dinner at maybeck's in san francisco

I had a wonderful dinner last night with my dear girlfriends to celebrate my birthday.  My friends really pulled out all the stops--starting with, it was a surprise!  I was to meet Judy downtown at 5:00 and then, see what would happen. We began with a nice glass of wine at the Four Seasons. We then took an Uber and arrived at Maybeck's on Scott Street in the Marina. Inside, my friends had set up the private room with flowers and place cards and candles--it was beautiful!

Wednesday night Maybeck's features Beef Wellington and if that is not fantastic enough, at 7 pm promptly, you are invited into the kitchen where chef Eric Lowe talks about the preparation and makes the first cut into the Wellingtons---they were a thing of beauty!  Back at the table, we started with grilled/smoked artichokes with remoulade and halibut crudo with chili/lemon olive oil.  The Beef Wellington was served with black truffle au jus---creamed spinach was served on the side.  The beef was so tender you could cut it with your fork.  My dear friends continued the surprise with a cake made by SusieCakes on Chestnut Street, with a sweet butter cream frosting just like you remember from childhood and the perfect birthday cake!  Truly a wonderful evening I will never forget!

hash brown and sausage breakfast frittata

Happy Easter everyone!  I wanted to start the morning with a lovely breakfast frittata that is really an easy one pan meal! Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Layer a 10" cast iron skillet with defrosted shredded or cubed hash browns, saute 1/2 lb reg or hot sausage with 6 sliced baby zucchini and a quarter of a yellow onion, diced. Add salt and pepper to taste. Whisk 6 eggs with a dash of salt, pepper and hot sauce.  Place the sausage mixture on the hash browns, top with 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese.  Pour the egg mixture in and top with 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese.  Bake 26 minutes--rest 5 minutes and enjoy!

mod pizza makes it simple and delicious!

I was coming home from Crescent City back to San Francisco on Monday and the new route to SF includes a stopover in Portland.  The lovely woman in the seat next to me lived in Portland, but as we were exiting the plane, instead of heading right to baggage, she said she can't leave the airport till she had pizza---I said "what pizza?' and she said "Mod Pizza!"  Well, I was going to have to try it and am I glad I did--or maybe not, because the closest Mod Pizza to me is in Alameda or Daly City---tough for a quick fix.  Mod Pizza  was started in Seattle in 2008 and now has over 200 locations---what a story, read all about it on their website, modpizza.com. The concept is a simple, small menu done well. Choose from either a 6" or 11" ultra thin crust---add from an array of dozens of toppings all for the same price---baked in minutes in a super hot pizza oven till those lovely crispy bubbles form on the crust, taste, die and go to heaven!  Want sauce like buffalo, barbecue or balsamic drizzled on or on the side--no problem, no extra charge.  Want a breakfast pizza--they have that too!  My choice, the Mad Dog, with pesto base instead of red sauce, pepperoni, sausage and ground beef.  Choice number 2 (yes, I had to test 2) red sauce with pepperoni, hot sausage, mushrooms, bell pepper, red onion and pesto drizzle---amazing.  Oh, and IF you need it, they have salads and shakes as well!

new year's eve at e & o kitchen and the shelton theater

Brendan came into town for New Year's Eve and as always we had a wonderful time.  We didn't have to go far to have a lovely evening right on Union Square.  We started with dinner at E and O Kitchen and Bar on Sutter Street and if you haven't been, make a plan to go--the atmoshere is casual chic, the food is divine Asian fusion with great cocktails--even housemade ginger ale and they have a great happy hour from 3-6, Mon-Sat.  Really nice, you could order directly off the regular menu on NYE--dinner included ahi tuna tartar, pad thai noodles with gulf white prawns, wood roasted black cod on water spinach and of course a very tender shaking beef with tomatoes, chilis and watercress.  We only had to travel a block to the Shelton Theater for a super hilarious, well priced comedy show called "Cheaper Than Therapy".  This long standing club in the heart of downtown SF has a cool downstairs bar and will definitely remind you of a below street New York bar.