San Francisco, USA

This is, believe it or not, one of my favourite times of year. The light returns with strident speed in February, with gains of three and even four minutes per day. It adds up. Terrible winter weather as we are having today is more bearable with the light of spring at the end of the tunnel- and even with spring still a bit distant, there’s the light of sunlight that I just mentioned, and it’s IN the tunnel, sort of. And there is the lovely guarantee of a week off thanks to that Canadian version of spring break known as “Reading Week.” Ours is next week, starting February 17 officially, but I am visiting Vancouver (and taking a stack of papers to mark, but no biggie) from the 15th until the 23rd.

Wait, wasn’t I just away from home? Yep, in San Francisco from last Friday and returning later-than-expected on Wednesday night. This was for meetings for the team members to present their research reports for this litigation consulting project I’m doing, and that part was predictably arduous and time-consuming. But we (Brian and I) had the weekend to ourselves, booking two extra nights at the Four Seasons, which was probably the poshest hotel I’ve stayed at yet (though our few nights at Arc The.Hotel in Ottawa a couple of summers ago was right up there too). The Four Seasons has spiffy everything, including the toilet paper:

We didn’t have great weather; in fact it was pretty much pissing rain on Saturday and Sunday (weather on the work days was, natch, perfect), but we had a great couple of days. The doormen at the hotel gave us nice umbrellas gratis, which helped. Anyway, there were really two non-work-related high points of this trip (the work-related high point comes when I get paid…BA-DUM!). One was taking BART to Berkeley and having lunch at the “cafe” part of Chez Panisse. I’ve always been a little leery of this place, first because any restaurant that gets universally glowing reviews is a little suspect to me, and second because, in a city/metro area with thousands and thousands of restos, it’s the only one that pretentious academic (as in Berkeley academic) types, who populate my social orbit too much, can come up with when you ask for food recs. “Oh, you’re heading to San Francisco? There’s a restaurant in Berkeley that you MUST visit.” So I’ve resisted going there.

Well, needless to say, we went at Brian’s urging, and it was tremendous. Not a speck of snobbery, just perfect food and perfect service in a beautiful space that’s pure arts and crafts heaven. Here’s Brian before the temple:

and the two of us apres lunch:

The food was masterful, simple in that slow food sense but perfectly balanced and, in its way, complex. I had a salad of beet and cauliflower, room temperature thank you very much (I hate cold salads), a main of pan-fried, lightly breaded rockfish with TINY roast potatoes:

… and the most tender, succulent cole slaw I have ever had ever in my entire life, and desert of house-made (of course) coffee ice cream with toffee and biscotti. There was nothing challenging about the food at all, which is shocking since I’d never have expected to say this about Chez Panisse, but it was one of the most COMFORTING meals in a fine resto that I’ve ever had. Only criticism: the butter that came with the superb bread was too cold and hard, but since we were first seating (11:30 AM) I suppose this was forgiveable. The bill for two salads, two mains, and two deserts, with one glass of wine for B, was about $114. Much better value than one finds in Calgary these days, sad to say.

The other high point was my happy decision to visit my college friend Evan Rose on Tuesday night. Our client had organized a “team dinner” on that night but I wanted to see Evan as we missed one another last time I was in SF. Evan is an architect with SMWM, and they actually have a project in Calgary, residential attached to the Deerfoot Meadows “lifestyle centre,” which is a whole other topic. Evan and his wife Josslyn live in a very much my-style part of SF called Bernal Heights, in a very cool old house to boot with a professional kitchen that Brian would murder for (unfortunately Brian headed back on Sunday so he couldn’t meet them). We had superb grilled (indoor grill with hood! Class!) Ital sausages and then homemade ice cream, with good conversation and the sort of vibe that’s hard for me to find, usually. Great times.

So, what’s become of my love-hate relationship with “the city”? I have to say that my hate part is tempered. I did see a lot of the same social disorganization that I saw in SF on my last trip in ‘04. But I can honestly say that even in the Tenderloin (which I traversed on foot twice) is looking better these days. SF is still and always a pedestrian paradise. I had a great time. Not perfect, especially since most of this stay was about work and lots of it. But I can say something that I did not, could not, say after my last trip, which is that I look forward to another visit, this time NOT for work or a conference. And I’m happy to say that, and mean it!