Sorry - no suggestions for San Fran. However, I wanted to say that is one lovely dog. Is it a standard poodle? I have a friend that has one and I think it is the smartest dog I've ever met!

Enjoy the trip!

Teresa

Lee, I happen to have a can of that sauce in my cupboard. It was given to me by a friend who waxed poetic over its virtues as she handed it to me as though she was uncertain she really wanted to part with it. I have not opened it (large can, small household) but will do so in the next few days so that I can report back to you.

I am not far from SF and could easily take the train in if you are up to a meet and greet! Maybe others will also join in. I no longer drive but Amtrak or Bart (from Pleasanton) are easy rides to SF from Modesto.

If you are up for a beautiful Highway 1 drive to Stinson Beach there is an off-leash dog friendly beach there.

I'll get back to you on the porcini sauce...

I would love to meet you! Let me know, email or Yahoo Messenger what days might work for you and we'll make plans. The early part of the week, Aug. 30 or 31 would probably be best for me - but I can try to make anything work.

I will take your friend's recommendation as a good one. What about other olive oils from them?

Teresa, thank you, Oliver is our second standard poodle, our first died several days before my major heart surgery - in fact one of my first thoughts coming out of a coma was that we no longer had Brockley. It was six months before I was strong enough to even consider a small puppy and we were looking with the help of a breeder who also heads Poodle Rescue of the Rockies. She knew how weak I was but called just about a year ago to say that she had a std. poodle in rescue that might be perfect for us - and he is! We've had him just a year, he is three now and has gone from an underweight 57 pounds to a perfect 76 pounds (in the recent photo). Yes, they are smart. He was lovelable and quiet when we got him but had never been trained. He is mow really good in public and at home and just loves to go with us. This is my first real trip after an 18 month recovery and I am so excited to go and to take him with us.

Lee

The de Young has a special Impressionists exhibit. Make your reservations ASAP. All the museums now have decent restaurants. I love the Legion of Honor best, I think.

My schedule is upside down right now, and I can't make plans from here for that week, but I'll know a lot more by the end of this week.

Do you like mystery novels? Load up on John Lescroart books and use those for guides!

We're less than two hours away, so I'd love to try to meet!

Lee, early in the week works fine for me. I was looking at the schedule and see the train goes to Emeryville and the station is a few minutes walk from IKEA. The rest of the journey to SF is by Amtrak bus and has several stops there: Ferry Building, Fisherman's Wharf, financial district, and others. It might be easiest for me to meet you at IKEA in Emeryville on the day you plan to go there. I'm due for an IKEA run. I think the food in the restaurant there has declined but there are many places in the immediate area from which to choose for lunch.

Lee, Oliver is just gorgeous.

I can't help with the sauce or the trip, but aren't the Scabicas the nicest people? I love their Marsala oil, and I got Elery a small bottle of the habanero infused stuff and he loves it. Way too hot for me...

have a great time, though!

Annie

Lee, just want to tell you that Oliver is wonderful & how happy I am that you are able to take this fun trip. You give me inspiration. Have a wonderful time in SF!

/tricia

Lee, I am another that can't help you with any of your questions, but I do want to let you know that Oliver is absolutely adorable!

And I am so happy that you are finally able to take a nice trip and enjoy some sights, food and hopefully some CF friends!

Linda

go to Dotties for breakfast. Geary and O'Farrell. I'm not a huge breakfast guy, and even less of a stand in line guy, but I happily stand in line at Dotties.

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the suggestions and of course I'm still open for more.

Helene, I'll call the de Young tomorrow - the d'Orsay was our favorite museum in Paris and it would be fun to revisit some of the pieces we saw in Paris at the de Young. That might be something we would do on Thursday night since they are open late and we could do it after Max' class. Thanks for the books reference too, but he has written a huge number - any one in particular you would recommend?

Eileen, I got your email and I think I can make that work. Watch for an email from me tomorrow.

Annie, I'll put the Marsala oil on my delivery list too, yes they seem like a lovely company to do business with. While we like hot things, I think I'd rather have my olive oil a pure taste, so I'll pass on the habanero for now.

