they will modify the amuse if you have a food alergy as they did for us this past thursday).
How far in advance for reservations for popular restuarants?
other than a very few restaurant I haven't had problems getting reservations if you plan ahead of time. Most restaurants will accept reservations either one or two months in advance if you are planning that far out. Frances and The French Laundry are the two places I can think of off the top of my head that are difficult to get reservations even when planning ahead. I will disagree with tvham about the weekend reservations and opentable. I haven't had problems getting reservations on weekends via opentable.
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The French Laundry
6640 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599
K&L Bistro, Sebastopol
We went at the end of October for Lunch and had a very nice lunch. It was three weeks ago so I don't remember what I had but it was pretty tasty. Everyone in our party came away very satisfied.
Advice please...1st wedding anniversary in SF
Chez Panisse is quite a bit different than The Dinning Room in both food and setting. I've never been to Gary Danko so I can't speak to that. The problem here is that places like Ubuntu typically aren't very romantic (someone mentioned Frances).
Note that I've been to Ubuntu (not with the new chef though) and for a wedding anniversary The Dinning Room should blow Ubuntu away, particuarly in the ambiance part of the meal as long as the original poster isn't averse to formal settings (I will say I thought Ubuntu was good but not spectacular for food).
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Ubuntu Restaurant & Yoga Studio
1140 Main Street, Napa, CA 94558
Chez Panisse
1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709
Gary Danko
800 N Point St, San Francisco, CA 94109
Advice please...1st wedding anniversary in SF
You should be able to get something really good at The Dinning Room at the Ritz Carlton and I think this would be the most romantic of any of the restaurant mentioned. Ron Siegel is an excellent chef (if there is lobster on the menu by all means get it and see why Mr. Siegel won Iron Chef Lobster on the original show in Japan).
Foods that are better made in SF than NYC?
You would be suprised how many Argentine wines are only available in the eastern part of the USA. There are tons of wines from Argentina, but several wineries we went to only had representation on the east coast which really suprised us (Dollium being one that springs to mind immediately).
Foods that are better made in SF than NYC?
It is likely that any of the beers available in cans are made at larger breweries as the equipment to put the beer in cans is quite expensive initially (I've never seen a craft brewery with equipment to put beer in cans). It isn't unusual for brewpubs to get someone else to make their beer if it appears on retailers shelves in bottles or cans. I know the Buffalo Bills Pumpkin Ale was made in New Ulm MN at August Schell Brewing Company. The only brewpub I know which had bottles available retail that bottled themselves (SF Bay Area) was Marin Brewing and Moylans.
Truffle Season
Oliveto will be having their Truffle dinners starting on November 17th through the 20th. Truffles are brought in fresh from Italy by the owner (hand carried).
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Oliveto Cafe
5655 College Ave., Oakland, CA 94618
Thanksgiving - pre-brined turkeys or other take-out options for 10-12 people
Looks like Williams and Sonoma has Williebird pre brined turkeys
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/willie-bird-fresh-pre-brined-turkey/?cm_src=rel
What is the most expensive restaurant in the Bay Area?
Outside the bay area I know Guy Savoy was $295pp plus tax and tip when my wife and I went a few years ago. Quite a good meal too. I think Joel Rubechon in Las Vegas was $395 when it opened.
As far as The French Laundry, the regular menu is $250. There are addons for Foie Gras and other items (depending on the season, soon there will be black and white truffles available, sometimes there is Wagu beef, ...). The Foie is typically about $30 and the Wagu and Truffles are about $100 each IIRC (never had the truffles but have had the Wagu).
At times it is possible to get an extended tasting menu which the last time I went and got it (about 3 years ago) was $450 before addons. However they can't/won't always have this option available.
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The French Laundry
6640 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599
Where to Grab Picnic Lunch on Way to Pride Mountain Winery?
I would go to either Dean and Deluca or Oakville Grocery. Note that early Oakville Grocery will be quiet but by 11:00 a.m. it will get pretty crowded. Dean and Deluca can be a bit the same way. So you might want to get something down in Los Gatos and just put everything in a cooler and avoid the crowds.
Restaurants that take reservations but not through OpenTable
The no availability link means a couple of different things, they might be booked out or they could be having problems with their connection to opentable (i.e. their DSL is down).
Looking for Best Craft Beer Bars in the Bay Area
Given that you will be in town for a month I would suggest that you head on over to downtown Oakland and hit Pacific Coast Brewing (have their own beers and lots of guest beers) and just a couple blocks away to The Trappist (for lots of Belgian and Belgian style beers).
Access via BART is simple, get off at the 12th street station and walk west to 10th, turn right then left on washington. Pacific Coast is the green awning. The Trappist is on 8th between Washington and Broadway.
Last minute Saturday night dinner in SF for 4?
Jenikap, yes, I really like Perbacco. I've been several times and never been disappointed. The Salumi is house made and very good and the pasta's are likewise very good. The star (IMHO) is the slow roasted meats (pork sugo's and such).
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Perbacco
230 California St, San Francisco, CA 94111
One Lunch and one Dinner in S F
If you love Italian then Perbacco is an excellent choice. Open for both Lunch and dinner.
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Perbacco
230 California St, San Francisco, CA 94111
Thermapen: Where to get the best price?
Just purchased a water proof thermapen (direct from Thermoworks) when they had discounted them a bit. It works really good. We've been using the "original oven termometer" which is fantastic for cooking meats to just the perfect temperature. The only thing we've found is the temperature probes seem to give out every once in awhile. Otherwise I couldn't live without one as we get perfect doneness on those expensive cuts of meat and everyone always raves about the meals.
