Almost like Cheating.

Ok, now that I have your attention this is not what you think it is. This is only how I might relate it to. I have been sent on a business trip out to Palo Alto California for the week and my wife and I were contemplating on her and E coming out also. Because of the short time on site and the fact that I would be working almost the entire time we decided that it would not be a good thing.

So, while out here slaving for the man or woman (as I have worked for both), I have had the pleasure of dinning in some rather cool places. My first night here in my dazed, confused and rather brain dead state, I did manage to find a pretty cool pizza joint and had a nice glass of Chianti. The pizza I had was a thin crust pizza with goat cheese, spinach, olive oil, and some pork bacon in large chunks. It was good….. From there I decided that I wanted desert (which is rare for me) so I walked out side on such a nice California day and made a left on the side walk to see what other food places there were along the street. The whole time I was walking all I could think about was “Oh My Goodness… B would be loving this right now. I wish that she was here.” I eventually found a nice gelato place where the man from Russia, Czech or some place like that spoke broken English at best served me up a pretty good Pomegranate Gelato. A little tart but not enough to pucker our lips. While on the way there though I saw many café’s that were serving Mediterranean, Asian fusion, Hindi, and some others food. Again the mantra in my head was “B would be loving this.” I reluctantly found my way back to the car where I had to get back in and leave to go the office and do yet more work.

Dinner # 2

On my second nights dinner trip I went some where closer to the office just up University Ave. in East Palo Alto. I found a place called Madison & fifth where I had a pretty decent and very drinkable Pinot Noire along with an arugiula salad with house dressing. For the main course I had a slice of Salmon that was on top of sautéed spinach, with a mustard sauce on either side of it and on top of all this (which made it look like a mushroom) was a pancake version of hash-browns. This too was very good. I sat on the street side watching all the people go by on such yet again beautiful clear, sunny, and cool day. I did not have time to go in search of any desert as it was on my to-do list. I had to yet again return to the office to fulfill more duties. This might have to be done next time.

Dinner # 3 “Todos Perfectos?”

On my third and final night there I decided to go back to Castro street where I was the first night. There so many places to choose from it was ridiculous. I ended up at a nice Mexican type restaurant place that was loud with music and had seating out side. I opted for a table in doors as the crowd in there was livelier. I looked at the menu and thought WOW. This has potential. The wine list was great. I had a Miteta wine (hope I spelled that right) that was very flavorful and had some great tannins with a kick in the end of spice. There was some bread that was brought out that had a oil mix with crushed hallopino peppers or something. The dipping sauce reminded me of salsa. Oh it was good. Mixed with the spicy wine, it was divine. For the main meal I decided to do some appetizers instead. I went for the Tres Pescados. These too were spicy with different salsas, ginger or wasabi. Ask B I do not like wasabi but this one was not too bad as it was a power that was with the fish. All the fish was of a white fish type and after I ordered it I thought I would have some time to digest the surroundings. Um yea, that was a big fat NO! It was so supper fast in coming out. I was beside my self. The spicy fish, the oil with bread and the wine were fantastic. I could only think of one thing that would have made it better and that was to have my fellow food critic along. I do not think that this would have a good place for E but hey who knows perhaps one day when he gets bigger he might. As the night was closing to an end the waiter came by and asked if there was anything else and asked “Todos Perfectos Senior?” I had no other response than Si, todos perfectos with a big smile on my face.

Final thoughts.

Now that you have read this you can easily see why I thought I was cheating on my wife. I felt so guilty that I was here enjoying nice weather, with good food and drink and plenty to see and it was with out the beautiful, joyous company of my best friend and fellow food critic. As I was leaving the airport I thought to my self that I need to come back out for fun and not for business. There was so much to see and do it was crazy. On the way to the airport looking out over the hills I saw the SF fog rolling over the hills from the ocean and could see where I thought the Golden Gate Bridge might be. It was kind of cool to see that. I would have taken a picture of it but I was driving. I dislike the fact that I did not have time to really do any thing and the other disheartening thing is I was born not to far from there, just south a tinny bit. B made a comment to me one evening when I called her after eating dinner and it has stuck with me. “I think this is the calmest I have ever heard you be”. You know, I really was. Maybe it was the over all atmosphere of the place (San Francisco) or just the euphoria that I needed to see things and kind of explore. Don’t know. While having lunch at the airport before my flight left I sat down at one of the little restaurants and was reading some famous quotes. I do not recall who this one was by or the exact words but I think I will remember it for some time. Some one died and went to heaven, he said “this is nice but it is not San Francisco”. I would have to agree.

I shall go back and visit the next time it will be with family in tow.