I had tentatively made plans in the afternoon to meet up with my ex, Steve, and have lunch. I also traded lunch for a massage since he’s a certified massage therapist. My friend Ed had gone to him several years ago and said he did good work, so I decided to avail myself of the opportunity. We settled on my coming over to his place around noon. He lives in the Castro, so I hopped on the Muni underground (it’s work picking up a $20 transit card if you are spending more than a day or two in the city, or plan to travel around).
I showed up at the appointed time and Steve did give me on the better massages I’ve had. Ed was right, he does have good skills and concentrated on my back which is always in knots. I kind of felt like I was cheating on my regular therapist! After turning into jelly, we headed out to lunch. There was a new BBQ place in the Castro, so we wound up there to try it out. Dancing Pig (www.thedancingpigsf.com), like many of the storefront on the street, was long and narrow. We got there close to 2pm, so the lunch rush had died down.
We decided to order two entrees with sides and share. We wound up ordering half a slab of the pork ribs and half a chicken, with our sides as corn bread, baked beans, mac & cheese, and fries. They serve them up on tin baking sheets with the sides in little tin pans. It’s very rustic. The ribs and chicken were very delicious and the BBQ sauce and rub added good flavor – but our one complaint (which was later backed up by comparison with another friend who’s dined there) was that it was served rather lukewarm. I generally prefer my BBQ served HOT, but this was not the case. The flavor could almost make up for the lack of temperature, but not quite. I’d recommend that they serve it up steaming!
The sides varied: the beans were flavorful, but also a little on the lukewarm side; the mac & cheese were near bland but were saved by the added bacon; the corn bread was warm and good; and the fries were the star of the sides – crisp, HOT and well salted.
I’m not entirely thrilled with Dancing Pig. They do need to make some changes, i.e., heat up the food and not serve it tepid! The flavors are there and are good, so it’s disappointing they aren’t serving it appropriately.
I met up with my friend Ed for a few hours at a beer bust at the Pilsner Inn on Church and Market. I almost missed it since the signing isn’t terribly clear. But it was nice to meet up with Ed and meet some of his friends. Really nice guys. It was a nice break in the afternoon, and the weather had also cleared up today so I had a few rays on sunshine.
I had to hotfoot it back to the hotel as I was meeting another old friend from my San Diego days, Alan, for drinks and dinner. I texted him when I got off Muni as he lived close to my hotel. We agreed to head up to the rooftop restaurant and lounge at the Hyatt since it does have excellent views looking north out over the bay. It really was stunning.
We got caught up and I asked him to recommend where to go for dinner, and he gave me a few options. We settled on Café de la Presse (www.cafedelapress.com), which was a few blocks over from the hotel. It’s a quaint little French café that has lots of foreign magazines and newspapers available – they all line the back wall. The server dropped of an amuse bouche which we both thought was a tiny square of croquet monsieur. It was a nice little snack. I ordered the onion soup to start – hard to pass up at a French café. It was definitely very onion-y and salty (which it is supposed to be). It also was a nice comfort food after a chilly weekend.
For my entrée, I had to have the Confit de Canard Maison (that would be a confit style duck breast). The duck was very moist and tender – falling apart as I attacked it with my fork. They crisped up the skin very nicely. I do love duck, so it was nice to have this treat. It was sat atop a bed of fried potatoes and mushrooms. I should have read the menu more carefully as I don’t like mushrooms, but they were big enough to pick out and eat around. The duck also paired well with the wine I had ordered – a French red blend.
Overall, the meal was excellent, as was the company of my friend Alan. Oh, and he had ordered a burger – he saw one at the lounge when we had drinks and had his mind set on that. Apparently he enjoyed it!
Tomorrow I am not entirely sure what I will do, but I have until the later afternoon to tool around.
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