My City By The Bay

This place is fantastic.  My friend Carmen and I went for brunch since neither of us had ever dined there.  We arrived around 11:30 or so and the place was packed which is always a good sign.  The interior has a bar area with some seats and a main dining room where the “brunchers” are seated.  There are small tables for two, romantic booth tables for those not really interested in the food and large tables for groups.  We experienced all while dining there.

The decor was drenched in a rich Merlot color with the booths in the same velvet brushed seating.  And  speaking of Merlot,  the wine list there is off the cuff.  It must have been at least a 20 page booklet wine list which if you were to read the entire list you’d be there an extra hour.  Unfortunately, I cannot drink for a while so that beautiful list was nothing I could savor.

I did however order an orange juice which arrived and had a hint of mango and just hit the spot.  I knew right away this was going to be an epicurean journey well worth the ride.

For starters we ordered the deviled eggs which I did not think I would enjoy because they were stuffed with salmon and topped with caviar and I don’t like either salmon or caviar.  However I had to taste one and it was pure heaven.  I could have eaten the entire plate myself.  I’d love to go back someday at happy hour and just have the deviled eggs and drinks.

We also ordered the seasonal fruit plate with blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, peaches and vanilla bean cream fraiche and  a spinach, onion and cheese pizzetta which was very tasty, thin crusted and very good.

I liked many items on the menu but decided to go with the warm biscuits with buttermilk sausage gravy sage and fried eggs.  All I can say is WOW!
Really, that’s all I can say - it was like heaven saturating your palate - and filling.

Even though we were both completely full we decided to order dessert and both got the pavlova with whipped cream and strawberries, again a huge dessert and by the time we were ready to leave I could barely stand.  The food here, all of it was excellent.  I didn’t bring a camera but my friend Carmen did and got pics of everything. You can check out their website at http://www.absinthe.comThe service, top notch.  Friendly, informed waiters, a service staff that was right there to refill your water and coffee.  

We had a great time and spent about three hours there.

With brunch this good I can only imagine what dinner is like.  Definitely try it if you are out and about in San Francisco.