I Filled My Stomach in San Francisco (and in Vermillion)
I was in San Francisco from September 16 through 20 for work. My coworkers Vivek, Steve and I convened by the bay for Dreamforce, Salesforce's annual conference. We attended sessions, met with prospects and clients, and did conference things. More interestingly, we took a bunch of customers out for dinner and had some fantastic meals.
On Monday, we took a large group from one of our clients out to Dalida, a Mediterranean restaurant located in an old guest quarters in the Presidio. I know it was an old guest quarters because it turned out that Steve's family had lived in guest quarters when his father was stationed there during his childhood. We had booked a private room that sported some impressive bird wallpaper. Vivek had arranged for a tasting menu, so I didn't need to think, just enjoy. Alas, I neglected to get a picture of that menu, and a month on I don't remember all of the dishes. There was some crispy rice that I really liked, an interesting trout, and enough wine to drown an army. All in all, it was a truly excellent meal, so it's really saying something that compared to our company dinners on Tuesday and Thursday, it seemed almost subpar.
Now I need to backtrack a bit. The best meal I had in a restaurant in 2024 prior to San Francisco was probably our fourth anniversary dinner. My parents came up to watch Birdie, and M and I got dressed up and went to Chez Francois in Vermillion. Chez Francois has been around for 30+ years, and is famously the only place in NE Ohio that has a dress code (no tie required, thankfully). We had splt some oysters and zucchini blossoms stuffed with lobster, then M got lobster thermidor and I had some very delicious fish. We followed it up with some rich and decadent desserts. It was an excellent anniversary dinner, albeit quite pricey.
Our Tuesday night dinner in San Francisco was in a small loud unassuming Thai restaurant attached to a hotel, and our meal was fantastic, better than Chez Francois to me. Kin Khao apparently has had a Michelin star since 2014, which might make it my first Michelin star restaurant. The tasting menu for our mixed group of eight customers, prospects and Salesforce employees shared had oysters, a stonefruit salad, thinly sliced squid with a killer sauce, blistered beans, some kind of sticky rice that they brought me when I declined two pork dishes, and a black rice pudding. Oh, and the best mocktail I'd had in my life. Every dish was a perfectly blended mix of flavor and texture. Most were unlike anything I'd ever had in my life. For once, I ate very slowly, really absorbing the flavors. Everything about Kin Khao was wonderful and delicious, and I was sure when I walked out that I'd just one of the very best meals of my life, and certainly the best meal of 2024. It would hold that title until Thursday night.
First, Wednesday. A potential partner took us out for lunch at Oren's Hummus near the Moscone Center. Now, I live in Cleveland and I've had a lot of good Middle Eastern food, but this place might have been better than all of the Cleveland places I've ever been. We ordered a bunch of things and passed them around, so I tried two kinds of hummus, yellow and green falafel, muhamarra and some other things I've forgotten. It was excellent, especially in the context of "very busy lunch spot near a huge conference."
Thursday night, the three of us were joined by three peers in the Salesforce ecosystem at The Progress, which was described as "Contemporary California Cooking" and also has a Michelin Star. We were seated at a round table with a large lazy susan on it that was situated on a private internal balcony overlooking the rest of the restaurant. The opening items included two different salads, a bean dish and a potato/mushroom concoction. The main courses were the highlight of the menu. There was a whole trout fried in blue corn meal and a BBQ duck that sliced thin and tossed with rice and a chile vinegar sauce. Both were excellent. Everything about the meal was unworldly good. It was a meal the likes of which you'd imagine in a movie, and I deeply wish that my memories could call up tastes at will, or that there were words that bring those flavors back to my mind. Was it just the food? The atmosphere? The company? I have no idea how you would separate those things, but I'll remember this night for many years to come. It was not just the best restaurant meal I've had in 2024, it was on the very short list of the best meals I've had in my life.
The conference ended Thursday, and on Friday morning Steve and Vivek headed to the airport. My friend Annie took off from work. After some delicious pastries we wandered around the parks near the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge. For lunch, Annie had made reservations at Scoma's Restaurant, which is a local institution that's been on Fisherman's Wharf for nearly 60 years. The meal certainly didn't approach the other dishes I tried during the week, but I had some fried whole anchovies and crab louis salad and was quite happy with my choices.
Annie & I picked up her husband / my fraternity brother Jon, then we met my friends Jackie & Eric at the Oakland Coliseum for the first game of the last homestand in Oakland Athletics history. I didn't eat much, as I was still stuffed from lunch. The A's put up a fight against the New York Yankees, finally falling in the tenth inning when Juan Soto drove home the winning runs. We didn't stay for the end of the game because I had a red eye back to Cleveland for some Saturday commitments. We'd strategically parked on the outer edge of the parking lot, and by walking out after the Yankees piled on more runs in the top of 10 we were able to beat the rush and make it to SFO with time to spare.
The only other touristy thing we did was take a Waymo a few times. Waymo runs self-driving taxis in San Francisco. The most remarkable thing about them was how unremarkable they were. After a few minutes our first time around, my colleagues and I stopped noticing that there wasn't a driver and treated it like a particularly quiet cabbie.
