New Restaurant of the Month

disabled email

2007-07-01T19:37:00.001-07:00

my restaurant email address has been disabled due to spam. but you all know how to get ahold of me.

ciao.

NOVEMBER - FATTOUSH

2006-11-14T00:35:00.000-08:00

8pm. WEDNESDAY November 15, 2006

FATTOUSH.
361 Church Street (at Clipper)

see ya there!

NOVEMBER

2006-11-06T19:21:00.000-08:00

Hey kids.

So I just found out that there is a DINE AROUND event on Wednesday NOVEMBER 15th. The day before our usual scheduled “new restaurant” - would anyone be interested in going to that?

DINE AROUND is similar to DINING OUR FOR LIFE, in which 25% of the bill goes to two different nonprofits – the AIDS EMERGENCY FUND and the BREAST CANCER EMERGENCY FUND.

The list of restaurants can be found at on their website (dinaroundsf.org) but I made a short list of the ones that seemed interesting (and that most of us haven’t eaten at) and that seem large enough for a bigger party:

Bacco Ristorante (Italian)
Fattoush (Middle Eastern)
Kookez Cafe (American - Comfort)
Le Zinc (French)
Lupa Trattoria (Italian)
Eliza's - Potrero Hill location (Chinese)
Le Charm (French)
21st Amendment (American Pub Food)

Let me know your vote (or if you found a different place listed on the website that you are interested in) and I'll make a Reservation ASAP!

OCTOBER revised

2006-10-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

IXNAY on the BUSHI-TEI.

We're going to GOOOD FRIKIN' CHICKEN!

Everyone meet there on OCTOBER 26th. 8pm.

It's casual - no reservations, so bring whomever you want!!!!

Rotissiere Chicken and Mediterreanean food.....mmmm. hummus....

See ya.

October

2006-10-12T00:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry to drop the ball. October is always a crazy month for me.

I'm thinking of trying to get reservations at Bushi-Tei, but I'm not sure if I can for next week (October 19 is the Third Thursday) - anyone interested in me trying though?

The food is California French Japanese fusion and it's delicious. They also have a really great table that seats 16 people which I think would be super fun....

If not I can try for October 26th. Let me know what date is better for people.

But if we do it October 26th, we can can belatedly celebrate Chris' birthday, Karen's Birthday, Annie's birthday and David's Birthday (damn that's a lot of October/Libra birthdays). Oh yeah, and mine too I guess. Of course I guess, we can celebrate October/Libra birthday next week too. Heh. Either way it'll be a big happy birthday party (if everyone can come...)

Let me know.
Irvin

PS. The menu isn't very vegetarian friendly, but I have asked the owner and chef about it, and he said that they can definitely accommodate vegetarians if we tell them ahead of time.

Shakespeare in the Park

2006-09-08T00:26:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, FREE SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK is this month too!

It's every weekend. Let me know what weekends work for you guys. They apparently moved it to the PRESIDIO from Golden Gate Park.

They are doing THE TEMPEST (which I actually don't think I've ever seen performed) so that fun...

Opera in the Park

2006-09-08T00:23:00.000-07:00

Hey Hey.

the Chronicle's Opera In the Park is happening this weekend (SUNDAY - Sept 10 1;30pm).

Anyone interested? Best thing about Opera in the Park is that it's an excuse to get together and drink and picnic. I love a good picnic. PLUS you don't have to worry about actually getting good seats - because it's all about the singing - you don't even have to worry about seeing anything!

Oh wait. No I take it back, the best thing about Opera in the Park is that it's FREE!

Damn I'm cheap.

AJ and I will be there...

SEPTEMBER 21st.

2006-08-22T13:25:00.000-07:00

how do you all feel about PIZZA?

PATXI is a new chicago style deep dish pizza place over in HAYES VALLEY. It's gotten pretty good reviews, and I've been craving DEEP DISH since I had it last in Chicago over the midwest trip...

Plus I think deep dish pizza would be fun for a large group...

SNAKES ON A PLANE

2006-08-07T16:14:00.000-07:00

I just found out that SNAKES ON PLANE has two preview showings on AUGUST 17th - 10pm and 12:01am.

Anyone want to go after new restaurant dinner?

OR OR OR...

