Fun times in SF

BJ

BJ
Well everyone, thanks for the great recommendations on food and other things in San Francisco. We had fun. The weather was gorgeous.

Terroir lived up to the billing, it is good, lots of nice bottles. We had the Foreau brut (quite excellent) and the MMVII Lapierre, which was just, dang, unbelievable. I probably shouldn't get into a "best" gig here, but it might be the best Beaujolais I've had. It's very unusual, very fine, complex, and something to try if you can. I continue to think real highly of 07 in Beaujolais and this bottle is very convincing.

Something not to miss is the French food takeaway truck across from Terroir. Get your food, bring it back, eat with great wine. The food in the truck was pretty super, special call out to the lobster soup.

Bar Jules was very delightful and we'd never been to the Hayes Valley before - a very nice homey corner of SF. The 05 Bise Anjou rouge Gamay Spilite is a dark beast, needs decantation, but on day two is sappy, dense, and a very singular expression.

The pastor at Castillito is indeed very good, and I think I would tend to pick beer as the alcohol of choice, but I opted for a Jarritos Mandarin.

Cane Rosso in the Ferry Building was nice for breakfast.

Ate twice at the Slanted Door. It was good, but for all the hype I found it a little uninventive. The tourists begging for a seat, etc., hmm...it's good, but not that good. Beautiful view, though, and the Chidaines were great.

A16 was very good but not on par with a visit three years ago. Extremely hip, though.

We walked everywhere, what a beautiful city. Walked from Market out to the DeYoung - so cool to come upon it in the middle of the park. It reminds me of something out of the Return of the Jedi. I think they should trade buildings with SFMOMA, they would make more sense with their respective collections.
 
Very glad to hear you had a good visit. I'm a big fan of El Castillito, having lived a few blocks away in a previous life.

By coincidence I drank the '07 Cuvee Marcel Lapierre last night with a friend and was a bit disappointed. While impressively concentrated and long, it spoke loudly of ripe, candied froot, and lacked the freshness and snap of a good bottle (important caveat) of Lapierre's Morgon normal.

To be fair a previous bottle of this wine impressed more. But this was New Years Eve and I'd been drinking Negronis for two or three hours already, as tofurky will testify.
 
originally posted by slaton:
Very glad to hear you had a good visit. I'm a big fan of El Castillito, having lived a few blocks away in a previous life.

By coincidence I drank the '07 Cuvee Marcel Lapierre last night with a friend and was a bit disappointed. While impressively concentrated and long, it spoke loudly of ripe, candied froot, and lacked the freshness and snap of a good bottle (important caveat) of Lapierre's Morgon normal.

To be fair a previous bottle of this wine impressed more. But this was New Years Eve and I'd been drinking Negronis for two or three hours already, as tofurky will testify.

It was definitely different, not typique. Maybe a touch of hyperbole on my part. But your description sounds real different than what we had - maybe bottle variability? Ours was full but nuanced, with a lot of interesting non fruit flavors that to me spoke of the old vines I think this cuvee uses.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by BJ:Bar Jules was very delightful...The 05 Bise... on day two is sappy, dense, and a very singular expression..

They let you take it home?

Yeah - are they not supposed to? Did I get them in trouble?
 
We walked everywhere, what a beautiful city.
Walking the streets of San Francisco is one of the greatest pleasures of our half of the continent. Enhanced, I should append, as one is stopping in here and there for solids and liquids.
 
Rahsaan, I guess you're not aware, but you can legally do this in your new hometown. They have to put a little seal thing over it, which will apparently stop 100% of drinking and driving because something with the tensile strength of Scotch tape will just naturally have that effect, but carrying your unconsumed wine out the door is allowed here.
 
In SF (and maybe California in general, I'm not sure on this and maybe Lou can pop in and clarify) you can cork the undrank portion of the bottle and take it with you. Just not in the front seat, mind you.
 
originally posted by Cory Cartwright:
In SF (and maybe California in general, I'm not sure on this and maybe Lou can pop in and clarify) you can cork the undrank portion of the bottle and take it with you. Just not in the front seat, mind you.

Yes, Cory is correct--you may take any open bottle with you as long as there's a cork in it. On a slightly unrelated note, you're also legally forbidden in California to BYOB to restaurant that does not have an alcohol license. I've never heard of anyone getting busted for that, but I'm sure it could be used if there are other complaints against an establishment. i often see restaurant owners quoted as saying, "we're waiting for our alcohol license, but feel free to BYOB in the meantime." Oh, and one other unrelated note, it is legal for customers to get drunk in your establishment as long as you do not serve them additional alcohol after they are drunk (i.e., show obvious signs of intoxication such as slurred words).
 
By coincidence I drank the '07 Cuvee Marcel Lapierre last night with a friend and was a bit disappointed. While impressively concentrated and long, it spoke loudly of ripe, candied froot, and lacked the freshness and snap of a good bottle (important caveat) of Lapierre's Morgon normal.

This is the less expensive bottle, right?
 
Mark, the Cuve Marcel Lapierre is the same wine as what these guys are calling the MMVII. This is a wine made only in ripe vintages, from a selection of his oldest vines. The label indeed reads "Marcel Lapierre MMVII" (in 2007, that is), but Kermit in his catalog refers to the wine as "Cuve Marcel Lapierre". So it would appear the names are interchangeable.
 
originally posted by Scott Kraft:
originally posted by BJ:

The pastor at Castillito is indeed very good, and I think I would tend to pick beer as the alcohol of choice, but I opted for a Jarritos Mandarin.

In quesadilla format?

No, I had a burrito. I see now I was supposed to have quesadilla. Geez, I go all the way to SF and you'd think I'd get something like that right.
 
originally posted by BJ:
originally posted by Scott Kraft:
originally posted by BJ:

The pastor at Castillito is indeed very good, and I think I would tend to pick beer as the alcohol of choice, but I opted for a Jarritos Mandarin.

In quesadilla format?

No, I had a burrito. I see now I was supposed to have quesadilla. Geez, I go all the way to SF and you'd think I'd get something like that right.

sheesh. i thought i'd written about this already.
 
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