I was just in SF for a conference. Fortunately, I was able to get together with friends for a couple of meals: Friday night a group of 9 of us went to Piperade, on Battery Street. The chef/owner is Gerald Hirigoyen, who wrote
The Basque Kitchen. It was terrific! I had a gratin of bacalao (salt cod), very much like brandade, and . . . piperade (a mix of red and yellow peppers with tomatoes and a little garlic) with Serrano ham and a poached egg. Others had garlic soup; whole shrimp with garlic, parsley, and lemon; a warm terrine of sheeps' milk cheese and ham; and a few other apps. For mains, several had the braised seafood stew or the lambchops. Everything was really delicious. Excellent bread and wine, too.
For Saturday lunch (after a tour of the new Ferry Building and the farmers' market in the plaza), I got to go to The Slanted Door, a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant. My friend and I shared a dish of spicy string beans with honshimeiji mushrooms, and cellophane noodles with crabmeat; for dessert we shared housemade ice cream in green tea, jackfruit, and lychee flavors. Now I understand why the place is always packed.
The chef, Charles Phan, did a demo at our conference, and his knowledge and enthusiasm were really inspiring.
Then Saturday night as part of the conference, a group of us ate at ISA (yes, named the same as "our" Isa here
). They just kept bringing us more and more food, all of it excellent -- about 12 dishes in all, before the 3 desserts! Great bread, too. Highlights were warm goat cheese with pesto and pine nuts; seared scallops; bass wrapped in a potato crust; rack of lamb (one of the most flavorful lambs I've ever had); sliced duck breast with polenta and broccoli rabe (intensely DUCK!!!); and wild mushroom ragout over risotto. Wow.
Piperade, Slanted Door, and ISA in San Francisco 