Should we wait for FRIDAY NIGHT? and go FRIDAY NIGHT? There will probably be a big crowd on FRIDAY....

I want to see it with a big crowd.

Snakes on a plane man. Snakes on a plane.

AUGUST 17th.

2006-08-03T19:16:00.000-07:00

Howdy hey!

How does BURMA SUPERSTAR sound for everyone for the new restaurant of the month? Let me know if you can make it. It's burmese, and I've heard about some good things about it.

The downside is they DO NOT take reservations, but let me know a head count, and I'll call ahead to warn them about us and see if they will make an exception or if I should find an alternative.

And speaking of alternative, anyone have any other ideas? Let me know.

JULY restaurant

2006-07-02T01:24:00.000-07:00

Hey guys.

Since I instigated this whole new restaurant thing, I'm changing JULY's new restaurant to the FOURTH Thursday of the month... and it will be ST. LOUIS!

ha ha ha!!!!

So if anyone wants to fly out to ST. LOUIS - you are more than welcome!!!!

Karen and Ben and AJ and I will be St. Louis on the fourth weekend, and we'll be dining in a new restaurant - though probably a new restaurant for them, but not for me. We'll see what the situation is.

Anyway the AUGUST restaurant resume the tradition of the third thursday of the month - we'll be having dinner on AUGUST 17th.

If anyone has suggestions let me know. Though they are on the higher end - I'm thinking of a hotel restaurant like Ame at the new St. Regis Hotel (I've heard WONDERFUL things about it) or Asia de Cuba at the Clift Hotel which I've also heard rave reviews about.

AJ and I had a sample of some food from Ame at the Meals on Wheels fundraiser (you can read about the fundraiser on my personal blog) and it was delicious. The woman who sat right next to us absolutely RAVED about the restaurant, having gone there the previous week for her birthday. Ame was also listed in the June Bon Appetit magazine as one of the hot 10 restaurants in The Restaurant Reporter column. Just something to think about.

Our friend Stacy (who we visited in Argentina last year) came to visit SF again six months ago and went to Asia de Cuba and absolutely loved it. The decor looks surreally appealing, and I think the giant cross table would be a great table for a huge group of us.

Anyway let me know if you guys are interested in either, or if you have any other suggestions.

Cheers!

JUNE restaurant

2006-06-04T22:40:00.000-07:00

Hey all.

So Karen suggested we skip the June restaurant and just did a fun potluck/picnic on June 18th for the kick off STERN GROVE concert series AIMEE MANN. I'm down with that, if everyone else is, but if not - I think MELISSA's idea of AUX DELICES over on POLK sounds faboo. It's reasonably priced VIETNAMESE food. Not as cheap as the pho restaurants hole in the walls, but not as expensive as the high end LE COLONIAL/SLANTED DOOR sort of places. Plus who doesn't love FAMILY STYLE eating out?

So let me know. I can make reservations at AUX DELICES but I need a headcount. Or we can hold if off for later in the summer and just gorge ourselves at STERN GROVE. I'll be bringing some sort of baked good delights....

whoo hoo!

2006-05-22T23:50:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone for going to INDIGO. it was fun, a lot more intimate and mellow than the previous outing.

I'm think that maybe for JUNE we should go to some place on the cheap and down home. I've been eating a heck of a lot of fancy meals, and I'm thinking maybe something a little less rich - as in rich moneywise, and rich foodwise would be swell.

Any thoughts on this idea?

In the meanwhile, take a look at these lovely photos of HIGH SPRING DAY. Hope you guys had as much fun as AJ and I did... or more so...

A lovely photo of people with the food spread.

the entertainment, a bluegrass band called THE TANGLERS.

AJ and Peter hanging out (photo courtesy of ANNIE)

Irvin pigging out on grilled meat (photo again, courtesy of ANNIE)

Karen and Melissa staying high and dry while others went swimming in the lake.

and the others out swimming in the lake (AJ, Peter and ANNIE are those little heads you can barely see).

CHANGE OF VENUE

2006-05-12T01:30:00.000-07:00

Okay I originally wrote a huge email to send to everyone - but no one reads my emails, so I'm posting on here instead. I've made an executive decision to change the venue because I think 9:30pm is too late for everyone (see the post below about the 9:30pm reservation at MYTH).

