4 Chicks & A Restaurant

 I'm in love with this restaurant. Itria, featuring Italian fare, was Dionne's pick, and every single morsel was to die for. This tiny restaurant at 24th x Mission was not tiny on taste. The homemade pastas were so fresh and delicate (see photos below). The appetizers were divine, and the desserts were outstanding. Cannot wait to have another meal here!! We also got to sit indoors (yay, this is actually something to gloat over these days) and once again, enjoy our time together. Every outing post-covid feels so special, like we've been granted some kind of lockdown parole.  Covid is hanging out there, but as far as I'm concerned, life's too short to pause for covid. So we take our precautions (everyone vaxxed) and move on.... XOXO,  R Club Girl. (haha)

 Our first time doing R. Club in Lafayette and it couldn't have been a better pick! French restaurant Reve (Gail's pick) was about as authentically Parisian as Nor Cal can get. The food was outstanding, and sitting outside was cozy under a big tent. It almost felt like "normal" times, as the restaurant was completely crowded and we could relax and stuff ourselves with French cuisine. Don't we look cute?

 New Oakland spot that was Julia's pick! So......Sobre Mesa was supposedly the new hot spot in Oakland that is getting tons of great press. Unfortunately, despite our happy faces in this photo, it was kind of a  bust.  We were sitting outside and got to witness a full-blown fight between the bouncer and someone passing by. We wanted to hightail out of there stat after seeing that. So...it gets 2 out of 5 stars. 

 Stephanie's pick! I can't believe I didn't take any photos on this night! What I recall more than the food is the wind!!!  Still in covid-times, we had a seat outside. And go figure, in mid-May, San Francisco was freezing! So we sat on the sidewalk and tried to eat as our menus blew away. If I recall, the food was pretty good, but the ambience could use some work. Well, we were all able to get together, and that's what counts! This is over a year into COVID. God help us all.  xo.

NEWS FLASH:   HALLELUJAH!!!   RESTAURANT CLUB REVIVED AFTER ONE-YEAR COVID HIATUS. Praise the Lord! It had been over a year since the FOUR of us were able to dine together for Restaurant Club and coming together at Rich Table was like being awakened from the dead. Nothing like 12 months of sheltering at home to make you appreciate the beauty and thrill of our friendship. Everything was so delicious, that neither the SF police sirens, ambulances, or random passserbys could distract from this glorious meal.  From the cocktails, to the appetizers and mains, everything at Rich Table was so delicious (Dionne's pick!). Maybe it tasted extra great because we'd been so deprived of one another's company, or maybe this has always been a totally killer restaurant - either way, it made me hyper and so excited to be here! We'd all missed this sooooo much. We can only pray that it's all up from here for 2021! We had:T ONNARELLI pasta with sea urchin. Amazing! The fish was so ...

We got managed to squeeze in ONE winter/fall quarantine, covid-era Restaurant Club. That was in October 2020 where we ate outdoors in a lovely little french restaurant. Just Julia, Gail and Dionne attended and this was Gail's pick, I think. We've totally lost track since Covid blew up our restaurant club schedule (and everything else in life). The food was divine, and not just because it was so glorious to eat out and be served by someone else and no dish-washing was involved! Also, because Mathilde is absolutely divine -- as pictured below, the gourmet French food was straight out of Paris. From the escargot to the chocolate mousse, we devoured it all. Ah.....other than missing Stephanie, it was a taste of the old life (well, sort of, masks on, outdoors, empty streets). When will Restaurant Club reconvene? Gee....ask Governor Newsom. Or Mayor Breed. Nobody fucking knows but a better question is what will be left standing when we crawl our way out of this Covid hellhole. Kisses...

Well, this was a first for Restaurant Club. I write this blog with a heavy sigh, as we are living in unprecedented times. 2020 will go down in history as the year of the Global Pandemic, political chaos, social distancing, mask-wearing, and hundreds of thousands of lives lost. Restaurant Club has been on hiatus since February and we decided to meet for an outdoor dinner on the beach so we could socially-distance dine "together." Not only that, the Bay Area was experiencing a brutal heat wave, with temperatures in the 100s. The beach seemed the most reasonable place to cool off!  Gail, Stephanie and Julia all met up and shared a seafood and southern-inspired meal from Oakland's Alamar. We shared garlic noodles and plantains, while Gail had a poke bowl and Steph and Julia enjoyed the crispy rockfish tacos. We topped it off with mango margaritas and Gail supplied the wine. We didn't skip mandatory dessert even though our meal was to-go: blueberry cheesecake and strawberr...