Fred, I'm sure my good friend in SF has mentioned Dotties so thank you for the reminder, I've never eaten there.

And to all of you who have said nice things about Ollie and sent good wishes for the trip, thank you.

Hey jkom, I'm still hoping you'll see this post and pass on some restaurant recommendations in the Richmond.

Lee

Lee, the books are progressive, so start at the beginning. I know you can't get thru them all before your trip, tho, so just pick up what you can find. Nice flavor of the city.

I'll know probably later this week what I can or can't do next week. We are getting ready to breed Sushi, and doing progesterone tests so that we can do an AI with frozen semen, but that means I don't know when yet. Might be this weekend or might be early next week.

take a walk with your pup to crissy field he might like the water and the view is spectacular for humans, its nearby, past the st francis yacht club along the marina, walk union street with the pup just remember to bring along a small plastic bag just in case, i think bepples pies is still open 1394 union i think is the address,don't forget to try the san francisco breads not just sour dough but regular french bread from many of the small independent bakers, you must go to north beach and the italian market/deli molinari and get an italian sandwich, and the italian bakeries stellas or, victoria or diandas, are favorites canolis, rum cakes, st honore cake.
a visit to clement street is an international affair, chinese, taiwanese,vietnamese,burmese, russian foods,sweets and chinese restaurant/home supply store.try vietnamese sandwich bahn mihn, yummy. burmese ginger salad (if you like ginger).taiwan dumplings , its on clement between 4th and 5th ave or 5th and 6th ave, its a pink store front and you can watch them make dumplings in the window, i know how to get there but not the exact address.also dim sum stores
galore. i'm getting hungry. i think i'll have my lox, cr cheese and bagel now. have fun.

Aw, carp! If I'd 'a known I would have flown up there in a heartbeat to see you. But I will be out of town myself. Someplace hot. Very. Hot. Like over 100 freakin' degrees hot! More on that after I get back.

Have a wonderful time - you certainly deserve a nice break in a beautiful place. I hope you can hook up with Eileen and Helene - that would be awesome! Take pix!

gina, you're not supposed to go hot places in August, you're supposed to go to hot places in February!

Annie

Chinese restaurants in the Richmond: check out Yelp, below. Hakka and HK Lounge are adequate. We go to Shanghai Dumpling King, because we are suckers for the Shanghainese Sil Lum Bao. SDK also makes good spicy wonton (greasy with chili oil, steamed and yummy!) and excellent lion's head dumpling with greens, that comes with a rich brown gravy that's dynamite over rice. These are three things we just can't get as good in the East Bay, although we've tried. I figure, why pay for lousy stir-fry when you can do it yourself better? I prefer to pay for things I won't make at home.

I'd strongly suggest you skip Chinese and spend the money on dinner at Aziza instead, in the Richmond. It is hands-down the most terrific and unique restaurant in the city, and will give you a completely new outlook on what can be done with traditional Moroccan food. DO NOT miss dessert, the pastry chef Melissa Chu is a genius, pure and simple!

You will have more fun just by walking down Clement Street, from Park Presidio Ave. down to Arguello. The Chinese groceries and ethnic food stores are a lot of fun. Do this in the late afternoon, and you can make a reservation for Chapeau!, a terrific French bistro with wonderful food and enthusiastic Gallic service (who knew French waiters could be so nice!).

The permanent vendors inside the Ferry Plaza include two olive oil companies as well as a dried mushroom vendor with three different kinds of porcini, so I'd suggest you go there first. Saturday is the big market day for outside vendors; Tuesday is the smaller market.

If you are taking Amtrak SF-Emeryville, I believe you will actually be taking a bus. Make sure the bus drops you off in Emeryville, not in Oakland, if you want to visit IKEA. Dining in Emeryville, especially in that area without a car, doesn't have a lot of good options. There's food, but it's mostly chain food in the malls or small cheap food stalls in Emery Bay Market (across the street from the Emeryville train station, where the Borders bookstore is located). My preference would be Townhouse, but that's too long a walk away. I'd suggest you just eat at the Bay Street Mall (halfway between train station and IKEA): the list of restaurants is here:
http://www.baystreetemeryville.com/go/dirlisting.cfm?CurrCat=2138210411

Should you end up having access to a car, the Spanish Table on San Pablo in Berkeley is a fun quick trip for Spanish food items. But honestly, you can get the best Spanish pimento, La Chinata, from amazon.com straight to your doorstep.

