West Coast Edition

Issue: How to decide what the best meal of an 8 day eating trip was.

Rule: Celebrity chefs should not be given bonus points and Napa cuisine is not automatically better than anything in the city. The food should above all be tasty, the service should above all be friendly, the restaurant itself should above all be cozy and warm.

Application: The best restaurant we went to (out of a category including Bottega, Sella Donna, Mercedes, Hog Island Oyster Company, Il Cane Rosso, Bouchon, Nob Hill Cafe and a tiny Japanese place off Taylor Street) was Firefly in the Noe Valley neighborhood of San Fran. http://www.fireflyrestaurant.com/menu.html

Firefly was creative, seasonal and delicious. After many nights of crusty bread with either butter or olive oil or some combination it was refreshing to much on something a little lighter before settling in for the real meal. At Firefly the first food to touch your lips is a lovely puree of curried beans both light and yet substantial. The appetizers were varied and fresh and presented the hardest decision of the night. My husband and I decided on the white asparagus salad with rhubarb mache and pistachio coulis. It was perhaps the 4th dish with asparagus that I had consumed on the trip. (When they are in season and oh-so-good, you just need to go with it.) Besides the fried asparagus that I had at the hotel restaurant a few days earlier, this was the most interesting way to eat asparagus. I wanted to lick the plate. Our second appetizer featured cured sardines which we had noticed had been featured in a lot of other menus. Sardines are not for me. But I tried the cured sardines with zucchini pickles, tiny salad butter bean puree on a baguette. The sardines were salty and a little flaky, which to people who speak sardine means perfect. I focused more on the asparagus but my husband ate every last crumb.

I had peeked at the menu before arriving so I had already decided that I wanted the smoked tofu stuffed Chile relleno with red rice, grilled early season corn and mojo verde. (OMG I cannot even write this without salivating.) The smoked tofu was a perfect accompaniment for the hot relleno. The rice and corn on the side provided an excellent source of sweetness to balance the heat. There was so much food on the plate that it was impossible to finish. It is rare and a nice treat to have too much food to deal with. I ate as much as I could and didn't even get a minute to lift my head up from the plate and sample Ryan's fish dish. We unfortunately had to refuse dessert in order to avoid being rolled out of the restaurant.

The restaurant is divided into two rooms, with a big bar taking up most of the first room. The wine list was extensive with many bottles under $60 and many local California wines. Our server was knowledgable about the wine and led us to a delicious Chardonnay that went well with our dinners. All servers were attentive without hovering and friendly without being overbearing.

Conclusion: Best meal of the trip. So good, in fact that I cannot concentrate anymore and need to get myself a mid-morning snack that will somehow take me back to San Fran...

I'm back!

After a long spring full of wedding planning followed by the actual wedding and honeymoon, I am ready to devote myself back to laweatlaw! In the next few posts I will be IRAC-ing some West Coast restaurants that we sampled during our honeymoon in Napa and San Francisco.