A Beautiful Day

A couple of days ago, I asked Claire if she would check out a new place for brunch on Saturday. We always go to the same place and I just wanted to mix things up and I had gotten a Yelp email about comfort food places and it mentioned Slow Club. I like comfort food and I have heard good things about the restaurant in the past. Claire is a big walker so I have to trade going to brunch with taking a walk. Ok, I can do this but I should say that taking a walk with Claire is more like taking a three mile hike up and down hills or stairways within San Francisco so it really is a workout and I get very whiny which luckily, she can tune out. So we picked a walk in Potrero Hill and I know that Hill is part of the name but I never realized how hilly it actually is! I got a major glutes workout! At one point during the walk, we hiked up a moderately steep hill and this was the view I saw from downtown. Not the nicest view considering the freeway and new construction but it is a view that people don't usually see in postcards, etc.
We walked through a park called McKinley park which is dog-friendly so we made nice with the dogs. And as a native, I learned something new. Right off the park is the city's second most crookedest street. Everyone has head of Lombard Street but there is a section of Vermont Street that is as crooked if not more. The turns are 90 degree with about 4-5 curves in the street. It is not as scenic as Lombard but it was interesting all the same. We finally got back to the car after climbing the biggest hill ever and we made our way to Slow Club.

Slow Club was pretty cool. I wasn't fond of the interior...lots of silver, chrome and cement which made it seem too industrial. Potrero Hill is fairly industrial though. The food was good. I had the fried egg sandwich which was very yummy...and messy. Claire had the turkey sausage hash which wasn't like any hash I've ever seen but very tasty as well. I think next time, I'd like to sit outside if it was a nice day and there was a table free.

The rest of the day was busy. I had dinner and Symphony plans with another friend and we headed to Absinthe for a pre-dinner cocktail. Despite my curiousity about Absinthe, I couldn't bring myself to try an Absinthe cocktail. I opted for my usual sidecar and they make them perfectly here at Absinthe. It's a fun bar that has that whole feel of the "Belle Epoque" French period. I think next time, I'll have to ask the bartender to help me choose an Absinthe cocktail to say that I've tried it. We headed to dinner and to the Symphony. It was a great performance of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite that was conducted by an up and coming conductor from Venezuela who is only 27 years old. All I can say is Wow!

Saturday was a perfect city day!