Your best bet for finding both high-end and bargain restaurants is the Food section on the San Francisco Chronicle website. You can use Find A Restaurant to search the Chron's huge archive of critic reviews. You can search by neighborhoods; there's a lot of excellent restaurants in the Marina district:
http://www.sfgate.com/eguide/food/

Yelp has its uses, but a lot of contributors are young people who drink a lot, so I tend to use it mostly for smaller, ethnic restaurants that Opentable and Zagat don't cover. For that restaurant segment it's fairly reliable, discounting the numerous "I LOVE their Happy Hour [hic]!" postings. I dislike Chowhound, as I disagree with too many of the contributors so I never use it.

If you are not a member of OpenTable, become a member now and make your reservations. It is easy to cancel if you don't use them, but it can be impossible to get reservations at some places on weekends if you don't reserve well in advance.

Zarzuela is a great Spanish tapas restaurant that doesn't take reservations; a long walk uphill or a shorter bus ride from the Marina, so get there right when they open if you don't want to wait around. If you want to splurge, Acquerello (probably within walking distance) or Perbacco (downtown) or Boulevard (also downtown; both near the Ferry Bldg altho in different directions) will give you a great SF experience.

Have a great time!

Here is a link that might be useful: Chinese restaurants, Richmond district SF, on Yelp

Lee, do we have a way of getting in touch while you'll be in town?

I have Eileen's email, so I'll make sure she has my phone number and vice versa.

My schedule is still up in the air.

Thanks again everyone.

Gina, I really appreciate what you said, I'd love to see you again and all the LA crew. In fact, I tried to talk Max into going home through LA and spending a day there in the hopes of seeing CF friends again. But he is slammed with projects at his office and just couldn't take the extra time we would need to do that. Annie, spoke my thoughts exactly - you're not supposed to go to 100 weather at this time of the year - I thought I knew where you are headed but it only looks like 80s and 90s so I think my guess was wrong.

SFFog, thanks, I've walked Crissy field a number of times, but this will be the first time with dog; that's a good idea.

I've been to a few places on Clement St but I've never walked there and now I can do it with new eyes thanks to SFFog and jkom. I looked at the menu for Chapeau and Aziza and both look good, and SDK looks like it would be good for a fun lunch. I will have a car the entire time, I'll drop Max off at his workshop in the early AM and either pick him up or wait for him to take a short bus ride back to the condo in the late afternoon. I've been to The Spanish Table several times in Santa Fe and once in Seattle but it would be fun to see the one in Berkeley. I usually buy La Chinata paprikas and 100% Torrefacto Coffee from LaTienda.com online - I think they sell on Amazon too. SharonCB introduced me to the Torrefacto coffee a few years ago and that and an Italian coffee that we order from Amazon are the mainstays at our house. Thanks for the sfgate link jkom, you're right that's a great resource. I do use opentable a lot.

Sciabica delivered a case of the Wild Porcini Sauce and 5 bottles of olive oil to my friends store yesterday. Thant's probably enough but I may order more for gifts after I try the sauce; I just found the combination of eggplant and porcinis interesting. Annie,you are so right, they are lovely people. I've been to the shops in the Ferry Bldg. but I especially wanted to try the Sciabica products and they are only at the Ferry Bldg Farmers Market on Saturdays - we will just miss that at both ends of the trip.

Sushipup, I do hope we can get together. Eileen has my cell number and 2 of my email addresses. You can also email me at lsr80308atyahoodotcom and I will send you my preferred email and mobile number. If all else fails, call my friend's store "Mimi's" on Union Street and leave a message for Mimi and me and I'll call you back. Everyone there will know I'm visiting. I called the deYoung today and I think we will plan to see the exhibit on Thursday because they are open late so Max can paint all day, change clothes and we can go in the evening.

