In article >,
Cindy Fuller > wrote:

> It's been a crazy two weeks since we returned from Cal-ee-for-nee-ya, so
> here is the report. A good time was had by both of us. Alas, I was
> recovering from a nasty cold and I was off feed for most of the trip.
> The SO will undoubtedly chime in for areas I can't remember.

Since I just entered the credit card charges in Quicken, I can fill in
the names of the joints that Cindy could not remember.

> We landed in Oakland, rented a car (humungous Chevy Impala, identical to
> the one we rented in NY last fall), and drove to the Radisson near
> Fishermans' Wharf. The first night we had dinner at a little Istrian
> restaurant on the fringe of North Beach called Albona. Istria has
> alternated between Italian and Croatian rule for centuries, so the food
> is Italian with an Eastern European accent. The venison was excellent.

I'll second the rave for Albona. I had their ravioli made with three
cheeses, pine nuts, and raisins, and it was really good.

> The next day we headed to the Ferry Building in the hopes of catching up
> with Charlotte. Unfortunately, she'd come down with a bad cold and
> couldn't meet us. We had breakfast tacos for lunch at the building,
> then had dinner at the Slanted Door. The latter is overhyped. SO had
> shaking beef, and he thought Saigon Cuisine in Greensboro made a better
> version.

Slanted Door gets a lot of good press, and we were there only once. But
based on first impressions, our fave Vietnamese places in Seattle
(Tamarind Tree and the sister establishment, Long) are better, and with
prices about half of SS.

> Sunday we had drinks at the Zoetrope Cafe, owned by Francis Ford
> Coppola. His film editing facility is above the cafe. The building
> housing the cafe is one of the few that survived the 1906 earthquake and
> fire, and is near the Transamerica Building.

Cafe Zoetrope is in the Sentinel Building, at Kearny and Columbus. It
also has a wine bar, featuring wines from Coppola's estate winery.

> That night we had dinner at another Italian place near the Cable Car Museum.

Trattoria Contadina, in North Beach. Nice cozy neighborhood restaurant.
I liked it.

> Monday we headed
> across the Golden Gate Bridge to Muir Woods and Sausalito. Dinner was
> at a seafood place in Sausalito.

Scoma's. Great location, on a pier in the bay, with gorgeous views of
San Francisco at sunset. Food was OK, nothing special.

> Tuesday through Thursday was spent in Carmel at the Tickle Pink Inn (I'm
> NOT making the name up), an upscale hotel with fantastic views of the
> coast. On the way there we had lunch at a fine Brazilian place in Santa
> Cruz. The feijoada (black beans and rice) was the real deal.

Cafe Brazil. Open for breakfast and lunch only. Recommended. Good
feijoada, and tasty smoothies made with tropical fruits (mangos,
papayas, etc.).

> We had
> dinner at two places in Carmel that were somewhat underwhelming.

Forge in the Forest, and Jack London's. The latter is a comfortable
upscale bar/pub. Everything in Carmel is upscale. I've never seen so
many private art galleries, stacked end to end, block after block, in
one town. Expensive stuff. Not exactly the tee shirts and velvet-Elvis
stuff you see in most tourist destinations.

--
Julian Vrieslander