CONFESSIONS OF A                                                                  
     
RESTAURANT WHORE
A San Francisco Girl's Down and Dirty Adventures in the Culinary Playground

Friday, May 30, 2008

My Life Is Complete

Tonight the heavens smiled upon me, the stars aligned and I got to experience the sheer joy of knowing there might never again be a moment as perfect as the one I was in at that very second.

Jon and I were at Costco (I have waxed poetical* about Costco once or twice if you recall) buying up loads of trash mags for our trip back east (yes, I am indeed completely delusional in thinking I'll be able to read anything while entertaining Diner #3). I was lollygagging in the book section when a familiar cover caught my eye.

"JON," I screamed. He whipped around, Diner #3 strapped to his chest, and gave me a look that said "What's your damage, crazy lady?" I grabbed the book held it high above my head, and for the benefit of Jon and everyone around me I proudly proclaimed: "MY BOOK!"

So. Fucking. Rad.

xoxo
Joy

"To eat is a necessity. To eat intelligently is an art."
-- La Rochefoucauld

*I do, in fact, realize this is not actually a word.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Exactly One Week From Now...

I will be at my 10-year college reunion (fuck I'm old), enjoying the glories of Hot Truck. The thought alone is getting me so hot and bothered that I may just have to go take a cold shower. Shaggy for Jon, Sui for me and indigestion for us both. I can't wait.

xoxo
Joy

"To eat is a necessity. To eat intelligently is an art."
-- La Rochefoucauld

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Asking the Impossible

Clearly the apocalypse is nigh since I have now posted thrice in as many days. Ignoring that, I pose the following impossible question to you:

When we are in NYC in 2 weeks, where can we eat with Diner #3 that will actually be good? We have one grown up dinner planned for Jon and me (at Le Bernadin unless Per Se gets a cancellation), but we have to eat 8 other meals while we are there with the babe. We are spoiled here, since most places are child friendly provided you are restaurant friendly (ie, not letting your child destroy their surroundings, removing them from the dining room when a meltdown is imminent, etc.). Don't worry, I have no plans to take my wee one to, say, Per Se or WD50, but would love to take him somewhere along the lines of Zuni for example.

And please forgive my sorry ass for not doing this research myself, but I figured you all would be a better, faster source than scouring the interwebs.

xoxo
Joy

"To eat is a necessity. To eat intelligently is an art."
-- La Rochefoucauld

Monday, May 26, 2008

In Honor of Memorial Day

I am going on a decade of living here in SF. That said, you can take the girl out of Boston, but you can't take the Boston out of the girl.

Ladies and gentlemen, while you all are having your "barbecues" (or BBQs if you like) today, I will not be having a cookout. Just because I'm not having one doesn't mean I can't use this supercalifragistically wicked awesome term for outdoor cooking that does not seem to exist on this coast.

And after my non-existent cookout, I'm going to have myself an ice cream cone with some jimmies*.

xoxo
Joy

"To eat is a necessity. To eat intelligently is an art."
-- La Rochefoucauld

*These would be sprinkles for those of you that have been livin' left side style your whole lives.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Ridiculous Doesn't Even Begin to Describe It

Dear Luna Park,

Words cannot express how grateful I am to you for having a delivery option. I truly appreciate it. Really. Thank you for taking the much needed cue from NYC, and for allowing me to sit on my lazy ass while you bring food to me.

BUT.

One of the main reasons I order from you is for your tasty tasty S'mores. I'm not proud of it, but it's true. I dig the Cobb Salad, sure, but the S'mores really get me dialin'. So is it too much to ask that you actually remember to bring them when you come rather than forgetting them EVERY SINGLE FUCKING TIME??????

I get that delivery is hard, and even harder when you are running an in demand full service restaurant. Still, you offer the service, so I'm inclined to think after some time (it's been what? almost 2 years now since you started this whole experiment?) you might actually figure your shit out.

Besides the S'moresnesia, it takes 15 fucking minutes to order on the phone, I am placed on hold no less than 3 times, I speak to two different people and repeat my order 187 fucking times. Then it takes 7.2 hours for the delivery, during which time you call me to ask me questions you forgot the first 186 times 'round. Are you kidding me? Also, the S'mores are not the only item we've found missing in the past, it is simply the one that is missing most frequently.

The kicker? Anticipating yet another S'mores disaster this evening, I specifically asked that the bag be checked before departing the premises so that my chocolate/marshmallow delight would not be left behind. And STILL the bag shows up after an hour and a half with no fucking s'mores.

It's worth mentioning that you don't deserve the kind driver that always offers to go back and get them for us. He rocks. Whoever is putting the order into the computer, however, does not. I have called at least 3 times in the past (and used my sweetest "oh, this stuff happens" voice) just to let you know it was left off, in the hopes that somehow it might change future issues of this sort, but clearly it doesn't. Maybe (maybe?) this post will.

Please, Luna Park, please. I want to love you right. You just make it so damn hard.

xoxo
Joy

"To eat is a necessity. To eat intelligently is an art."
-- La Rochefoucauld

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Oh, Hells Yeah!

If I had to sit down and tally up the top 10 moments of my life, tonight at approximately 5:14 p.m. would be one of them:

Diner #3 ate his very first bites of Delfina this evening. Mashed Potatoes. Loved every bite, and even managed to avoid getting it on his Delfina onesie (yes, we have problems, move along now). I don't think I've ever been so proud.

When the pediatrician asks us about whether he's started solids and if so, what he's been eating, I think I'll be pretty forthcoming about the baby cereal, avocadoes, homeade apple and asian pear purees and bananas. Not so sure how I'm going to explain Zuni's lemon granita, the broth of Ton Kiang's sizzling rice soup, smushed up and sauced cannelini beans at A16 or tonight's potato fest. We tried, I swear, to push off solids until 6 months, but at 5.5 months, when he was diving for our food and watching every mouthful like his life depended on it, we caved (P.S., he got his first two teeth at 4 months old, so clearly he is my kid). I'm still on bovine duty 90% of the time, but it's become somewhat liberating to be able to smash up something on the table when we're out, as opposed to whipping out the tits.

Wishing a happy mother's day to all you moms, to all of you that wish to be moms (because I know all to well from experience that being a mother is all in the intention, whether the universe cooperates or not) and to all of you that never want to be moms and are smart and strong enough to stand behind that choice (you know who you are).

And one of these days I'll write a real post that is not about my kid.

xoxo
Joy

"To eat is a necessity. To eat intelligently is an art."
--La Rochefoucauld