I was determined to maximize my opportunity and get as many stroller-free runs in as I could while we were away. Kenwood is a tiny little town but I looked online and mapped out what I thought would be a good little running route, but had no idea what the elevation gain would be. It ended up being a gorgeous run on a dirt road up in the hills, through remote, unlabeled vineyards. Other than the fact that I was literally FREEZING (it was thirty something degrees and I was in a tank and shorts), it was lovely.
Upon my return, we enjoyed another delicious breakfast at the Inn. We were fascinated by the chef who was training another cook while we ate. He had a great accent and kept using hilarious and unfamiliar phrases like "These kinds of pans get banged up like a Lexus!" Graham approached him as we were leaving and we struck up a conversation about his copper pots. As it turns out, he worked in New York under Gordon Ramsay (Hell's Kitchen) for 7 years prior to coming to Kenwood! And his wife (also a chef), works with dietitians in a restaurant in New York called Rouge Tomato where their menu is closely analyzed to meet specific nutrient needs. He gave us his card and I felt like we had a brush with fame!
We decided we needed to squeeze in one more free wine tasting before we headed back to the big city and so, feeling somewhat guilty for choosing an Italian winery while in California, we went to VJB. It was no mistake. The wines we tasted were amazing and they kept giving us more unique varietals to try that weren't on our free tasting list.
Our "brief" stop for wine then turned to a cheese-buying adventure followed by a delicious wood-fire mushroom pizza in the courtyard, followed by the BEST gelato I've ever eaten on this continent. 'Twas a great way to end our time in the country before heading back to the Golden Gate.
The sky was much clearer this time so we could enjoy an amazing panoramic view of the city.
We had booked our rental car for a week (it's cheaper that way) though we only really needed it for 5 days. Parking prices in SF are ridiculous so after the urging of our concierge in Kenwood, we ditched our car early near the airport and took the subway downtown to Hotel Palomar.
We learned later that there was only one hitch in our brilliant plan: the subway didn't run early enough on Sunday to get us back to the airport in time for our flight. Oops. Should have checked on that one first but we still live in the 20th century and don't have internet on our phones... (One of us might remedy that here before long as internet can be reeeeeally handy when you're traveling.) Anyway, parking downtown was $45/night so in the end, our plan was still brilliant and money was saved.
By this time, it was late afternoon and time to go get in line at State Bird Provisions, in hopes of being one of the lucky walk-ins to get a table. You see, they recently received some really good press that you can read about here which more or less makes getting a reservation a 2 month process. I guess being named the #1 new restaurant in the nation will do that to you. I checked daily for weeks leading up to our trip in hopes there would be a cancellation but no such luck. So walking in was our only hope (they set aside a couple tables a night for walk ins). We hoofed it on foot all the way from downtown (quite the walk!) and got there one minute after opening (5:30 PM) to find a long line out the door. Uh oh. Not looking good. Thankfully some of the people in front of us had actual reservations so we weren't all trying to walk in. We were able to get our names in for a walk-in table at the bar at 8:30 PM. Sweet! But now what to do for 3 hours in Japantown (which, I can officially now say after having lots of time to explore, is not an SF must-see)?
We'd walked by a couple of theaters on a way over and so popped in to see if we could see a movie while we waited. Unfortunately none of the show times would get us out in time for our dinner. So, we looked at our map for ANYTHING remotely interesting nearby and realized the "Painted Ladies" (famous colorful houses) were only about 10 or 12 blocks away.
It was a worthwhile stop and as it turned out, our timing was impeccable and we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset over the city in this giant, city-block-sized park.
We continued to walk the streets and found some more really unique San Francisco-style houses as well as these cool trees that we both loved. Then we finally settled at Starbucks until we got the text that our table was ready.
Oh my goodness. The restaurant was worth EVERY LAST SECOND we spent wandering around the streets of San Francisco. I'm serious. I found this picture on the camera (apparently Graham took a couple sly photos while we waited) but it's all I have to represent our evening there.
We ended up being seated at the bar basically where the guy on the far left is standing so we got a front row view of everything that was going on in the kitchen. I loved it! The chef with his back turned in yellow is "Joey" who worked the station right in front of us so we became friends with him over the course of the evening. The way the place works is that basically there is a small set menu of about 12 items (including the desserts) that are available all the time. Then there are a bunch of specials each night (ingredients that are hot/in season/fresh etc) that are served dim sum style that are presented to you as you dine. If something looks good, you take it and they mark it off on the back of your menu. You basically can tell anyone (wait staff, cooks, owner etc) what you want at any point and they will make it happen. The staff had loose job descriptions but basically everyone did everything and we saw the chefs out delivering plates at times and busing tables with everyone else. I've never seen such a CHEERFUL crew. And they really knew how to "sell" their dishes. We immediately recognized the head chef and owner, Stuart, from the pictures in the Bon Appetit article. He greeted us and we chatted a bit about his creative concept, how he's managed now that people are coming like wildfire etc. He asked us where we like to eat in Seattle and it turns out he knows many of the chefs at the top restaurants over here. He impressed both of us so much because he was busy wiping counters and busing tables like the rest of them. When we asked him about it, he told us that he really tries to lead by example and it really shows in the way the restaurant runs.
Of course we wanted to try everything on the menu but over the course of the evening settled on:
-guinea hen dumplings with aromatic broth
-eggplant ‘fries’, sungolds & pimenton
-melons with curry and goat yogurt
-haas avocado with seafood ‘salsa’
-sweet corn & garlic chive “shortstack” with mt. tam cheese
-braised beef curry, bok choy, french crepes
The highlights for sure were the eggplant fries (and Graham doesn't even like eggplant!!) and the guinea hen dumplings. It was all REALLY good actually. The only thing we felt we could have lived without was the melon. Our "friend" Joey took great care of us and when we said we were too stuffed for dessert (we were), complimentary glasses of their ‘world peace’ peanut muscovado milk showed up at our place.
Holy cow! Did I have "my favorite food is peanut butter" written all over my face!? This stuff was to die for! And it was a good thing they gave it to us for free because the term "peanut milk" never would have drawn me. Basically what they do is simmer peanuts in milk and a little cream for ~4 hour and then strain out all the peanuts. Then they served it over a tiny bit of muscovado (it's sweet) and it tastes like a thinner version of a peanut butter milkshake!! I've got to replicate it!
We had such a wonderful evening (maybe our best dining experience ever) and were well attended to by both the owner and his staff. And all that for only ~$60! We'd only make it about 1 block on our walk home when Graham turned to me and said "Want to try and get in again tomorrow night?"
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