Hotel California's WIne and Cheese Reception

After drinks and a snack with M, GameBoy and I headed back to the Hotel California to watch the UCLA game. However, we arrived in the middle of the daily wine and cheese reception, which featured complimentary cheap wine and cheese. We poured ourselves glasses from the carafes sitting across from the front desk, grabbed a few slivers of cheddar and Munster, then walked upstairs to the mezzanine to sit and talk for a bit. When drinking cheap wine, I’ve found that it’s generally better to go with red. GameBoy made the mistake of going with the white, but switched to the red, which was not really that bad, for the second glass. The cheese was nothing special, but it was free, and worked well in filling us before our 9 pm dinner reservations.

Date of Visit: 3/31/07

Hotel California

580 Geary Street, (formerly The Savoy Hotel),

San Francisco, CA 94102

Cafe de la Presse- San Francisco

As mentioned in my review of Wat Thai, lunch last Saturday was rather underwhelming. So I wasn’t surprised when GameBoy began mentioning, with increasing frequency, that he was hungry during our afternoon walking tour of San Francsico. Though we were in Chinatown when we began to look for food, I was hesitant to stop without guidance from Michelin or Chowhound, since I was wary of a tourist trap. Instead, we continued on to just outside of the gates, where we stumbled upon a cute French café in what M described as San Francisco’s “French quarter.” I saw a blue street sign posted on the corner of a building in French, so I guess he was somewhat accurate. In any case, the area, and the café had a great atmosphere. Café de la Presse vaguely rang a bell from my research, and it was Michelin-recommended, so we ventured inside.

It was around 4 pm, so we felt free to order drinks. I got a glass of Chimay Rouge, GameBoy tried a Kroenburg, and M got some sort of alcohol as well. GameBoy and I also split a cheese plate, which consisted of a semisoft cow’s milk cheese with a bit of blue veining, a creamy soft sheep’s milk cheese, and a dish of goat cheese in olive oil. GameBoy normally doesn’t like goat cheese, but either his hunger or the olive oil suddenly made it more palatable. The cheeses were pretty good to me, especially the sheep’s milk cheese. Nothing extraordinary, but above what I expected for the price and location. There wasn’t enough bread served with it, so GameBoy had to request more. We also got a cone of frites, which was served in a large metal cone, accompanied by mayo and ketchup. Again, basic but well-executed French cafe food. All in all, a yummy experience.

M got some sort of dessert, which he was pleased with, but he ate it so fast I didn’t get a chance to taste it. This cafe is a nice place to keep in mind should I return to the area.

Date of Visit: 3/31/07

Café de la Presse

352 Grant Avenue,

San Francisco,

California
Telephone: 415-398-2680