Hungry French Man

Spruce, San Francisco

Spruce, in the Laurel Heights area in San Francisco, was a big surprise for me. My wife actually decided to take me there for a nice dinner, but I had no idea what to expect. I actually vaguely heard of this restaurant.

We were in the car when we decided to go there. We called the restaurant to ask if they had a table available, and were told that they had nothing for us, except maybe a sit at the bar if we were lucky. Wait! That was a Monday evening. A restaurant fully booked on a Monday evening? That must be a good sign...

As we arrived there, the valet parking guys (even though we didn't valet park with them!) welcomed us and were extremely polite. A nice gentlemen opened the door for us and we entered the world of Spruce. It's really fascinating. Dark colors, big paintings, high ceilings, mirrors... It has its own style. Even the music was kind of unique.

Hangover cure

After so many years of experience, I thought I would share with you all one of my secrets: how to fight hangover. You may hear many different stories, tips etc... Most of them may work. As far as I'm concerned, there is only one way to fight a real hangover.

Before i start explaining my trick, i wanted to list a few things you can/should do in case of light hangover. First of all, the mantra fight evil with evil hold true. There is nothing better than a nice, light beer in the morning to fight a tiny hangover. Some, like @aa, are fans of bloody mary. I prefer beer, but to be very honest, both work for me. Again, this is in the case of a light hangover.

Angele Restaurant, Napa

On Sunday, since the weather wasn't very nice in San Francisco, we drove to Napa and stopped at Angele for lunch, by the Napa river. We've been there once, while we were staying at Milliken Creek Inn, and had a wonderful time.

The expectations were very high...

Harri's, Steakhouse, San Francisco

Yesterday, we took my parents in law at Harri's, at the corner of Pacific and Van Ness. Harri's is a classis San Francisco establishment, and above all, a real steakhouse.

As all good steakhouse, the entrance showcases the aged meat and also has a butcher counter in case you want to buy some meat to go. I've seen this in many other steakhouses, and I really like the idea.

Abita Beer

Every time I travel somewhere, I always try to drink local beer. Sometimes, it leads to quite memorable moments of true delight, and sometimes it's just a disaster. As I was in New Orleans, I didn't make any exception, and decided to drink Abita, a beer brewed north of New Orleans.

I mainly spent my energy drinking the Amber one. There is something about this beer that just go well with most of the meals there, especially the Po-Boy! There are many other variances available like Turbodog (ale), the purple haze (seems that people drink it at the end of a meal), the light/golden (much lighter as its name indicates), the restoration (never tried that one!) and the root beer. I usually like to focus, so I concentrated on the Amber one :)

It's funny how beers are not really appreciated overall. Everybody is talking about wine, and try to find the best deal in town. White, Red, Pinot Grigio Vs Chardonnay, every one has an opinion on wines. For beers, it's very different. Of course, folks like Kronenbourg over Guiness (yeah, that does exist), but I never felt the same passion as for wine.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm a huge beer fan. My favorite is Sierra Nevada. What about yours? Please let me know in the comment section!