the Adventure 2
It has been a while, but with a gentle shove from my sweet friend: a reminder that I never finished the story, ~ I roll back the pages of memory and ...
We arrived in San Fran on a cool evening (I think 'cool ' is found in the San Fran thesaurus when you look up normal). Our hotel was downtown in the Financial District...nice cuz it is lovely, and parking is 'right there' and we are walking distance from restaurants. The rooms were high and had a lovely view of the bay. (Thank you AGAIN, Priceline!!) For me, a travel essential is good coffee and good tea . . . I bring my own: fresh ground Starbucks Italian Roast; Earl Grey, Lady Grey, and Irish Breakfast tea; an electric tea pot and my own water; and my own creamer (Coffeemate for me, half and half for everyone else) and real mugs. It is a glorious indulgence to make a cup of tea at night and sip it looking out on the skyline and the bay. I sat far back from the window -- since -- directly below us, if you scanned left from the view of the bay, a construction job was going on...I find perspective is EVERYTHING. You don't HAVE TO see the mess of construction if you just sit at the right spot. Stars twinkling double in sky and water is so much better.
Settle into rooms, check, "put down" the drive, check! Time for dinner.
Our hotel was at the edge of China Town, and a short walk to Little Italy. So we wandered ... looking for a place that called out to us, "eat here"... no plan: remember? this is adventure! We wandered hungry and expectant ~ amiably chatting about the sights and sounds of San Fran. We got to a corner on the curve of a road just where China Town melts into Little Italy and stood considering all the directions ahead of us, deciding which way to go. A man came out of the door of the restaurant just behind us as we stood on the corner. "BON GIORNO!!!" Can you hear his voice booming in a real Italian accent? "What are you looking for?" We thought he was just some friendly SanFranciscan resident, fresh from dinner. Ed replied, "Some place to eat." AH!!! WONDERFUL!! YOU HAVE FOUND IT!!! THE FOOD HERE IS WONDERFUL!! COME IN -- COME IN." We were shepherded in to this beautiful street cafe. Turns out he was the owner...or manager. He saw us outside and came out to invite us in...as if we were lost travelers and this was his Italian villa. He snapped his fingers and waiters appeared smiling and greeting us while they were moving tables together, setting places, and handing us menus. The best way I can describe this man...we were SURE by the end of the evening that he was Alex Agopian's older Italian cousin. He was warm and loud and genuinely made us feel like family. During dinner every time he would walk by, he would say {I would say "whispered", but Angelo didn't seem to know how to whisper} to Erica, pointing at her plate, "Eat!! Eat your food...it is good, eh?" like an uncle with a special niece. And...it was! It was VERY GOOD!! Ed had pasta with fresh pesto and chicken. Dan had ravioli with cheese, I think. Erica and I weren't very hungry (remember, rosemary bread and sausage, chips, M&M's on the drive??) and so we decided to just split a pizza. OH MY GOODNESS!!! I had never had pizza before ~ oh we had ordered Papa John's, or Pizza Hut. We had been to Italian Deli's and had not-fast-food pizza, we had made it at home. But! This was ... I am ruined. Erica took a bite, her face LIT UP! and she said, "Oh, Mom!!" Frankly I wasn't expecting much. They said it was Roma style. The crust was thin...like read-the-news-paper-through-it thin. There was sauce spread over the top as if it had been spread with a knife, some chucks of fresh tomato and some sausage. The menu had said it had fresh Mozzarella cheese, but I didn't see any. Didn't look like much to write home about. I was wrong...write home about???? This was write the great American novel about good!!! I don't know how they did it...it was the best pizza, maybe the best THING I had ever tasted ~ EVEREVER!! Every bite : close your eyes and say, "ahhhh" good! We ate and giggled and ate!!! I got a salad...again: simple greens, tomatoes, pine nuts...I don't know...but so good, soo sooooo good. Dressing just light enough to make the greens glisten and flavor that is like music. Then we shared tirimisu for dinner (Angelo insisted ~ we must have desert.) I don't particularly like tirimisu...too rich and one flavorish sweet usually as far as I am concerned. Turns out I had simply never had tirimisu before: this was light, delicate, melt in your mouth, amazing flavor!!! This place was ... well ? This trip was an adventure and this was a gift ~ a treasure...the kind that makes an adventure!
