07.14.11 Bourbon Steak - San Francisco, CA

So here we go. Next stop on the year of Botti is San Francisco with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. When I originally booked this I was supposed to have a fight on Saturday so I planned on a short trip. 26 hours. I prob should stay in SF a litle longer and explore the city but truthfully I kinda just wanna see Botti and get home. But I'm going to try and relax, forget about my adolescent bachelor-type behavior for the past 7 days and just live in the moment.

Somehow when I went online to purchase the ticket I got front row center, house right. Perfect. Not sure how that happened. Maybe just smart luck. I'm excited to see another Botti concert with an orchestra. When he's here in Vegas @ GVR he's just with the band. Still a good show but you can't beat the sound of him backed by strings, horns and reeds. Simply amazing. Full. I've seen enough shows to know he doesn't disappoint. Although sometimes he's off his game a little, or the audience doesn't connect. Then the show is still good but lacks that spark that keeps you coming back for more. Can't wait for the chills with the snaps on The Very Thought Of You.

I'm sitting at gate D36 at LAS. We're a couple minutes from boarding the short jaunt. I miss traveling. I miss the rush of an upgrade, of anonymous glances, everyone wondering what everyone else is doing. I'm connecting thru LAX to SFO. Yeah, I prob could have booked a direct flight on a discount carrier but my miles are all on Delta and I'm still a travel snob. I'll go 3 hours out of my way if it means I can get the upgrade, even on a 1 hour flight. It's more about the access it gives you thru the airport than on the plane. And I like the solitude and isolation of being on a plane. It's like a moment trapped in time. You can't go anywhere so you might as well sit back, relax and enjoy the time to think about all the things you want to do in life. To dream.

People are leaving Vegas for home. I'm leaving my home from Vegas. People counting their money, recounting their tales of their lame-ass version of The Hangover. Most prob had a good time. I'm sure some have regrets of cheating on their wives, losing more money than they can afford and just want to get back to reality. This is my reality. Scary. Fun. I've been living a rock-n-roll lifestyle the past week. Like irresponsible stuff. Nothing I can't recover from but things out of character for me. There's no way I can sustain this but for now it's my life and until I have to, I'm not gonna apologize for it. Although I prob should apologize to the tequila guy. I called him the wrong name all night.  Terrible. If I were a man and did that to a woman, I'd get crucified. 

Now sitting at CPK @ LAX. Flight delayed out of LAS, then connection delayed due to fog in SFO. Fog in San Fran? What are the odds. I'm still good though. Got plenty of time to check in & make it to Bourbon Steak @ the Westin St. Francis. It's a Michael Mina restaurant so my pals form Seablue are hooking me up. Can't wait. But if there are too many more delays I'll never make it to the show tonight. I'm fully anticipanting the Sommelier @ Bourbon is gonna fill my glass til I can't stand. Pace yourself girl. Pace yourself... she says sitting sipping on her 3rd cocktail @ LAX.

Arrived at the Inn at the Opera. sweet little hotel. Quaint. Reminds me of Washington Square Hotel in NYC around the corner from the Blue Note. Von, the front desk guy was adorable. I think I kind of overwhelmed him with my lack of need. I came with a bag, no car, no luggage, no need for coddling. Just gimme my room key & wi-fi code and I'm good. I snuck outside to grab a cigarette before heading up. I caught up with the hotel manager. We made small talk about the bar. "When does your bar open?" I asked. "Well, it's not my bar." "Leased?" I said. "Yep. If it were my bar it would be open already." Good man. Very good man. So far I'm liking the hotel.

Just got a knock on the door for turndown service. Lovely. Time to freshen up from my much-too-long trip here and head to the bar for a glass of red before heading to Bourbon for dinner. Melissa text me. It's comped. It's so nice to have people taking care of me instead of being the one taking care of people. I guess this is called karma. Good karma I hope.

I'll post a full recap of Bourbon and the Botti concert late tonight. Can't wait for the Symphony. It's a good day!

Holy crap. Bourbon was incredible. Rodney & AJ took such great care of me that it was obscene. I had foie, ebi, marrow & wagu skirt. And with each, a wine pairing. Surprisingly my fav was a Reisling reco'd by AJ called Prager. I never knew they could be not-sweet. So yummy. The wagu was great as wagu should be. The foie delish but if you know me you know I do not like fruit mixed in with my stuff and this came with some sort of jam concoction around it. Blech. But the foie gras torchon (underneath circling the stone fruit) was like amazing sex-good. It's prob the same thing as the chicken liver they used to have at Seablue before they got rid of the tapas. I could eat that stuff all day.

Marrow was good. Small portion, nice presentation. But a nice surprise were the little fried marrow tater-tots. They're not called that but that's what they looked like. Sick-good. Little marrow explosions in your mouth. I would love to know how they fry those crispy but still keep the insides squishy.

Rodney sent out an ebi dish for me. The white fish was good but the better than the fish (with a subtle white chocolate sauce that didn't overpower) were the little chorizo medallions. I'm gonna get my foodie card pulled right now but give me a stack of White Castles with a box of those gobblers and I'll go to the electric chair happy.

Oh, did I mention the wine? Christ, I'm blaming AJ for getting me drunkety-drunk-drunk (more on that later). I'm not a big wine aficionado. I know what I like and rarely do I do pairings. But man am I glad I did. I didn't realize that wine changes in your mouth depending on the food you just took a bite of. Acidity and some other technical stuff AJ tried to explain. I didn't really care. All I know is that sweet became not sweet in 1 bite - and then back to sweet again. Huh? Crazy.

So right about now I'm feeling way too good to go to a Botti concert. I toyed with the idea of not leaving Bourbon and catching Botti another night. But I scooted my butt off the barstool, said goodbye and thank you to AJ & Rodney and headed to the cab line.