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Quirky San Francisco

• Cliff House

  11Jul
  Categories: Architecture, Cocktails, Dinner, Food, Lunch, Photo Opp, Relax, Tourist Activity, View Click Here to Leave a Comment
  

  Cliff House Sunset View

  

  The Bar

  

  Front

  

  Side

  

  Main Dining Room

  I’ve been going to the Cliff House for over 60 years. Wow … I’m old!!! But I digress.

  I grew up in Pacific Grove, on the Monterey Peninsula, and I recall my parents getting dressed up to go to “the city”. Mom would wear gloves and a hat and Dad wore a tie, hat and smoked a pipe. They were a smart couple (and still are, actually).

  We’d visit the San Francisco Zoo (originally named Fleishhacker Zoo), Golden Gate Park, do some downtown shopping at Gumps or City of Paris (now the Neiman-Marcus store … with the beautiful stained glass ceiling that’s patterned after Galeries Lafayette in Paris). Sometimes we’d come for the day or maybe spend the night; so we’d have two days to enjoy the sites. Over the years, we did it all, and often had a late lunch at the Cliff House before driving back home down Highway 1.

  The Cliff House I recall was beautiful as a kid, but over the years had become more and more worn and just plain tired. In 2004, it was totally rebuilt for the 5th or 6th time. Even though the current version is very modern bent, it’s still beautiful in a new, clean and opened way. It’s still a great spot to enjoy a meal, a snack, or a drink. I think the best time to go is late afternoon or early evening. Sunsets are beautiful, but it’s a joy even on a cold foggy day. The new design is opened and lets everyone get a first class view through the big expansive windows to the west.

  If you’d like to see a couple virtual reality photos, click here.

  I don’t have any old photos of the Cliff House, but they’re easy to find … just do a search and click on images, or click on this link to the Cliff House Web site. You’ll see that it’s been rebuilt several times and each time, I think it’s gotten better, although, the Victorian version might still be a stunning site on the cliffs overlooking the beautiful Pacific Ocean. I can imagine sitting there, sipping a bowl of clam chowder, watching the sun sink slowly into the horizon.

  For more info about the Cliff House, click here.

  
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  Tags: Cliff House

• My Favorite Hotel – W Hotel

  13Jan
  Categories: Breakfast, Cocktails, Dinner, Food, Hotel, Lunch, People Watching Click Here to Leave a Comment

  The Starwood chain operates the W Hotels internationally and clearly it’s my favorite. (There’s another favorite, Leading Hotels, but they’re prices are a little stiff for my regular hotel diet.) The W chain seems to fit with my lifestyle. I enjoy simple style, good music and art, clean comfy rooms, a hip vibe that’s never pretentious or formal, great service, employees who seem real, and generally a company that’s dedicated to giving guests whatever they want, whenever they want it. They even have a button on the phones for Whatever Whenever. The concierges are anxious to help you figure out what you want to do or have. I can’t say enough good things about them. Oh, and they have free wireless Internet in the lobby, which they refer to as The Living Room. This is always one service that gets my attention. It’s a great place to hang out and people watch. We’ve seen a lot of celebrities there over the years too. Not a great reason to stay there, but it is fun to spot people from time-to-time. Alec Mapa – Ugly Betty, Sandra Bernhard-comedian, James Gosling-inventor of Java … to name a few … a real variety.

  I live 2 blocks from the one here in San Francisco and several years ago, we had a rogue fire sprinkler decide to blow and flooded our loft. We had to move out for a month and a half and lived at the W during that time. We got to know most of the people there and fell in love with the whole way they do business. We’ve since used the W chain whenever we can, when we travel. Starwood also has a great points system that can be used for rooms, air travel, food or even cash at the hotel. They’re not the cheapest chain, but they’re not the most expensive either. For me, they’re just right. For more info about the W Hotel: Click Here.

  

  Front entrance to the Lobby, which they call The Living Room.

  

  

  Bath

  

  Downtown View

  

  Concierge and view to side entrance for check in.

  

  The Dining Room - my favorite breakfast spot in the city.

  

  Another angle of the dining room.

  
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• Tropisueño – Mexican Food (and drinks) Extrodinaire

  06May
  Categories: Cocktails, Dinner, Food, Lunch Click Here to Leave a Comment

  

  

  Tropisueño is not hard to find, but it’s a little hidden gem of Mexican paradise near the Jewish Museum and Bear Papa. They serve honest Mexican food, which is generally easy to find here in San Francisco, but usually it’s either in a lack luster joynt in the Mission District (which can be fun), or chain, which can be tired. Tropisueño falls right in between the two. It’s not expensive, and it’s a really great place.

  Happy hour (4pm – 6pm) makes it cheaper than cheap, but even though it’s cheap it’s all good. The margaritas are inventive and traditional, with real ingredients. Each special margarita has a differnt rim – Aji pepper and salt is the house margarita. No mixes or “crank-em-out” stuff here. Just watch Manuel Castillo mixing drinks for the entire restaurant … taking time to make sure each one is just right. I was amazed at how well he pulled this off. Most bartenders (except the ones on my blog) just “sling ‘em out” without really taking the time to make sure they’re anything special. Manuel is a true artist and has an amazing repertoire of amazing mixology talents that will knock your sox off. He’s a good guy and he’s anxious to please your pallet. Ask him about things like cucumber margaritas, his Canton (ginger liquor) and mint specialty, the Dart and others. Just give him the idea and he’ll take it from there. Just trust him. He knows what he’s doing. Then sit back, relax and be prepared to just bask in the luxury of trying something new.

  When you go, tell him RandySFO, from Quirky San Francisco sent you.

  If you like learning about things like this, subscribe and you’ll never miss out. If you have suggestions of things I need to know about, email me at: randy@QuirkySanFrancisco.com.

  Have fun!!!! I did!!!

  Click on this link for more info about Tropisueño.

  
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  Tags: Margaritas, Mexican Food