More later...
We arrived in San Fran on a cool evening (I think 'cool ' is found in the San Fran thesaurus when you look up normal). Our hotel was downtown in the Financial District...nice cuz it is lovely, and parking is 'right there' and we are walking distance from restaurants. The rooms were high and had a lovely view of the bay. (Thank you AGAIN, Priceline!!) For me, a travel essential is good coffee and good tea . . . I bring my own: fresh ground Starbucks Italian Roast; Earl Grey, Lady Grey, and Irish Breakfast tea; an electric tea pot and my own water; and my own creamer (Coffeemate for me, half and half for everyone else) and real mugs. It is a glorious indulgence to make a cup of tea at night and sip it looking out on the skyline and the bay. I sat far back from the window -- since -- directly below us, if you scanned left from the view of the bay, a construction job was going on...I find perspective is EVERYTHING. You don't HAVE TO see the mess of construction if you just sit at the right spot. Stars twinkling double in sky and water is so much better.
Settle into rooms, check, "put down" the drive, check! Time for dinner.
Our hotel was at the edge of China Town, and a short walk to Little Italy. So we wandered ... looking for a place that called out to us, "eat here"... no plan: remember? this is adventure! We wandered hungry and expectant ~ amiably chatting about the sights and sounds of San Fran. We got to a corner on the curve of a road just where China Town melts into Little Italy and stood considering all the directions ahead of us, deciding which way to go. A man came out of the door of the restaurant just behind us as we stood on the corner. "BON GIORNO!!!" Can you hear his voice booming in a real Italian accent? "What are you looking for?" We thought he was just some friendly SanFranciscan resident, fresh from dinner. Ed replied, "Some place to eat." AH!!! WONDERFUL!! YOU HAVE FOUND IT!!! THE FOOD HERE IS WONDERFUL!! COME IN -- COME IN." We were shepherded in to this beautiful street cafe. Turns out he was the owner...or manager. He saw us outside and came out to invite us in...as if we were lost travelers and this was his Italian villa. He snapped his fingers and waiters appeared smiling and greeting us while they were moving tables together, setting places, and handing us menus. The best way I can describe this man...we were SURE by the end of the evening that he was Alex Agopian's older Italian cousin. He was warm and loud and genuinely made us feel like family. During dinner every time he would walk by, he would say {I would say "whispered", but Angelo didn't seem to know how to whisper} to Erica, pointing at her plate, "Eat!! Eat your food...it is good, eh?" like an uncle with a special niece. And...it was! It was VERY GOOD!! Ed had pasta with fresh pesto and chicken. Dan had ravioli with cheese, I think. Erica and I weren't very hungry (remember, rosemary bread and sausage, chips, M&M's on the drive??) and so we decided to just split a pizza. OH MY GOODNESS!!! I had never had pizza before ~ oh we had ordered Papa John's, or Pizza Hut. We had been to Italian Deli's and had not-fast-food pizza, we had made it at home. But! This was ... I am ruined. Erica took a bite, her face LIT UP! and she said, "Oh, Mom!!" Frankly I wasn't expecting much. They said it was Roma style. The crust was thin...like read-the-news-paper-through-it thin. There was sauce spread over the top as if it had been spread with a knife, some chucks of fresh tomato and some sausage. The menu had said it had fresh Mozzarella cheese, but I didn't see any. Didn't look like much to write home about. I was wrong...write home about???? This was write the great American novel about good!!! I don't know how they did it...it was the best pizza, maybe the best THING I had ever tasted ~ EVEREVER!! Every bite : close your eyes and say, "ahhhh" good! We ate and giggled and ate!!! I got a salad...again: simple greens, tomatoes, pine nuts...I don't know...but so good, soo sooooo good. Dressing just light enough to make the greens glisten and flavor that is like music. Then we shared tirimisu for dinner (Angelo insisted ~ we must have desert.) I don't particularly like tirimisu...too rich and one flavorish sweet usually as far as I am concerned. Turns out I had simply never had tirimisu before: this was light, delicate, melt in your mouth, amazing flavor!!! This place was ... well ? This trip was an adventure and this was a gift ~ a treasure...the kind that makes an adventure!
More later...
Mmmm, my mouth was watering just reading this!!
ReplyDeleteit is later, time for more...
ReplyDelete