Especially since some people are driving up from Menlo Park.

So I've gone ahead and made 8pm reservations at a restaurant called INDIGO. It is in HAYES VALLEY and looks lovely. It also has a fab 3 course prix fixe deal where you get to choose appetizer, entree (excluding specials) and dessert as well as unlimited wine from a select list (visit their site and click on SPECIALS and scroll down for the wine list they are pouring from). All for a lovely $49.

Plus (as an added bonus) the general manager went to college at INDIANA UNIVERSITY - BLOOMINGTON (go hoosiers!).

If INDIGO is not acceptable as a substition, I've also listed a few other options for us to choose from. email or post and let me know if you aren't happy with INDIGO. I still have time to change it...

And my apologizes for not being able to get MYTH or QUINCE.... Quince may not be possible with such a large party (the largest party they seat in their dining room is 6. and they refuse to slit the party up into two tables). MYTH is still possible but I'd have to make it much more in advance to get a reasonable hour.

If people are hardcore about going to MYTH though, let me know and I can keep the 9:30pm reservation and cancel the INDIGO reservation. If not, I'll see about getting MYTH for another month...at a more reasonable time.

---
Other restaurant options:

7:30pm ILUNA BASQUE - Delightful and festive Basque cuisine, tapas. Over in North Beach.

7:45pm LULU - SOMA Provencal French restaurant. It's actually quite nice and rather large. They have great pizzas and a nightly rotisserie special (which on a Thursday would be squab).

8pm OCTAVIA LOUNGE located near the GAY and LESBIAN center on market, they have a "Jazz with the masters" open mic/jam session going on. The food seems pretty eclectic california.

8pm FRINGALE - an excellent south of market french/basque bistro. Vegetarian option is a crispy polenta with spinach, piperade and frisee.

8pm LE PETIT ROBERT - another French restaurant on Russian Hill restaurant. Vegetarian option is an artichoke mushroom cheese lasagna.

8pm LE CHARM - another SOMA French Bistro. They have a prix fixe along with ala carte options. Vegetarian options is a gnocchi with wild mushrooms.

8:30pm LUELLA - ex ANDALU alum opened this lovely california/mediterranean inspired Russian Hill Restaurant.

see ya next week!

MYTH

2006-05-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well Quince wouldn't let me split the party in two. And they didn't have a room for us anyway. So we have the chef's table at 9:30pm at MYTH.

I know 9:30 is late. But alas, I couldn't get anything else. Let me know if this is a problem and you need to be taken off the list. I have 72 hours to cancel. I can also see about finding another place.

Here's the list:

Annie +1
Jenny (ANNIE and EMMIEAMY's sister)
AJ
Irvin
Melissa
Peter
Grant
Sundiep
Vivek

so a total of 10.

Cheers!

MYTH or QUINCE?

2006-05-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

So here's the skinny. I need a head count for the MAY restaurant. People have mentioned both MYTH and QUINCE to me, so I'm going to go with one of those.

Here's the catch. The largest group that QUINCE can accommodate is 10 people at the special chef's table (inside the kitchen - a very trendy sort of thing, to have a kitchen table that you can eat at, at least it use to be about five or six years ago). The one caveat to it is that it's expensive, with a MINIMUM price of $800 combined drinks and dinner for the 10 people.

So the price might be kind of a limit for some. The other option is we can see if we can book three or four smaller tables of 4 to 6 people. or if we make it a LARGE party, we can try to book the entire restaraunt. how fun would that be? but of course it might be expensive....

MYTH looks like it will accommodate any size group so maybe that is a better choice. I haven't had a chance to contact them, so I am not sure but from their website it looks pretty large. I dunno. Either way though, let me know and I'll make the reservations. Cheers!

PS. Also let me know about HIGH SPRING DAY.... it's this SUNDAY!!!!!

STERN GROVE

2006-04-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

HEY HEY!

Got the heads up from KAREN who read it in the Chronicle yesterday. The kick off show for the STERN GROVE festival is going to be AIMEE MANN! Sunday June 18th, 2006.

Former lead singer of 'til Tuesday, AIMEE rocks. I've seen her two or three times, and she always puts on a good show. In fact I believe she was the first show I dragged AJ to see together.

