Besides our usual reporting on wines, we thought this time we’d toss out a couple of notes on food for what it’s worth. The food scene in San Francisco is considerably more vibrant than our own here in the OC and we know the city is a food destination for not only northern Cal folks but for many of us in so Cal as well. Our usual research on food spots (we take our eating almost as seriously as our wine) usually involves a call to people we know at the LA Times or a peek at Zagat. This time we chose to look up the San Francisco Chronicle’s top picks for new eateries and hot spots. On our recent overnight trip to attend the Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchiere tasting, we hit two eateries, Shanghai 1930 (Chinese) near the Ferry Building and Laiola (Spanish) in the Cow Hollow area near Fort Mason.

Shanghai 1930 was our lunch stop. The place had a ‘happening’ feel to its clubby-feeling downstairs space and it boasts music in the bar at night. The Chronicle’s descriptions of the dishes kind of sold us on the place as a venue. On the main, we’d say it was pretty good overall, but that represented something of a late comeback after a lackluster start. After the $12 hit for valet (it is SF after all), we started out with a reputed signature dish of minced duck on lettuce leaves which turned out to have precious little duck and a lot of water chestnuts. Pleasantly gingery, it was closer to ‘Asian chain’ than an epiphany. The $12 tab didn’t help matters either. Three dim sum items next were varied in execution with the pork dumpling average but both the shrimp and, particularly, the scallop dumplings nicely done. It kicked up another notch with the Dragonwell shrimp, “delicately sauteed white shrimp with green Dragonwell tea leaves and essence, served with traditional black vinegard dip”. The shrimp was cooked perfectly, delicately flavored and with the vinegard dip it disappeared in a big hurry. But the star of the show was, of all things, their signature eggwhite fried rice. Simple yet rich from the egg and light on its feet, this was a brilliant and very satisfying dish. That rice alone (as well as the excellent wine list) might bring us back for another pass at other menu items. We do realize that Shanghai style might not be as lively as, say, Sechuan or Hunan, so we tempered our expectations a little regarding the spiciness. The ingredients appeared to be of good quality and in the end we’d probably give the cool room another shot, principly because of the rice dish.

In the evening, it was Laiola,an energetic, lively small-plates spot that was touted as very good but not all that ‘Spanish’ by the Chronicle. The food was delicious, well prepared, and straightforward. Every dish was tasty and the ingredients of high quality. While neither of us lived in Spain, we have traveled there extensively and have a good working knowledge with the style of cuisine. Our response to the ‘not Spanish’ thing is that it is as Spanish as it could possibly be using fresh local ingredients, a very Spanish concept in and of itself. Are you going to bag on very good bacalao because it didn’t originate in Spain? Food has terroir elements as well as wine. As much as we get to SF, which is maybe two or three times a year, we are always looking to try new places. It is rare for us to want to forgo the discovery process and repeat at a particular spot. Considering that gives us maybe five dinner shots a year at the most, the highest compliment we could pay a restaurant is that during one of our limited stays, we would gladly come back. This place we would definitely hit again. From the housemade head cheese and pork confit to the tender squid, “jamon” from the great La Quercia farm and slow-roasted piglet with farmers market brussel sprouts and cipollini onions, the joint was firing on all cylinders. If you are looking for a quiet night, this isn’t the place. It’s a bit raucous and informal for some folks we suspect. But the extensive, impressive all-Spanish wine list and tasty, fresh plates made for a really pleasing experience. The bill for two hungry guys who ate like “puercos” and enjoyed a $90 bottle of Clio 2005 (we had sold all of ours before we had a chance to taste it) came to about $180, not bad considering the experience. This one is definitely a keeper.

Other winex recommended spots? While it’s not like we eat at these places every year (leave that to the pros) we can at least say we’ve had really good meals at the following locales:

Slanted Door (deserted desert island food, very flavorful, killer wine list)
Gary Danko (seamless, like a good three hour movie)
Fifth Floor (a bit of a revolving door of chefs…)
Boulevard (really consistent, always good, great wine list)
Sushi Ran (great fish, we can still taste the ocean trout…it’s in Saucelito)
Chez Panisse (upstairs, bomb veggies, soulful cooking)
Oliveto (killer local chicken, great beans)
Quince (has anyone had a “bad” meal at this place?)
Zuni Café (yes, the roast chicken is “all that”, great oysters too, wicked good brunch)
Pizzaiolo (Oakland, best pie in the Bay area? and Grange des Peres to boot!)
Hog Island Oyster Co. ($1 oysters from 5-7pm!)
Michael Mina (friggin’ expensive but whoo doggy!)
Farallon (very good, but it’s been a long while)
Jardiniere (ditto…)
Masa’s (ditto again, but it was really memorable…)