Culinary Experiences - Bay Area

It seems there is a lot of hype about restaurants in the Bay Area. What we hear from the "food critics" is usually incorrect, self-indulgent, or simply pushing an agenda. In the end, I think food is a personal matter. Everyone has a preference and only one's own taste buds can decide whats appetizing.

Maria and I hit three places over the course of the last month. We started in Mill Valley, which for a quaint little city has a surprising amount to offer. Then pushed down to Sausalito. Which many can argue is a tourist trap, but there are some spots that are still authentic. Finally we got out to the sunset district in San Francisco just south of golden gate park.

MILL VALLEY, CA

Our first stop was at Bungalow 44. Lets face it, the food wasn't that great - average on all accounts and a bit pricy. Its organic and claimed to be local. The fries cooked in truffle oil were not bad. Maria really enjoyed the crab cakes. The main dishes were not worth the price. However, we went there on their live music night (Wednesdays) to meet up with a friend of ours - Kristina. The combination of live music, the lively bar, and getting a chance to hang with friends made the experience memorable.

http://bungalow44.com/

SAUSALITO, CA

Next stop was the Plate Shop on Caledonia St. Most of the critics have knocked this place for slow service and substandard cuisine. We really loved this place! The location was away from the usual touristy crap on Bridgeway St. The restaurant embracedan elegant feel while using rustic / industrial components. The seared artic char and lamb were perfectly cooked and presentation was enoughto make Maria happy (the hard core foody). Followed by carrot cake and monkey bread pudding and finally topped with an excellent sav. blanc brought the meal together. Afterwards we were visited by the chef and the owner who wanted to know ourthoughts. Overall I would say one needs to get here fast before they learn their food is so delicious and they start to cut corners.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA

There is something about going to San Francisco that always makes me feel like I have come home. The buildings, the city, the bridges all come together and are embraced by the hills, water, and nature. Seems there is very few places in the world were one can go from a world class city with style to winding mountain trails in a matter of 20 minutes.

We came to check out the Sunset district just south of Golden Gate park. Irving St, where the light rail Muni roars through, is replete with restaurants, bars, and shops. Maria had heard amazing reviews about a latin restaurant - Pasion. I already had my reservations that she would like it as she is the biggest critic on ANY latino food. As she put it later - Pasion lacked passion. The mahi tuna turned out to be like eating a rubber duck and the flavors of the Vaca steak were lacking heat (both in the sense of spice and temperature). Over all very disappointing, but Maria did find an awesome shoe store next door!

http://www.pasionsf.com/

Memories of Kilimanjaro

Got an email from Judy the other day. She is planning on going to Kilimanjaro and wanted to have some advice on what, where, when, and with who we went with in July 2009. It brought back so many memories of that fantastic trip to East Africa and even today as I page through Hemingway's "The Green Hills of Africa" it makes me want to go back. There is something in the way that he writes that captures a glimpse of those long rolling hills, endless spaces filled with wildlife, and this majestic lonely mountain that towers above it all. Anyone going to Tanzania needs to read a little Hemingway in my opinion.

In any case we flew direct from San Francisco to Dubai via Emirates Airline. The flight was 15 hours and flew over the North Pole. Sometimes, if you go up to the counter right before the flight you can ask for an upgrade to business class - which we got for $350 and was the best investment one can make for such a long flight. From Dubai we flew to Nairobi in Kenya and then on to Arusha in Tanzania. There are also some flights from San Francisco to Amsterdam and then down to Arusha which some of our travel companions did (shout out to Leonora!).

We went with an excellent travel company called Alpine Ascents. They took us up slowly to help with the acclimatization process and the post summit celebration and then the Safari afterwards was first rate. We actually stayed in lodges in the national parks themselves - where one could be confronted by lions by opening up their hotel doors.

Here is the website link for those interested:

http://www.alpineascents.com/

I recommend going for the Safari as no trip to East Africa can be complete without one. Also, I've added a video to my facebook page, but it is >100MB and thus can not post it to my blog page - here is the link for that:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=225661287773

- enjoy!