Earlier tonight I went to San Francisco to have dinner with my friends Chris, Allan, and Allan's partner Tom. I met the three of them at the hotel where Allan and Tom were staying, then the four of us went to Paul K for dinner.
Chris picked the restaurant, and he made a good choice. Paul K serves mediterranean-California fusion cuisine, regardless of what their website says. The ambience is mildly hip without trying too hard, and the prices are reasonable.
Our waiter was this very tall, very thin gay guy. He was weird. Entertaining, and helpful, but weird. When he came to our table to describe the menu items....
He. Spoke. With. A. Very. Measured. Cadence. And he eeenuunnnciaaaaated each word very carefully. AND HE CONSTANTLY GESTURED WILDLY WITH HIS HANDS. And he recited each description with feeling, with passion. It was all we could do to keep from laughing at him. It's very hard to describe. The only way you will understand is if you went to the restaurant and watched him do his work.
The four of us shared two "small plates" - a salad of fricasee, arugula, goat cheese, shaved almonds, apples, and a sherry vinaigrette, as well as some goat cheese ravioli with mushrooms. Both were excellent. For the main course, I had a very nice ribeye steak. It was served with perfectly seasoned shoestring fries, some sauteed greens, and a spicy red sauce. Everything was excellent, although the sauce was a bit too spicy so I pushed most of it off my beef.
Tom had sea bass, which he said was great as well. Allan and Chris both had duck breast in a pomegranate sauce. The duck breast was nice and pink on the inside, and it was very delicious. The slight tanginess of the pomegranate sauce provided a nice balance to the richness of the duck fat. (Chris let me have a taste.) All of us passed on desssert, because we were all full. Final bill was only $135 for all four of us (not including tip).
After dinner we walked to this piano bar called Martini's. It's right at the edge of the Castro, and tonight is the Friday before Folsom Street Fair weekend, so the place was packed. I had a Grey Gooose cosmopolitan. Whoa, do they make strong drinks at that place! We hung out there for quite some time, just talking and reminiscing.
It was a nice evening. I got to hang out with two of my old friends, and I got to know Tom a little bit better. I had only met him once before, when I went to New York a couple of years ago to visit Allan. In a lot of ways Tom is just like Bill - near-impossible standards when it comes to cleaning house, a fondness for wine, an aversion to having his picture taken, and a profound love of mac-n-cheese. LOL.
Afterwards we dropped Chris off at his home and went inside to take a look. We chit-chatted for a while, then Allan, Tom, and I went back to their hotel. I hopped in my car and headed home.
The drive back home was interminably long, because I was trying really hard to remain at 65 to 70 mph the whole way. I was a bit sleepy, so I didn't zoom down the highway like I normally do when I'm alone in my car. So here I am, back home, past 2 AM. I've taken the dog out for his final pee of the night, and now it's time for me to catch some zzzzzzz's.
*yawn*