2004-04-06 - 4:55 p.m.
We stayed at my friend Rob�s the first night. We�ve been friends since high school and he lived with me in SoMa the summer of 1994, commuting to San Jose to do good works. Today he runs an outreach program for homeless youth (www.atthecrossroads.org). Hells yeah.
After coffee in North Beach, we went downtown and had dim sum at Yank Sing. San Franciscans are very good at frying things. Or rather, I guess, at draining the grease off fried things. The dim sum things, even the chicken feet, were the least greasy I�ve had. But then I got the bill. No matter how un-greasy, dim sum for 2 should not cost $80.
We stayed at the York Hotel. Apparently, it appears as the Empire in Vertigo (I don�t remember it). It had rather thin walls, but the price was good.
We went to Berkeley for dinner at Chez Panisse. I suppose this was more of a pilgrimage to Alice Waters� pioneering temple of fresh American cuisine. It certainly couldn�t live up to its hype and it didn�t. I don�t even remember what I had.
Our best meal was lunch the next day at Boulevard. Fancy and romantic without being over the top. I had Kobe beef for the first time and it was indeed delicious. (I had even more delicious pork belly at Fifth Floor the next day, but it was pretty overpriced.)
Rob works at a stand in the farmers� market where his boss seems to believe he�s her son. The SF farmers� market at the Ferry Terminal is ridiculously nice, certainly nicer than the Civic Center market I patronized a 19, where live geese were bagged up squawking in front of you. Mango chutney works surprisingly well on a sausage. Who knew?
On Sunday, we went to a Giants-A�s pre-season game. PacBell is the nicest ballpark I�ve ever been to by a factor of five. Modern, but not with the plastic tackiness of, say, Expo Stadium. Old-school charm, but without the patina of old-school grime found here in Fenway. Even the food was pretty clutch (fries with Gilroy garlic � don�t go kissing anyone).
Of course, pre-season exhibition games aren�t very serious. Barry Bonds didn�t even show up. The A�s Eric Chavez only put in a few innings before checking out, presumably not risking injury when it didn�t count. At the end of the 9th inning, it was 5-5. Extra innings? It was getting pretty cold and nobody really cared. So I saw one of the few baseball games that ended in a tie.
It was kind of a cloudy day, but apparently ultraviolet rays go through clouds and increased my sunburn. We went to dinner at the Zuni Caf� (Alithea has their cookbook and roasts a better chicken using the same recipe) for a few hours. When I looked in the mirror afterwards, my head had swollen up to ridiculous, almost Peanuts-esque proportions. I didn�t recognize myself; it was really frightening.
It�ll go down after a few days, but for now I feel like a monstrous, misshapen ogre. Alithea says she sees the me underneath and that she still loves me. But I can�t see him and I don�t think I love who I do see.
� 2004 Geoff Gladstone
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