Josephine in SF

We have been so fortunate with the weather in SF the past couple of weeks. Since daylight savings time, the days have been long, skies clear, and wind low. We wanted to take advantage of catching the beautiful sunset while enjoying a nice dinner. There are very few places you can get both and among one of our options was the Beach Chalet. Now I've been to the Beach Chalet before. The food is nothing special, the crowd even less but if you time it perfectly, you can catch a pretty damn good sunset. The bf did a good job and we were seated exactly 30 minutes before sunset. We did have a few lamp posts in our way and the camera didn't capture the picturesque scene quite the way it looked in real life but it was a beautiful view and reminded me how lucky I am to live in San Francisco.

The Beach Chalet is pretty much all American fare with ribs, chicken, steak, and hamburgers. I wasn't feeling the wine that night so we opted for a couple of their house made brews. The California Kind which was an amber ale was malty and crisp with just the right amount of body while the West End Wheat was an unfiltered wheat ale that was light and citrusy ($4.75 glass, $6.50 22oz). We wanted to share a bunch of things but at the same time I was a starvin' marvin! We started off with the buttermilk fried calamari with homemade cocktail sauce and tartar dipping sauces ($10.75). This fell a little short in our eyes. The batter was a bit bland and the calamari sparce. Next we had the ahi tuna tartare with sesame seeds & oil, avocado, spicy aoili, and taro chips ($12.75). This I thought was the best thing of the night and a pretty decent tuna tartare. They also had a dungeness crab cake ($12.95), steamed mussels ($14.50), and prawns provencal ($13.25) that I wouldn't have minded trying out as well.

Caesar salads are one of my favorites so when I see it on a menu, I have a tendency to order it even though I know you can make one at home just as easily. The table next to us got one and it looked pretty decent and had real anchovies on top! I knew at that moment, we would definitely have to get it. It came with whole leaf romaine lettuce, lightly dressed, with extra anchovies (just the way I like it) and we added grilled salmon ($8.50, add chicken $12.50, add salmon $16.95). This was a great caesar salad and the warm salmon was perfectly cooked.

For the entrees, we were bouncing around between the carbonara ($16.95), seafood linguini provencal with mussels, clams, scallops, salmon and mahi mahi in a shellfish broth ($17.95), or the 12 oz New York Strip Steak with sauteed escarole and garlic fries ($26.95). I was really craving meat that night so we went with the steak. I almost felt like I hadn't had steak in a year this tasted so good! The meat was absolutely perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked, and the meat was really flavorful and marbled with lots of fat. The peppercorn sauce that came with it on the side was not even needed. Good thing the steak was so delicious because the sides fell really short. The sauteed escarole was doused in so much garlic it was inedible and the garlic fries were warm and soggy.

Let's be honest, The Beach Chalet by no stretch has much ambiance. The type of food, bar scene, and surfers coming in does not bode well to the atmosphere. It was more about the sunset and company but after it got dark, the place turned into a whole new place. The leftover Christmas lights around the windows were slighty cheesy but did add some flavor to the decor. I think it's a great place to go if you're out along the beach and are looking for a casual dining spot that won't frown upon your flip flops. Not a place that I would necessarily seek out. The meal was decent and I definitely was impressed by the steak and the kindly service.

(415) 386-8439

The weather was so gorgeous that we decided to be adventurous and take a long walk. We wanted to be outside and what better way to get around but to just be outside and walking in the sun. We began our walk in the Marina, walked through Chrissy Field, over the Golden Gate Bridge, and down into downtown Sausalito. I've only been to Sausalito once before and that was on bike and can you believe I've never walked across the bridge before? We were cheesy tourists for a day but I didn't care. The weather was absolutely perfect and it was a relaxing Sunday. After 6 long miles, we finally reached our destination and needed some grub along with a glass of vino. We were competing with the abundance of tourists and the need to sit in the sun. We ended up finding a little Italian joint located on the main road, Bridgeway Boulevard and although we weren't facing the sun, the air was warm and it was nice outside.