The keen eyed will note that I don't mention Wednesday night. That night the conference threw a concert, and it merits its own post.
On Monday, we took a large group from one of our clients out to Dalida, a Mediterranean restaurant located in an old guest quarters in the Presidio. I know it was an old guest quarters because it turned out that Steve's family had lived in guest quarters when his father was stationed there during his childhood. We had booked a private room that sported some impressive bird wallpaper. Vivek had arranged for a tasting menu, so I didn't need to think, just enjoy. Alas, I neglected to get a picture of that menu, and a month on I don't remember all of the dishes. There was some crispy rice that I really liked, an interesting trout, and enough wine to drown an army. All in all, it was a truly excellent meal, so it's really saying something that compared to our company dinners on Tuesday and Thursday, it seemed almost subpar.
Now I need to backtrack a bit. The best meal I had in a restaurant in 2024 prior to San Francisco was probably our fourth anniversary dinner. My parents came up to watch Birdie, and M and I got dressed up and went to Chez Francois in Vermillion. Chez Francois has been around for 30+ years, and is famously the only place in NE Ohio that has a dress code (no tie required, thankfully). We had splt some oysters and zucchini blossoms stuffed with lobster, then M got lobster thermidor and I had some very delicious fish. We followed it up with some rich and decadent desserts. It was an excellent anniversary dinner, albeit quite pricey.
Our Tuesday night dinner in San Francisco was in a small loud unassuming Thai restaurant attached to a hotel, and our meal was fantastic, better than Chez Francois to me. Kin Khao apparently has had a Michelin star since 2014, which might make it my first Michelin star restaurant. The tasting menu for our mixed group of eight customers, prospects and Salesforce employees shared had oysters, a stonefruit salad, thinly sliced squid with a killer sauce, blistered beans, some kind of sticky rice that they brought me when I declined two pork dishes, and a black rice pudding. Oh, and the best mocktail I'd had in my life. Every dish was a perfectly blended mix of flavor and texture. Most were unlike anything I'd ever had in my life. For once, I ate very slowly, really absorbing the flavors. Everything about Kin Khao was wonderful and delicious, and I was sure when I walked out that I'd just one of the very best meals of my life, and certainly the best meal of 2024. It would hold that title until Thursday night.
First, Wednesday. A potential partner took us out for lunch at Oren's Hummus near the Moscone Center. Now, I live in Cleveland and I've had a lot of good Middle Eastern food, but this place might have been better than all of the Cleveland places I've ever been. We ordered a bunch of things and passed them around, so I tried two kinds of hummus, yellow and green falafel, muhamarra and some other things I've forgotten. It was excellent, especially in the context of "very busy lunch spot near a huge conference."
Thursday night, the three of us were joined by three peers in the Salesforce ecosystem at The Progress, which was described as "Contemporary California Cooking" and also has a Michelin Star. We were seated at a round table with a large lazy susan on it that was situated on a private internal balcony overlooking the rest of the restaurant. The opening items included two different salads, a bean dish and a potato/mushroom concoction. The main courses were the highlight of the menu. There was a whole trout fried in blue corn meal and a BBQ duck that sliced thin and tossed with rice and a chile vinegar sauce. Both were excellent. Everything about the meal was unworldly good. It was a meal the likes of which you'd imagine in a movie, and I deeply wish that my memories could call up tastes at will, or that there were words that bring those flavors back to my mind. Was it just the food? The atmosphere? The company? I have no idea how you would separate those things, but I'll remember this night for many years to come. It was not just the best restaurant meal I've had in 2024, it was on the very short list of the best meals I've had in my life.
The conference ended Thursday, and on Friday morning Steve and Vivek headed to the airport. My friend Annie took off from work. After some delicious pastries we wandered around the parks near the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge. For lunch, Annie had made reservations at Scoma's Restaurant, which is a local institution that's been on Fisherman's Wharf for nearly 60 years. The meal certainly didn't approach the other dishes I tried during the week, but I had some fried whole anchovies and crab louis salad and was quite happy with my choices.
Annie & I picked up her husband / my fraternity brother Jon, then we met my friends Jackie & Eric at the Oakland Coliseum for the first game of the last homestand in Oakland Athletics history. I didn't eat much, as I was still stuffed from lunch. The A's put up a fight against the New York Yankees, finally falling in the tenth inning when Juan Soto drove home the winning runs. We didn't stay for the end of the game because I had a red eye back to Cleveland for some Saturday commitments. We'd strategically parked on the outer edge of the parking lot, and by walking out after the Yankees piled on more runs in the top of 10 we were able to beat the rush and make it to SFO with time to spare.
The only other touristy thing we did was take a Waymo a few times. Waymo runs self-driving taxis in San Francisco. The most remarkable thing about them was how unremarkable they were. After a few minutes our first time around, my colleagues and I stopped noticing that there wasn't a driver and treated it like a particularly quiet cabbie.
The keen eyed will note that I don't mention Wednesday night. That night the conference threw a concert, and it merits its own post.