enjoy dinner on the patio at le colonial in san francisco

Last week, I had my first dinner in a restaurant since March 11th! 

Le Colonial. which specializes in French-Vietnamese fusion food has opened it's beautiful built in patio for dinner Wednesday through Saturday from 5-9 pm, reservations required.  The gorgeous, partially enclosed patio has an open air roof, well spaced, white clothed tables and great service, all well away from the street---you really feel like you can finally have a fine dining experience safely!  Waiters are masked and wear gloves, no menus are touched---you simply scan your phone over a bar code and voila! the menu appears!  Some of the delicious dishes included caramelized pork belly, duck spring rolls, shaken beef and lemon grass chicken.  Cocktails and wine are also available. Bon Appetit!

perfect butter lettuce salad

I think I have the perfect little French salad--much like the perfect little black dress, it goes with everything, is always appropriate and never goes out of style--such is the classic butter lettuce salad.

I had my first taste of this simply creation several years ago at Cafe de la Presse in San Francisco.  So simple as to be deceiving in the flavors, I was determined to recreate it at home and I did.  But of course, over time, other salads from Caesar to arugula to frisee came and went until I was watching one of my favorite chefs, Geoffrey Zakarian talk about butter lettuce as the superior lettuce for both salad and a variety of dishes from burgers to Asian minced lettuce cups--and voila!  My perfect little French salad is back!  Thankfully, it was never really gone for long.

1 head of live butter lettuce (on the roots). Chopped, bagged butter lettuce doesn't work.

Separate leaves, wash and place dry leaves in a bowl.

Splash with small amount of sherry or white wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. (Less than a tbsp or so of each--you can always add more.)

Add small amount of very finely snipped chive. Chervil and parsley may also be used (classic fines herbes blend).  Top with fresh black pepper and a dash of Maldon sea salt.  Toss lightly and serve.

For an extra touch, add toasted/chopped hazelnuts sprinkled on top.