San Francisco A2K Gathering - April 9-12, 2004

LW, Altamira in Saucalito rings a bell in my dim memory. That would be wonderful on a lovely day.

Kim Novak as a country girl enjoying the high life--I remember her eating at Ernie's and the Blue Fox in Vertigo.

Jjorge, hah, hah. Solea does seem made for our osso buco, doesn't it? Maybe that should be the restaurant where we toast her for her invaluable help.

Novak as Madeleine dined at Ernie's in the beginning of the film but I don't remember the famous sparse interior with the Greek columns of The Blue Fox (since is was across from the City Morgue, it certainly would have fit into the film).

This sounds like a great gathering. Wish I could be there. Please take pictures, lots of pictures, and post them at A2K. I'm anxious to hear all about it.

YAY--add one more for dinner on Friday night. Semiotterly from Abuzz will be able to join us. She has a wedding (I think) that weekend, but will have time on Friday night to meet with old and new friends.

She is one of the loveliest ladies I've known; a retired school teacher with a clever wit and a kind heart.

Aha, Margo terrorizing MsOlga in Melbourne. We'll need to keep an eye on international news for the latest on tough cookies roughing it up in Melbourne. Have fun you two and take pictures--especially if MsOlga has any black eyes or unusual injuries. God, just think what would happen if the wabbit came. No, too much to comprehend.

Back from work..

Diane, neat, I am sooo glad semiotterly will make it. We concur on her smarts and wit and she is pretty nice besides that. (Note to all, S'O and Diane and I had breakfast at a deli on 57th Street in NY before hitting the Foster building, last year. Was that only last year? It was also in early April, I think.)

jjorge, ok, ok, damn, no, haggis.

I'm interested in glight's places...

Solea, I don't think I noticed the ossobuco.. or maybe I did, it was a while ago. Mostly I noticed that it seemed fairly close and quiet, but the quiet could have changed. It could even be out of business.

I take the SF chronicle for months at a time, but not in the last year, and read it off and on - one of their lively columns is the coming and going of chefs and restaurants... this is a food tuned city. Lessee, where would Anthony Bourdain go?

I'm a foodie but don't live there, am square. Ok, ok, I'll take all the blame, just want to hear instincts, a hint of ways to turn.

Here's a couple of not too helpful links on the Altamira.
http://sfvisitor.travelhero.com/index.cfm/id/84430/aid/260/city/Sausalito/
Altamira, link 2

There were a couple of places listed for Sausalito as quiet and one I think had view, back on the list on page three, at the end, if anyone would care to join the hunt.



And the Caprice in Tiburon with links, I believe, is at the end of the same post.

Yah, Margo, you all can come along for the meeting, we will toast you. I remember the tour you gave on the travel thread on another forum (the one that started out as Aa's anniversary and multiplied)... quite well, it helped me like Australia, frankly (not, of course, that I had any basis for one reaction or another, but y'know, we all make these quick surmises.

Trying to picture Dlowan in SF, well, actually, it is pretty easy. Think she'd fit right in there or Seattle, etc. Understand, I don't personally know Dlowan except by thousands of posts, or she me, and I have only been to the Seattle area twice. Still, I proclaim this as so.

Pictures? I only have one week to diet...

The hell with it. I yam what I yam.

Oh, and the Sheraton Palace Palm court sounds fine with me,
I think I linked to it way back when, when people weren't attuned yet, early pages in this thread, but not at the very beginning. It was when I was going on about hotels we could go into and lounge about. Can't at this point remember the page.

Maybe we, or those of us awake, could do the Farmer's market on Sat am. -- I have walked the market, but when it was outside, a couple of years ago - and on Sunday... I was thinking early birds could meet at the St. Francis coffee shop. By late morning or midday, we could be somewhere, wherever it is.
Anybody know about the ferries? Slosh, shlosh, oops..

Melbourne is probably the closest equivalent of Seattle - Sydney more resembles San Francisco.

I'm going to Melbourne for Easter - closest I can get in these times. (and I have camera - don't tell MsOlga!)

But there is the rub...

when are we going to Golden Gate Park/Conservatory and Tea Garden... Sat or Sun? Time flies, y'know.

When are we doing Golden Gate bridge/sausalito/tiburon?

I am not an event planner.

Though, as a nonevent planner, maybe those in that order, the bridge on Sunday...

quoting from page three, now, with, I think, a few more posts later giving better links..

Tiberon -
Caprice - this is on the water, has good seafood, only 2 noise bells, and 2 $$. My ex and I ate there a decade ago on a quiet afternoon and enjoyed the place. The review says it is still good..
Rooney's Cafe and Grill

The El Paseo in Mill Valley said to be very romantic.
Roxanne's in Larkspur - very highly regarded vegetarian

****** also in Larkspur is Emporio Rulli, excellent pastry shop, one of the best I've been in.

And finally, the Olema Farm House Inn, a place I went to a couple of years ago when a friend got married, a countryish restaurant in Olema, a drive, but in a gorgeous area near Point Reyes Station and the shore... that was very good. I liked it better than Manka's, which is also a good place

Missed Sausalito, back in a minute..

OK, here were some places that seemed ok, at first, in Sausalito... then... heh.

In Sausalito -
Poggio
Christophe Restaurant Francais - got three bells for noise but sounds nice
Mikayla

No links m'lady... ya gotta look them up.

Oops, duplicate

Osso, Would there be time for the GG Bridge/Sausalito-Tiburon on Saturday after the Farmer's Market?
Then, on Sunday, we could go to the Tea Garden and the Flower Conservatory followed by a nice dinner Sunday night-where we could all get together on last time before going home.

Yes, I would think so..

I am in the midst of trying to gather across the bridge places... for viewiwg. I like the idea of the bridge on Sat., well, I love that bridge, cannot go over it too many times. But, then, I don't live there.

There is even Emporio rulli in Larkspur, but never mind, I think that is for the next SF meeting.

What about the restaurant that was already mentioned in Tiburon or Sausalito? That way we wouldn't have to go too far afield. Of course, I don't have any idea of distances, so they might be equidistant from SF for all I know.

Well, m'dear Caprice (saw a good recent review I can't nab since) looks a little annoying to me, hate the architecture, but does architechture = food, no. Probably varies from chef to chef, as do most places. Was better than the usual scenic place when I was there.

Well, clearly, view often equals mediocre in the world at large and probably here too. I liked the meal I had myself, but that was more than ten years ago. Still, possible. We don't need nirvana meals. The view WAS good.

On the Caprice, apparently m'ex, John, and I ended up there on a Tuesday, or something, and we were among the very few in the restaurant (which I gather might be unusual) and that is where I had my very first carpaccio....

maybe now it is a tourist despond. Or even was then, and we caught it at an odd hour. Still, great view. Maybe for some wine and h'ordeurves. However you spell that. Followed by stop at grocery store for loaf of bread.

That is the piquance of world travel. Hard to find other than shlock where views are.

So, do we mind shlock. given its correct spelling? Altimira is probably schlock too, but we could deal with it...