Culinary Muse

Meet the Muse's Husband, Dennis Gray!

He will be at the San Francisco Apple Store tonight at 6 pm giving a presentation. Stop by to see beautiful photographs of vintage automobiles, 2009 Reno Air Races and more and to hear how he put together his website using Apple's One-to-One! 

SF DECO WEEKEND ADVENTURES

San Francisco is an Art Deco Lover’s dream city.  This year’s Art Deco weekend is Saturday, June 7 and Sunday, June 8, 2008.  The highlight of the weekend is the ART DECO AND MODERNISM sale, the largest in the country.  It is held twice a year, the first weekends of June and December, at the Concourse Exhibition Center, 8th and Brannan Street, San Francisco.  This is a great sale and I attend every year.  There are over 200 dealers from across the country selling furniture, accessories, jewelry (I am always on the look out for carved Bakelite bracelets), vintage clothing and collectibles from 1900 to 1980 including Arts & Crafts, Mission, Monterey, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Streamline Modern, Vintage Western, Mid-Century Modern...The hours are Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm and Sunday, 11 am to 5 pm.  Admission: $10.  But join the Art Deco Society and get in for only $8.00.  Don’t miss the Vintage Fashion Show on Saturday at 2 pm or the Swing Dance performance Sunday afternoon.  They also have a great collection of CDs with music from the era for sale.  Go ahead, immerse yourself in a different decade.
If you would rather be outside enjoying the fresh air consider taking advantage of the two architectural tours offered by The Art Deco Society of California.  The weather is usually sunny this time of year but do dress in layers just in case the fog rolls in. Saturday’s tour is of the Downtown District featuring Art Deco commercial buildings including the Pacific Stock Exchange and the 450 Sutter Medical Building.  The tour lasts 1 ½ hours and meets at 450 Sutter Street at 11 am.  Sunday’s tour is of the Marina District that has San Francisco’s greatest collection of surviving Art Deco-era buildings.  The tour includes 40 buildings.  This tour also lasts 1 ½ hours and meets at Marina Middle School, Fillmore at Chestnut Street, at 11 am.  I have taken the Downtown tour and found it fascinating.
What’s the best way to extend the excitement of this day of vintage shopping and walking tours? A glamorous night on the town, 1950s style! From cocktails on the top of posh Nob Hill to dinner at an elegant restaurant at the foot of Russian Hill, it is still possible to have a swanky 1950s era evening out in this city that prides itself on innovative cuisine.
Resembling a scene out of the Alfred Hitchcock movie Vertigo, The Big Four cocktail lounge in the HUNTINGTON HOTEL is one of the last places in San Francisco where well-dressed men still wear jackets with ties and chic women can wear mink coats. The private men’s club feeling here is helped along by dark wood paneling, deep green leather banquettes and a roaring fireplace.  Dry martinis are served ice cold. Salty cocktail nuts (no peanuts, thank you) are served from small silver nut bowls. The bartender knows your name and your ‘usual’.  You might consider having brunch at the restaurant.  The Easter Sunday brunch we enjoyed this year was as perfect a brunch as I have ever had. (The piano player was quick to note my chapeau and played Irving Berlin’s song ‘Easter Parade’ as I walked to my table).

It is a quick cab ride down the hill to the restaurant Herb Caen described in 1950 as “a bit of England” in San Francisco, the HOUSE OF PRIME RIB. Silver carts holding prime rib
roasted in rock salt are wheeled across the thick carpet of the dimly lit dining room. The waiter carves at your table side. He spoons the smooth creamed spinach onto your plate
next to the Yorkshire pudding. What would you like on your baked potato? The works? “This is one of the few places in San Francisco that feels the same way it did in the 50s”, says Neil Anzalone, a retired musician and regular customer since 1952. “But back then I would have been wearing a hat and gloves!” whispers his wife, Anne.
A cable car ride over the hill ends the evening in North Beach. The strong aroma of roasting coffee beans is coming from Caffé Trieste, the unofficial living room for this bohemian neighborhood since 1956. Caffé Trieste was the first coffee house on the west coast to serve espresso. Sit back with a creamy cappuccino, a slice of rich tiramisu made with their own espresso and enjoy watching the regulars who look like retired Beat poets. Could it get any more authentic than this?

You say Whisky, I say Whiskey? Or is it Scotch?

Join us tomorrow night at WHISKYFEST and find out. The First Annual San Francisco WhiskyFest will be happening at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero from 6:30 to 10 pm. This is the oldest and most prestigious whisky tasting event and largest independent distiller tour. It sells out in Chicago and New York and should do the same here. Join us while we sample rare and new artisan whisky releases from around the world. Sponsored by Malt Advocate Magazine it brings together consumers and industry professionals for an evening of great brown liquor. We like that.
Tickets: $105.00, $145.00 VIP Admission (one hour early entrance). Tickets are all inclusive. A buffet will be available the entire evening and each attendee receives a commemorative Glencairn whisky glass.