Her latest album is a bit lackluster, but it has a few gems - and I'm sure she'll be playing stuff from her other albums as well. and if we're lucky, a few 'til Tuesday songs as well (last time I saw her, she closed the set with an acoustic version of "VOICES CARRY" which rocked).

Let me know if you are interested in going. I'm sure it'll be packed. She's double headlining with a Brazilian artist named Seu Jorge which I know little about. I can't wait....

OH yeah, obviously this blog is quickly becoming more than a NEW RESTAURANT OF THE MONTH sort of thing, so if you want me to stop posting about other events, please comment. Otherwise, I'll continue to post thing group events....

BUSHI-TEI

2006-04-25T00:55:00.000-07:00

AJ and I ate at BUSHI-TEI for our anniversary (6 years!) last week and it was AMAZING. A bit pricey, but SOOOOOO DAMN GOOD. It's Japanese-French fusion and the food was outstanding. The service kicked ass too. And the decor was all Japanese wood and modern glass and steel. Very modern meets old school Japanese. Lovely.

I got the 5 course tasting menu which apparently changes daily, never to be seen again, which made me sad, because the veal medallions with morel mushrooms were so fantastic. and now I'll never eat them again. On the other hand AJ got the KOBE BEEF steak, something that were part of the standard menu and they were spectacular. I'm pleased that those can be eaten again.

We ended the meal with a delicious apple dumpling with fresh caramel sauce (actually my tasting menu ended with a white corn ice cream which was surprisingly good - but we ordered the apple dumping as well and ended up sharing both) and a sparkling unfiltered dessert sake that was incredibly fruity with apples and pears up front. Mmmm. I've never had sparkling sake before.

ANYWAY they have a huge centerpiece table that fit 16 people made of old Japanese wood dating back to 1863 and glass and steel, which would be perfect for us. But since we just went there, I think we need a break before we go back. But keep it in mind everyone....

And I did ask the manager, and he said the head chef would gladly create a vegetarian plate for anyone who doesn't want meat.

HIGH SPRING DAY

2006-04-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

howdy hey.

I got an invite for the annual HIGH SPRING DAY celebration up at Green Valley Ranch. Some of you might have already been, but if you haven't it's faboo. It's a ranch up in Napa, and they have an incredible river that runs through it that they do a boat race on. One of the people we contract with at work is part owner there, and they have the event each year.

It's amazingly bucolic.

Wine, beer, water and soda as well as hot coals are all provided. We usually bring up meat (and veggie equivalent for the vegetarians) to grill, along with snacks, cheese, and various baked goods. A picnic blanket is also a good idea.

There's also also swimming in a lake and the river, so feel free to bring a bathing suit (or nothing at all...) and a towel if you wish.

Dog and Children are welcome and there will be live music by The Tanglers (a banjo accordian band - they are very "O Brother Where Art Thou"-esque). Let me know if you are interested. Due to the heavy rain in the last couple of months, Carpooling is recommended as there isn't that much dry land to park the car.

Anyway details below. if you want to come or set something up with carpooling up. I can email you the map on how to get there.

SUNDAY MAY 7, 2006
Noon to Dusk
Green Valley Ranch
Napa CA.

NEW RESTAURANT LIST

2006-04-07T00:05:00.000-07:00

I've decided to make a list of new restaurants that I personally want to go to. Please feel free to add to this list via the comments section, as well as comment on any of the restaurants if you've already been.

I'll be adding more as I think of more, and i'll be checking them off as we go to them!

1. DOSA - South Indian Cuisine. Loads of vegetarian options.
2. LOVEJOY'S TEA ROOM - we must go there for SUNDAY TEA! I want the QUEEN'S TEA. it looks fabulous!
3. FIRECRACKER - Chinese Cuisine. It's been around for ages, but we still haven't gone. I hear the Walnut Shrimp is great.
4. BAR TARTINE - first the raved about bakery (which, despite the over hype, does have quite fabulous croissants) which happens to be around the corner from us. and now the raved about restaurant.
5. MYTH - French California. formerly MC2's space.

anyone else want to add?

anyone like GUINNESS?

2006-04-05T22:54:00.000-07:00

Ah GUINNESS. The beer that you can chew....

