Dinner in San Francisco recommendations

Appreciate it!

This looks perfect! Booking!

Also, wonder if anyone can recommend a nice lounge/speakeasy in SF. I have fond memories of Mystic Room + Burrit Room (i think that was it was called).

Good place.

The Morris is nearby, opportunity for a Chartreuse bang-bang. Or pregame with a charcuterie platter.

Ernest opens up 1 month in advance, but you can do a walk-in at the bar.

The portions aren’t large but many of the dishes are rich, so for me the total cost was similar to places with larger portions, and less than Michelin-fu prix-fixe tasting menu places with even smaller portions.

I don’t recall having had two dishes with similar flavors.

portion size is not something I worry about at all as long the dish is great.

All fair, and they seem to change the menu regularly enough that my experience was likely an exception.

Definitely an interesting place to try, just not on my run-back list ATM. And my take is always, if it looks good to you, ignore me!

i like the interiors of whitechapel and the new instantiation of bar agricole.

louie’s gen gen room in the basement of liholiho yacht club was a great place. but i dont think theyve reopened yet


it doesnt qualify as a lounge or speakeasy, but i think the best cocktail establishment in sf is true laurel by a wide margin (its also two blocks from san ho won)

above mister jiu’s

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ughhhhhh :tired_face:

Smuggler’s Cove and 15 Romolo seem to have survived the pandemic.

does anyone know what the “lounge table” (as opposed to “dining room table”)?

I’m guess that’s the area by the bar on the first level, the second level is the dining room and kitchen.

Enjoyed out dinner at Ernest last night. Thank you for recommending it. Service was outstanding. Made me more aware how incompetent service in LA tends to be.
Not every dish was a hit, but bluefin tuna with ponzu, sushi rice with ikura and beef tartar served with very crispy nori, as well as potato pave and whole grilled sole with dill and smoked trout roe were fantastic. Grilled cabbage and caviar dishes were not very good. Caviar especially was completely bland in flavor and plasticky in texture. Overall, I would 100% return.

Happened to be in Palo Alto Thursday night and went to Protege. What an awesome restaurant!
So far, one of the best dinners of 2023! Amazing service, food, and wine! We dined a la carte and enjoyed every single bite. Bavarian pretzel, crab and caviar, fish and chips, jerusalem arti-tots with roe, and Mt. Lasen trout were spectacular. Paired this with Cotat Les Monts Damnes Sancerre, a glass of Henri Boillot, Bourgogne Blanc, and Kirålyudvar,T okaji, "Cuvée Ilona. Excellence all throughout the evening.

On to Californios dinner tonight!

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Californios was fantastic. Expert friendly service, nearly flawless execution. Amazing place, even if expensive.
Every dish was great, some were amazing. One of my wife’s tacos had tortilla stuck to the plate, and since there were no utensils there was no way to scrape it off the place. They promptly made a new dish for her.
I do feel that many ‘high end’ restaurants are pressured into (mis)using caviar these days. There was a caviar on top of warm poached plantain with some sort of mole on the bottom. The caviar itself was excellent, but completely lost when mixed with plantain and sauce, which were excellent on their own.
I think it is really tough to do caviar justice by heaping it on top of other things. Just give me the some caviar and a pearl spoon and I am good to go.
But back to Californios - spectacular restaurant, so many delicate and subtle flavors and textures beautifully presented.

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