Features
TOC
Events
Costumes
RestaurantsWine
Books
Movies
Calendar
Links
Previously
Books
DVD
VHS
Search by keywords:
In Association with Amazon.com


Restaurants

Benihana

Japan Town
Now you should know, I don't actually like Japanese food. Ok, well make that Asian food. Well, okay, food from the Asian continent. And vegetables. And...well a whole lot of things. I'm picky. A picky epicurean, that's me. So, when Gina suggested Benihana's, I took a breath and said, meat's meat right. 

Wrong. What a blast. 

Hmmm...now,  we have no dignity. That's important to establish. Because what they do at Benihana is the chef comes to your table and prepares your food on a grill right in front of you. He chops and squirts and flips knives and makes smoking volcanos out of onions and puts on an all round cool show. Since, we have no dignity we clapped and laughed and cheered and variously egged our chef on. 

Now as to the food. Karen and I started with a glass of sweet plum wine. Very refreshing after a day of shopping. Then we had a bowl of clear onion lemon soup. It had a nice clean taste. Then rice and shrimp. Then the main course. I had the Benihana Special, Lobster Tail and Steak for $31.00. Tender beef. Flavorful and juicy. The slices of lobster tail were nicely marinated and yummy.  The dip was good too. (Really, I have no idea what kind). And they gave me a set of training chop sticks. Very cute. Karen had the Marina platter with shrimps, scallops, and calamari as well as fried rice for $27ish. It practically melted in the mouth. Mmmm...butter. And everyone else had, chicken and steak and, I was concentrating on the chef. It all looked good.

Chapeau Bistro

1408 Clement Street San Francisco, 
CA 94118 
Tue-Thu 5:00pm-10:00pm 
Fri-Sat 5:00pm-10:30pm 
Sun 5:00pm-10:00pm 
Tel: (415) 750-9787 
Fax: (415) 750-9677
American Express, Diners Club, Discover, MasterCard, Visa 
$15-$35 

This is a fabulous French restaurant tucked away in an obscure corner of the
city. The decor is minimal, but the service, food, and wine are outstanding.

The staff were always ready to fill a glass or fetch a napkin, but were
never intrusive. The owner acted as sommelier and personally visited each
table to make sure his guests were satisfied. So what did we eat? 

Crystal and I both started with a glass of kir, a very small cup of potato leek soup
(light and savory), and warm, crusty bread and butter. We each choose a prix
fixe menu. 

Crystal had sweet potato soup with cream, a green salad with the
best vinaigrette dressing I've ever tasted, breast of pheasant in broth with
potatoes and carrots, and the cheese plate. 

I had cured salmon in lemon sauce with potato salad, mahi mahi lightly grilled on a bed of onions, duck with mash potatoes, turnips, and a lovely sauce, and vanilla creme brulee.

Every bite was a treasure. We ordered a bottle of Chateau la Grolet
Cotes-de-Bourg 1998 (a light, but full bodied bordeaux that nicely
complemented the meal). I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone
with something truly special to celebrate. Expensive, but worth every penny.

Fuzio

Embarcadero Center One, 
across from the movie theater
$7-$12

This is a fun, hip restaurant specializing in pasta dishes. The unique
blends of Eastern and Western styles of pasta are interesting and tasty. We
started off with cocktails. 

Crystal ordered a lemon drop and I ordered a fuziotini (vodka, lime juice, triple sec, & chambord). For the appetizer, we split an order of lightly breaded and fried calamari with sun dried tomato aoili. 

Crystal had a chicken sandwich on panini with sun dried tomatoes and I
had rigatoni in a light sun dried tomato alfredo sauce with bacon. Do you
get the impression they like sun dried tomatoes? 

For dessert, we split a strawberry apple crisp topped with a lemon creme and crumbled almond cookies. Quite yummy and fairly economical.

 
Main Page | Links | About Us | Contact Us | Map of the Bay Area
Contents may not be reproduced without the express permission of Life Am Good and author(s). Contact Karen or Crystal with any comments, suggestions, or contrary opinions.