Audiophilia's SFO/Napa/Sonoma/Carmel Fantasia (LONG)

[audiophilia]

Hey Gang! I'm going to add my review/thoughts in installments because: 1. I'm pissed!

2. I'm in the Biz Cent on a POS DEll (holy sht, u like these things?!!!) 3. I've done so much, that I want to add as i remember. Couple of things to start off. SFO Amazing city. Beautiful. Safe. Good shopping. Great setting, 2nd only to Vancouver for beauty. Loved: Alacatraz -- audio tour worth the price of admission. Botanical Gardens (thanks bmulford). Ameoba Music, B Bar. Lulus, Ferry Bldg, Jones st, etc. SF Meetup @ B Bar and Lulus. Great guys and gals. Theit prose on SF is the embodiment of their true personalities. PS -- erudite, cool. binge -- charm, leadership personified. bmulford -- thoughtful, bright. iammatt -- LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ More on him to come in a very special post!

CHIPS, Comrade, et al, all wonderful too. It was a fantastic night, due in no small part to binge's fantastic organizational skills. Huge thanks, buddy. Napa: I'm in heaven. The views. The frigging wine. I'm a Cab lover. I'm in heaven. More on this later. Cyrus tomorrow night. The one disappointment: BOUCHON. (Sorry PS) Not the bakery, which is superb! Another fine restaurant (I presume) bites the 'corporate franchise' dust! CDN$500! Meh. Average entrees and really ****** wine list (and I ain't no snob). We even have way better in Toronto (Le SElect Bistro), and if you know my feelings about Blandsville, that's effing saying something. More to come. Loving the whole Northern CA experience. Oh, for you PC fuks, I genuflected at the Holy Shrine, 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino. LOL!! Pics to follow

 

[acidboy]

great! i'm headed there too in august.... can't wait to go back to my favorite places there.

 

[Gus]

Glad to hear your are enjoying NorCal.

Wouldn't you know that as soon as you suggest a place it will disappoint???? F*&K! Please tell me that at least the wine and French fries were good at Bouchon.

Hopefully Cyrus won't disappoint.

Cheers!!!

 

[audiophilia]

I see the charm. I imagine the idea. Just the 'corporate' slickness has ripped the heart out of these places. The Wolfgang 'Pucking', if you please. Le Cirque, Cipriani, etc.

The wine list sucked ass. How can you not have a $100 05 Pinot? 07s for $200, FFS! The choice was slim pickens. The 'frites' were pretty good tasting fries. No more. Sorry, buddy. Maybe my experience was singular. The place was ridiculously loud -- kids screaming. women shouting in baseball caps (even took a brief iPhone vid cause I wanted to prove the noise to my Canadian fiends). Jan's mussels were mixed with a sausage and was swimming in oil. Really bad. Good? Nice server, though nothing like top class serving. Nice martini and port. Cheese was okay. Lemon tart had great filling. Wish I could be more positive. If it was 2 bills, no sweat, but nearly 5 CDN! And our wine was only $120 US. We are not complainers. So, it had to be pretty bad to get this type of review. As for your rec, much appreciated anyway. We had the res before we met up with you, so we were going anyway. Cheers, a Edit: I should add that the flavour and texture of my pork belly entree was superb!

 

[audiophilia]

A quickie just for Matt:

Berkeley: Fascinating, architecturally superb and diverse, a vibe of great learning and erudition. I would have loved to attended there.

Stanford: Very lovely. Country club. Legacy Central. Nice palms. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

As for as your comment about more beautiful than Cambridge, you're off your rocker mate

 

[GQgeek]

So I'm curious about the very special post for iammat, did you two spoon after the meet-up? Was he wearing his pink glasses again?

 

[audiophilia]

Patience.

 

[Gus]

Come on, don't be so shy. Tell us what you really thought about it.

