I made a successful escape from Chicago catching on Wednesday the one day break between periods of crappy weather to catch a flight to San Francisco where I drive north once again over the Golden Gate bridge on my way to San Rafael in Marin County. It may not be the "Delaware of Europe" but at least its not Nowhere, Iowa either.
I have a meeting today with a client from the Bay area. They set the meeting at very lovely bed and breakfast the Gerstle Park Inn. Excellent room with a great public area and big enough to have a sizable group. They had bottle of a crisp drinkable chardonnay waiting for quests and a crystal carafe of white port in the room for later -- very classy.
I needed dinner so I ventured out into town. I used to be very morose about eating by myself but in later years decided that was stupid. So I look at it as a bit of a game when I'm in a new locale to see if I can find myself a good meal. I did well this time finding a locally owned Italian place called Il Davide. It was clearly a local hangout. The owner, a very elegant looking gentleman about my age, was greeting everyone many of whom he knew. I got there around 8:15 and it was almost full. A number of others arrived after me so it was doing a good business. There was a guy playing classical guitar in the entrance way. He didn't stop the whole time I was there and the playing was excellent. I gave him a sizable tip when I left.
Dinner was lovely. I had a smoked duck breast carpaccio for an appetizer -- nice, light and flavorful with just a touch of arugala and tiny dash of a mustard/vinegar sauce with capers and touch of Parmesan cheese. For the main course, I chose a ravioli di Oso Bucco which was ravioli with a filling based on braised veal. The sauce was a light tomato/cream sauce with the emphasis clearly on the tomato. The filling was a predominate flavor, the pasta very light and not overly chewy or overpowering the filling. There was a dusting of sauteed garlic and parley on the top. A glass of a Dolcetto rounded of the the meal. I savored every bite with the music. And to top it off the whole meal was $37 bucks before tip! I found out that Wednesday is wine night with 25% off all bottles.
So if you find yourself in northern Marin County remember - Gerstle Park Inn and Il Davide.
6 comments:
Nice! Sounds like a freaking great dinner!
What I want to know is how to you remember a restaurant like this.Do you keep a journal of places where you eat? I went to several great places with Mrs. de-I a couple of years ago and would not be able to find them if we were in Savannah again.
You do realize that Oso means bear in Spanish don't you?
:)
Anyways, you took a risk and it was worth it, glad it worked for you!
dude, that doesn't sound ANYTHING like Iowa or DE. Like lakeview said, sounds pretty freakin' awesome.
I would think that has to be one of the perks of traveling so much. And with so much foodie information at your fingertips these days- you probably have a lot of great finds in unexpected places! Bernice is right, maybe you should start a compendium of all of your finds- like that resto in Iowa you like so much? You could put it on a sidebar...
Bernice - I always write these things up immediately after they happen or else I won't remember them.
Stef - Being less than techno savy, I tend to do this by intuition...a combination of searching out a part of a town that seems like the place where a 'find' restaurant might be and then choosing based on how it looks and how the menu looks (if posted outside). I kind of like the game of it.
The sidebar thing sounds like fun -- if only I new how to set up a sidebar
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