La Folie

La Folie doesn't garner the type of name-recognition as other San Francisco establishments like Gary Danko and Fleur de Lys. In fact, even though the place is a stone's throw from my apartment, I've never heard of it until I poked around on Yelp and discovered that it's the highest rated fine dining restaurant in the city. My wonderful Orin took me here as a treat to make up for staying in for New Year's Eve and I was anticipating the meal for more than a week. To dispel any suspense, La Folie lived up to my lofty expectations and then some! 


Let's start with the ambiance -- the dining room is surprisingly small and seats only around 30 people. The environment is very romantic, with candlelight and white table clothes. The table for two is a tad large to be considered "intimate", but that leaves plenty of space for the various glassware and plates. I liked that the tables were not tightly packed so there's a semblance of privacy. 


Our waiter was business-like and didn't try to make small talk, not that I mind since I didn't want to chat for five minutes while I itch to dig into my food. The overall service was impeccable. The servers always walk to the other side of the table instead of reaching across to place new silverware or fill our waters. Even the guy that hands out the bread makes sure to put the bread right-side up with the seam on top. That type of attention to detail is certainly admirable and enhances the dining experience.

The bread plate

Evan's American Gourmet Cafe

Ski season is almost upon us and I'm sure SF dwellers will trek to Tahoe by the bus-load. In case anyone is interested in a little upscale fare in the boonies, well, you don't have to look farther than Evan's American Gourmet Cafe. I dined there a while back when the boyfriend and I were in the area for a celebrity golf tournament. After much browsing on yelp, we decided on Evan's for a romantic dinner on our first mini-vacation. The restaurant is tiny and we were required to call the day of to reconfirm the meal. I find it pretty snooty that they ask the patrons to call to confirm instead of the other way around, but c'est la vie.

We arrive at the restaurant 10 minutes early. The host told us that our table would be ready in a few minutes. While we were standing there, we saw another table for 2 ready to go. The host said that another party specifically reserved that table for 8:30. Well, we waited and waited. The other table arrived more than 15 minutes late and were sipping wine before we were seated. While we twiddled our thumbs, the staff essentially ignored us. Let's just say I was more than a bit peeved.

Finally, after more than 30 minutes, we were seated, sans any apologies or peace offerings from the kitchen. Thankfully, we got a corner table with a bird's eye view of the entire dinning room. Not that the place was much to look at. I appreciated some of the small details -- white table clothes, wines chilled on ice and freshly baked bread. I noticed the waiters would fill my water and walk to the other side of the table to fill my boyfriend's glass instead of reaching across (granted, they gave us a huge table that could seat 5). The decor of the place looked like an episode of I Love the 80's -- tacky wallpaper and overdone valances. I had to battle the urge to run into the bathroom and tease my hair.

Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton

I would rank my dinner at the Dining Room at the Ritz as the best dining experience of my life. We came here for the boyfriend's big 3-0 and everything, from the food, to the service and ambiance, were pretty close to perfection. Such a memorable experience!!

We arrived a bit early for our 7:30 reservation but the maître d' seated us right away. It's so rare to see white table clothes these days and it definitely lends a touch of elegance. The table was round so we got to sit next to each other, which I preferred. 

The waiter brought us an amuse-bouche of chicken stuffed empanada. The pastry was light and buttery without being oily; definitely wetted our appetite. A few minutes later, the kitchen presented us with the first of two hors d'oeuvres, a fried crab ball topping a mango and jalapeno sauce. They could have used less breading for because the crab was so delicate, but the flavors were en pointe. The second canapé was a boneless chicken wing with a light coriander and peach broth. The chicken skin was so crispy yet moist. It turned out to be Orin's favorite of the night. 

Crab Puff

Chicken Wing

We decided on the tasting menu and share a wine pairing. The boy got himself a Makers on the rocks and our meal awaits. Even the butter was richer and creamier than the run of the mills stuff at grocery stores. The only draw back was that the bread was not freshly baked and a bit stale. It was probably for the best or else I would fill up on starch.

Absinthe Brasserie & Bar

Wow, I was completely blown away by this place!! I would rank Absinthe as one of my top three food experiences in the city. The service wasn't great -- the hostess had a worst case of the bitch-face that I've witnessed in a while, our waitress was friendly but absentee and the busboys were ill trained, but the food, wow, the food was fantastic!!


To start things off, Absinthe lived up to its name with an expansive list of creative cocktails. I had the Galapagos, which consisted of kaffir-lime leaf muddled in pepper syrup, Barsol Pisco, lemon-lime and grapefruit juices. I was expecting a bit more lime leaf, which has an extremely distinctive flavor, but the drink was very yummy nevertheless. The boyfriend had a Manhattan and thoroughly enjoyed his beverage. The night was off to a racing start.


The restaurant has a seasonal menu with large plates, small shared plates and eclectic cheeses and raw bar. We decided to play it safe and share the beef tartare, the sous vide pork loin and the burger with gruyere.


The beef tartare, we both agreed, was bar none, the best that we've had the pleasure to enjoy. If you're a fan of steak tartare, this is a must order. Heck, even if you're a bit freaked out by the idea of raw beef topped off by a raw quail egg, this will make you into a believer. The preparation was simple -- violet mustard, green apple, red onion, cornichons and the quail egg yoke, and the flavors welded together in the most wondrous fashion. The beef, I'm guessing, did not go through a meat grinder and was painstakingly chopped by hand. The result was truly worth the effort because it simply melted in your mouth. It was super fresh and didn't have any raw taste to it at all. I can wax poetic about this dish for paragraphs and paragraphs, but you get the idea. Order it!!

The steak tartare