I can't wait for the trip to start on Saturday! But there's still plenty of time for more suggestions!

Lee

Unless you've ordered oil from Sciabica's before, I would order their sampler package. It is the very best olive oil I have ever tasted. It's just so good. I'm not sure, however, if they are into this year's press. I should have called them but it's late and I'm forgetful. Will try to remember to call tomorrow but I have a lot of errands to run.

I agree, terrapots, that's how I first found them, I got a sampler from Diana and the Marsala was my favorite.

Everyone's taste if different though, and they were all good, so a sampler is the perfect way to try several. And yes, each one does taste different.

Annie

Terrapots, do you go to the downtown Farmer's Market? That's where I discovered Sciabica and their olive oils. I noticed that they moved their stand to the new market several blocks over. Why the new market, do you know?

I need to make a trip this Saturday in search of more pickling cukes.

If you have a car, then I would suggest you go to Draegers Grocery in San Mateo on 4th St. and have the most fun ever. Outrageously expensive but the best upscale grocer in the Bay Area. Since you've been to Spanish Table in other cities I wouldn't bother with the Berkeley location, it's pretty small although it is nearby the Cheese Board, which is a great cheese store run by a collective (very Berkeley). If you like seafood, then eat at Sea Salt on San Pablo & Dwight Way in Berkeley, an excellent place for lunch that is one of my favorites.

If you do have your car when going to IKEA, then Townhouse Grill in Emeryville has an excellent burger and good salads, but Sea Salt is not that far north, just a few minutes, and is much better food. Their lobster roll is very tiny but absolutely choice and with a bowl of their excellent clam chowder (full of bacon and properly unthickened), my hands-down favorite lunch in the entire East Bay. Good wine list, excellent coffee, very laid-back at lunchtime.

Weather in the Bay Area has cooled off and the fog is back, so bring that Polarfleece vest, especially for the Marina.

Sushipup,

You may have my old email address but I can be emailed through GW. I closed down the Earthlink address so if that is the one you have, I won't get the email.

E

I go to the plant retail store on Yosemite Avenue, 2150 Lapham Dr, on a corner behind the RR tracks. It's on the way to my sister's home. Not sure if they are open on Saturdays, maybe half a day. Anyway they have samples of their oils to try and right now they just have the mission unfiltered oil which is this year's. The new market on 10th street came about due to a dispute about having a larger variety of products that weren't considered "farmers". I haven't been to the Saturday 10th st or the original farmers' market as it's an inconvenient time for me most mornings so I patronize the "fruit" stands around here which are plentiful and open every day.

Hi to everyone from SF. We are having a great time but the wifi access where we are staying is not working so this is my first chance to say hello.

Tonight we are cooking at a friends apt and using the wild porcini sauce and olive oils that Sciabica delivered for me. Eileen tried the sauce out and sent me a recipe that she used for lasagna with the sauce. We're doing pasta and the sauce because there won't be time to bake lasagna but I'll try her recipe at home.

Eileen, Helene and I are meeting tomorrow and that will definitely be a highlight a of the trip! I'll report back.

Lee

Yay!

Kevin and I are driving to SF on September 11, and so I guess we will miss you. We're only going to be there one night, and the next day we are going to Sacramento to stay with an old friend (and ex-roommate, Bernard) for three days, and then we will bring him back with us to L.A. so that he can do some landscaping for us. We will be visiting a friend who recently bought a condo in the Marina District (on the water), and he wants to take us to a semi-vegan restaurant (they serve chicken and fish) in his neighborhood. Normally I would not want to go to a vegan restaurant, but since they have fish, it should be okay. I would rather go to a Vietnamese restaurant on Clement Street.

Hope you are having a great time in SF, and I wish I were there with you! If you happen to be in the neighborhood, you can visit a restaurant where I used to work on 16th Street and Sanchez. The restaurant that is there now (Tangerine) is half the size, but it good for breakfast/brunch.

Sorry we missed you!!

Lars

Lee, I think you will get a better taste of the sauce with your current plans. I found the fennel in my sausage choice overwhelmed the sauce a little. It was still yummy. Of course I doctored it with a few splashes of some Sangiovese.