I got an email invite to a GUINNESS event. My friend who forwarded it to me said that he's been to a few similar parties and they are fun. So if anyone's interested here's the info:

Subject: San Francisco: GUINNESS® Private Invite

You, a friend and a celebration of the world's most famous beer.

In other words, a perfect night. Bring a friend and be our
guests at this exciting event. We're serving up great food, good
times and cold GUINNESS® beer. There's no catch or sales pitch: just
our way of celebrating the passion of GUINNESS® Believers.

Your presence is requested.

Your password is: BELIEVER. You will need this password to enter the site and for future access.

http://www.believerrsvp.com/index.aspx?emc=ECCog1_SF_040406

A mandatory $5 charity donation will be collected at the door. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to a local charity.

Here's what others had to say:
"It changed the way I see and drink GUINNESS®."
- Believer from New York (Oct. 2004)
"Incredibly fun... I'll definitely be telling my friends about it!"
- Believer from Atlanta (Oct. 2004)
"Very interesting. A memorable night."
- Believer from Chicago (Nov. 2004)

ATTENDEES MUST BE AGE 21 YEARS OR OLDER.
DRINK RESPONSIBLY.

enjoy and comment if you go!

RNM!

2006-04-05T16:48:00.000-07:00

So it's decided. Several people mentioned RNM as the place they were most interested in, and so I called them to see if they had room for us.

We now have reservations for April 27th at 8:30pm, at RNM restaurant. For those who haven't been there, feel free to check out their website by clicking their name above. Their address is below.

RNM restaurant
598 Haight Street at Steiner
in the LOWER HAIGHT
SF, CA 94117
415.551.7900

If there are any changes, please let me know ASAP as I had to leave my VISA card to hold the reservation for 12 of us.

Yes you heard me. 12 of us. Whoo hoo! The list includes:

AJ
Irvin
Peter
Grant
Karen
Ben
Felisa
Chris
Melissa
Jenny (friend of Melissa's)
Annie
Annie's friend (she's keep the person a mystery).

I never heard from DAVID KIM...so if anyone wants to bug him and see if he's still interested feel free...I think I can add a couple of more, but I gotta know soon...

Anyway, can't wait to see you all there!

APRIL 27th, 2006

2006-03-27T22:08:00.000-08:00

OKAY OKAY, so the new restaurant of the month for April will NOT be on the third Thursday of the month. It'll be on the FOURTH Thursday. This is because April 27th, 2006 is Dining Out for Life San Francisco. Restaurants around the city will be donating 25% of the meals to AIDS organizations. Faboo.

So I'm up for suggestions. If you go to the Dining Out website you can see the list of participating restaurants. I sent out an email about my picks, but i'll list then again for posterity sake:

BUSHI-TEI: Japanese California Fusion.
FRISSON: New American in a hipster setting.
RNM: American with French and Italian influences, small plates.
ILUNA BASQUE: Traditional and Festive Basque food, small plates.

other options included:
FRINGALE: French
LE COLONIAL: New Vietnamese
MOOSE'S: American
PLUMPJACK CAFE: California/Mediterranean

Thoughts? Any other suggestions? Please post.

Welcome

2006-03-27T22:00:00.000-08:00

Hello.

Welcome All. If you are here, you got my email and actually READ it.

AMAZING.

Anyway since we all talk about this NEW RESTAURANT OF THE MONTH for ages, I decided to actually instigate it. Starting in APRIL there will be a new restaurant of the month picked and everyone is invited. Well not everyone. But the cool kids. The people who are actually reading this. Meaning you. We're an exclusive club.

So check back in the beginning of the month (around the 3th) and find out where we're going, and if you can join us. Feel free to post about previous restaraunts that we've been too, as well as any place you want to go to. I'll need RSVP's by 10th, so I can make reservations.

PLEASE RSVP by emailing me. You can post on this blog too, but I might miss it, so an email as well would be swell. And yeah, I have a SPECIFIC email address that I set up for the RSVP's so click on the link above to email me. That would make my life so much easier.

New Restaurant of the month by the way will be the THIRD THURSDAY of the month. I figure if we had a standard date, it would be easier to set up an ongoing thing. Obviously not everyone will be able to make it that date. Heck, even AJ and I might not be able to make it, but if it's a standard date, we have a much better chance of doing this.

So let me know if you are in.

Cheers, thanks a lot.