Originally Posted by audiophilia

I see the charm. I imagine the idea. Just the 'corporate' slickness has ripped the heart out of these places. The Wolfgang 'Pucking', if you please. Le Cirque, Cipriani, etc.

The wine list sucked ass. How can you not have a $100 05 Pinot? 07s for $200, FFS! The choice was slim pickens.

The 'frites' were pretty good tasting fries. No more. Sorry, buddy. Maybe my experience was singular. The place was ridiculously loud -- kids screaming. women shouting in baseball caps (even took a brief iPhone vid cause I wanted to prove the noise to my Canadian fiends). Jan's mussels were mixed with a sausage and was swimming in oil. Really bad.

Good? Nice server, though nothing like top class serving. Nice martini and port. Cheese was okay. Lemon tart had great filling.

Wish I could be more positive. If it was 2 bills, no sweat, but nearly 5 CDN! And our wine was only $120 US.

We are not complainers. So, it had to be pretty bad to get this type of review. As for your rec, much appreciated anyway. We had the res before we met up with you, so we were going anyway. Cheers, a

Edit: I should add that the flavour and texture of my pork belly entree was superb!

 

[audiophilia]

My reaction rant was in equal measure to Keller's hype, I think.

 

[saxcolossusjr]

This is precisely why is love living here. glad you had a good time

 

[audiophilia]

Just returned. Was an amazing time in SFO and even better in Napa for five days. Got to Cyrus. Sadly, Jan had a migraine. We thought the meds and the two hour drive would help, but even worse (blinding headache, nasea, etc) when we arrived. I went in and apologized. They couldn't have been nicer. Damn shame on our 25th, too. We'll find a nice place around here. Anyway, a few pics. I have a lovely composed shot of the gang. I'll need a consensus to publish

Our night with the SF gang was terrific, BTW. All super people. Ms. CHIPS and Mrs. Audiophilia at Lulu

A general shot of the gang an B Bar.

 

[Manton]

I never spend anywhere close to that at Bouchon, and have a hard time imagining how it is possible. It's pricey for bistro food, to be sure, but still it's not an expensive restaurant. The wine least seems fine to me, if overpriced (like all Keller wine lists).

Still, I love the place and have never had a bad meal there.

 

[Gus]

Originally Posted by Manton

I never spend anywhere close to that at Bouchon, and have a hard time imagining how it is possible. It's pricey for bistro food, to be sure, but still it's not an expensive restaurant. The wine least seems fine to me, if overpriced (like all Keller wine lists).

Still, I love the place and have never had a bad meal there.

Manton, I'm with you. Of course it probably helps that Mrs. Pocketsquare and I always visit Bouchon on Sundays, late mornings, and so we are the very first to be seated around 11:30-11:45 on the patio. It is quite, calm and still comfortable in the spring, summer and fall. We start with the house Sancerre, a dozen clams, pate and then decide what to have for lunch. Of course we must stop at the bakery on the way out.......

Audiophilia, it was so nice to have you and Jan visit SF. These kinds of meetups are really one of my favorite things about Styleforum. I look forward to more of your posts. And, thanks Binge, once again for putting this together.

 

[audiophilia]

Moi aussi, PSG.

We really enjoyed meeting all of you. We traveled a lot in the ten days. SFO, Napa, Sonoma, Carmel, San Jose, Berkeley, Palo Alto, Healdsburg, etc.

We loved it all. Jan still laughs about Matt. 'What do you think about Canadians?'. LOL!

 

[binge]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences with us. I very much enjoyed meeting you and Jan, as well as the entire evening with everyone.

I'm sorry to hear about Jan's migraine, but fortunately it sounds like she was clear of it for the rest of the trip.

Any comments on Carmel? Unless I read your posts too hastily, I didn't see anything specific.

BTW, did you two eat at LuLu that second time (and indulge in more Merry Edwards Pinot)? Thank you for the invite to join, but IIRC I already had a social commitment that evening and didn't see your message until it was too late to make any changes.

...and posting the group shot is fine with me.