ROBIN WILLIAMS, LIVE!

Drop everything and go directly to BIMBO'S 365 CLUB WEBSITE. Tickets went on sale 15 minutes ago. They have just announced two more evenings with Robin Williams - Working on Material.  Mr. Muse and I attended last week's performance. Genius. Two hours, non-stop.  What is this guy on?  Sheer talent and a wave of creativity that is unstoppable.  Hurry as the $25.00 tickets will sell out fast with all proceeds going to charity. Have dinner at FIOR D'ITALIA as we did.  Like a scene out of 'Moonstruck'.  The waiter told us that Robin Williams eats there. Could this be true?  Find out for yourself.

TONY DOES THE TONGA ROOM?

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

The nice San Francisco police officer in the black flack suit (perfect for this cold and foggy San Francisco evening) just told me that you were dining at the Fairmont this evening. Might I suggest cocktails in the Tonga Room first?  If you make it in before 7 pm you might be able to take advantage of the free hors d'oeuvre.  But, hey, I bet you're on an expense account.  So live it up.  Order the puu-puu platter.  And one of those crazy drinks with 10 different liquors served in a coconut shell.  Please don't let that thunder scare you, or your secret service mates.  It's just the tropical rain storm that passes through, every 20 minutes.  So authentic.  So tropical.

I always feel so safe when folks like you come to town.  After all, who would dare try anything on Nob Hill with all those FBI snipers positioned on our rooftops?

Anyway, have a great time, Mr. Blair.  We hope you packed a coat because summer as we know it has finally arrived.

SIPPING COCKTAILS WHERE NO MAN WOULD HAVE TREAD BEFORE

The Muse turned to Mr. Muse Sunday evening over cocktails at the AMERICANO and said "If someone had told me 20 years ago that I would be sitting outside on the Embarcadero, sipping a cocktail and perusing a bar menu and that the temperature would be 70 degrees at 6 pm in July in San Francisco I would have called them a nut case". Yesterday’s nut case has become today’s prophet.

First, let’s talk about the flora and fauna of the neighborhood. To get an idea of what it looked like in 1968 watch the Steve McQueen movie BULLITT. The flophouse where Bullitt is assigned to protect a witness stood just a few feet away from the HOTEL VITALE. The movie gives you a good idea of what a dark and grimy part of town this was. The Ferry Building was a very scary place. Mr. Muse was once shooting photographs from inside the tower of the Ferry Building and he heard a loud hissing behind him. He turned around to face a cat-sized wharf rat up on its hind legs, baring its teeth. Lovely. Using his tripod to keep the rat with the glowing red eyes at bay, Mr. Muse escaped. Trust me. This was not an area that you would want to hang out in.

ART DECO SOCIETY AND GARBO’S CUBAN LOVER

And what, exactly, do they have in common? The fabulous 1930's, dear readers. Do you swoon when you watch a black and white movie made in Hollywood during its Golden Age? Does your heart skip a beat when you walk into the Paramount theater in Oakland or watch episodes of Hercule Poirot on A&E? Do you wish men still wore hats and knew how to tip them when passing a lady? Is there a black cocktail dress with matching hat, seamed stockings and black faille pumps stuffed into the back of your closet just screaming to be let out? Do you yearn to wear a gardenia corsage? Well tomorrow night, July 20, 2006, is the night. Even if you are not (yet) a member of the ART DECO SOCIETY of San Francisco you are invited to an evening at THE CITY CLUB OF SAN FRANCISCO to sip a cocktail or two and enjoy the evening’s performance of ‘Garbo’s Cuban Lover’ described as "a suspenseful drama which explores the glamorous and secretive lives of Hollywood’s Golden Age’s most celebrated divas: Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich, and their love affairs with enigmatic Mercedes de Acosta".

Swanky Night on the Town, 1950s Style

What’s the best way to extend the excitement of a day of vintage shopping at the ART DECO AND MODERNISM show this weekend? A glamorous night on the town, 1950s style!

From cocktails on the top of posh Nob Hill to dinner at an elegant restaurant at the foot of Russian Hill, it is still possible to have a swanky 1950s era evening out in this city that prides itself on innovative cuisine.

Dry martinis are served ice cold. Salty cocktail nuts (no peanuts, thank you) are served from small silver nut bowls. The bartender knows your name and your ‘usual’.

Resembling a scene out of Vertigo, The Big Four cocktail lounge in the Huntington Hotel is one of the last places in San Francisco where well-dressed men still wear jackets with ties and chic women can wear mink coats. The private men’s club feeling here is helped along by dark wood paneling, deep green leather banquettes and a roaring fireplace.