The menu was light and simple. We wanted maybe a salad or sandwich along so Piccolo Teatro turned out to be the perfect spot for us. We started out with what was basically deviled eggs. They offered cicchetti which were small bites ($2.50) and they had a
mustard/chive egg, tuna/capers/aoili egg, and salumi/parmesan/parsley egg. We got the tuna one and man was that little bite delicious! The yolk was light and fluffy with just a hint of tuna flavor and the saltiness from the caper was not too overwhelming. They had an assortment of cheese and cured meats which we were tempted to get. The salami plate featured prosciutto, coppa, and sopressata (each $7) whil the cheese plate offered 4 different cheese ($5 per or all $16). We decided to kill two birds with one stone and got a hot pressed panini with mortadella, coppa, provolone, and peppercinis ($9). This was absolutely fantastic! One of the best paninis I've had in a long time. They were generous with the meat and the bread was soft and toasted. Alongside the panini, we also split a salad with spring lettuce, arugula, radicchio, olives, and pancetta. The salad was really tasty and the dressing simple, yet flavorful.

We overheard Piccolo Teatro used to be some dive bar so they had really done a nice job with turning it around. We were really confused by some of our tablemates as they had baskets of fries with burgers which was no where to be found on our menu. It can come off as a little bit of a fancier place on the outside but it wasn't until we walked by across the street that we noticed the hamburger stand connected to the left. You can order your burger and dine in the patio area. Definitely a learning for next time. I would highly recommend going to Piccolo Teatro if you are in Sausalito. It's easy to get sucked into all the cafes and restaurants on Bridgeway but be patient and walk a little further and you won't be disappointed. It was a beautiful day to sit outside and the cafe offered great people watching views! We took the ferry back to SF and it turned out to be the perfect day to enjoy the north side of the bay.

(415) 332-0739

Before seeing Wicked, we needed a place to eat beforehand. The Civic Center/Hayes Valley area has limited options and we had pretty much exhausted all of them during opera season. We did discover a fairly new place located right next to Zuni Cafe. Although I would not have minded having oysters, caesar salad, and the roasted chicken at Zuni, we were quite pleased and impressed with CAV Wine Bar & Kitchen. It is definitely a great place to just grab wine & nibblies or to have a full dinner.

We noticed a lot of people were starting off with the cheese plate and given that the full back side of the menu was all cheese, it was a big focus of the restaurant. Featuring some domestic and international cheese, you can do a selection of three ($20), five ($30), or cheese platter for $85 with also an assortment of house made charcuterie and cured meats with mustards and pickles ($20). We decided to forgo the cheese platter in part because we didn't want to
be in such a food coma that we would fall asleep during the musical. One app and one entree per person was even stretching it. We were very intrigued by all the appetizers including the Tai Snapper Crudo ($8), Olive Oil Poached Bay Scallops ($11), Sauteed Fresh Squid ($11), Crispy Pig Trotters ($12), and Lamb Agnolotti ($13). It would definitely be fun to just come and do a bunch of small plates. We ended up going with the crudo with kohlrabi, radish and kumquat spring rolls. The fish was fresh and clean and the kumquat rolls were really creative. The last time I had pig trotters was for the Oliveto pig feast and so I knew I couldn't pass up another opportunity to have pig trotters and man were these delicious! I could have just order a 4x serving of this and had it for my entree. They were served alongside a warm frisee salad with a poached quail egg on top. This was the best dish of the night!

For entrees, I wanted to go for something a little lighter so I opted for the Pan
Roasted Halibut with a ragout of asparagus, spring onion, fava beans and forest mushrooms ($19). The halibut was perfectly cooked and flaky and I loved the saute of fresh vegetables and richness of the broth that it had. The other entree we got was the Roasted Lamb Chops and Milk Braised Lamb Shoulder in crepinette with farro, oven dried tomatoes and arugula puree ($19). This was equally delicious in presentation and flavor. The lamb shoulder was tender, while the lamb chops were meaty and juicy.

Dessert fell a little shy. We got the apple tarte tatin with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream. Simultaneously, we probably didn't need it. The wines by the glass list is a little limited and they do the measured pour thing (3oz taste/5oz glass = a lot more expensive). Since it is a wine bar, I think going the bottle route would have been the way to go. I'm definitely going to keep CAV Wine Bar & Kitchen in mind when I'm in that neighborhood and highly recommend it for musical, symphony, or opera go-ers. The location is fairly convenient and they don't get the typical crowd that some of the bigger name restaurants do.

(415) 437-1770