womantraveler

Small Plates, Large Pleasures in San Francisco

We girlfriends dining out opt for the "small plates" restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. Not that we eat any less, we simply enjoy a greater sampling of dishes -- and tasting the menu's variety is great fun.

To celebrate Leap Year, our choice was Sabor of Spain in  downtown San Rafael. Where did the four hours go?? Assorted olives (aceitunas de la casa) and a bottle of red wine (Crianza) started us off and lingered with us for the entire meal. Next came a butter lettuce and Spanish blue cheese salad, mixed marinated mushrooms in white wine, grilled marinated calamari and tiger prawns -- four "small" plates that amounted to a huge amount of food for two! We could also have ordered regular main dishes as well. Sabor of Spain's vinoteca and food products, as well as occasional live music, make it an "uptown" destination.

The first trip to Pres a Vi in San Francisco's historic Presidio was such a major hit that I've taken other guests back since. Located in Lucasfilm's Digital Arts Center, Pres a Vi is an upscale and animated city restaurant offering inventive and artistically presented "global cuisine" of both small plates and main dishes. A recent visit left us remarking on the endive salad, miso-marinated Alaskan black cod and King Salmon selections. A wide assortment of wines, in flights or ordered individually, pair thoughtfully with the food. And there's live jazz music on Thursday nights. (One friend was less satisfied with the brunch menu due to what she thought was a fairly limited menu and the restaurant's "no substitutions" policy. But you can always check the menu before making your reservation.)

For the best sushi in Marin County and arguably in the Bay Area, Sushi Ran in Sausalito is the right answer. When Bay Area restaurants were ranked by France's Michelin critics for the first time in 2006, Sushi Ran was among those winning a coveted Michelin star. That's in part because the menu is a combination of traditional Japanese and Pacific Rim cuisine served with imagination and flair. There are two sections -- one for reservations and the other for walk-ins. The wondrous sushi bar is on the reservations-only side. And if you're walking in, get there by 5:30 when Sushi Ran opens, or the line will soon have formed. Also come with a clear head and a large appetite -- the menu is lengthy and the wine list has 300 offerings!

Two other local faves: Betlenut on Union Street in San Francisco (Pan Asian fusion) has fabulous food and sidewalk tables for the best of San Francisco people-watching, while E&O Trading Company, with three Bay Area locations, transforms the big flavors of Southeast Asian cooking into dishes beyond the predictable Thai and Vietnamese preparations.

City Wine Bar Meets Napa Tasting Room

The food and wine mecca of San Francisco continues to present the fineries of gourmet high-style with the simplicity of exquisite neighborhood casual. This certainly comes in the city's restaurants of all sizes and shapes as part of its neighborhood-based identity. Now comes an abundance of local wine bars, where visitors or residents can experience the tasting rooms of Napa and Sonoma wines, Burgundy and New Zealand grapes, and more. These often funky places are not pretentious, but they are knowledgeable. The connoisseur experience is just down the street, with the world at your fingertips.

Not that wine bars are novel, but they are increasingly more prevalent and certainly more accessible to the unitiated. For a "flight" of small quantities of several wines, you can sample a much wider variety than a single winery's tasting room offers out in the Valley. Clearly these venues provide two different types of entertainment -- to go deeper into a single winery's selections or to go wider by experimenting with new and unexpected options at the city wine bar. Yet, while wineries are pushing sales of bottles to go, wine bars offer comfortable seating encouraging lingering and conversation. As a womantraveler, it's good to have the options.

Biking for HIV/AIDS

My friend Tia is biking from San Francisco to LA this week to raise money for HIV/AIDS. Her adventure blog is a stitch -- she's not only a dedicated cyclist and hiker, but she's a wonderful writer and journalist. So I wanted you to be able to share in her adventures -- the FAQ she and her friend developed is really fun! And, if you are so moved, contribute  to her cause. You, go, girl! Here are some chronicles of the other participants. But, Tia, we're awaiting the photos? This one only suggests some of her views...

All Aboard the Wine Train

  Of all the great ways to go wine-tasting in Napa Valley, the Napa Valley Wine Train is not only the easiest, but probably the safest. Though casual valley-style, it also turned out to be surprising elegant and a lot of fun. The three-hour trip for lunch or dinner starts in the town of Napa, slowly cruises north along the 1847 railway line to St. Helena and turns around.

Even in the off-season, when the grapes are resting and the air is crisp, it's a beautiful time in Napa Valley -- and the Wine Train special events keep it even more interesting. We opted for a weekday, when the crowds aren't so crazy, and the elegant Gourmet Express experience ($89 each) in the 1915-1917 vintage Pullman and Lounge cars, that over the pricier Vista Dome glass-topped 1947 Pullman. It's an elegant old train, with vaulted ceilings, white table cloths, silver flatware, drapes and ceiling fans. I appreciated the orchid on the table and the upholstered chairs. Totally charming, wonderful eating and generous service. What a lovely way to spend part of a day! After our appetizer and main course, we "repaired" to a club-style parlor car for dessert and sight-seeing. There are two seatings, as on a cruise ship, and well-mannered children will enjoy it, too.

There are several ways to do the wine train. Some people preferred to hang out in the less expensive Wine Tasting Lounge Car (which is open to everyone) or eat more casually a la carte. But from whatever your appetite, there are stunning wine country panoramas, and you don't have to thread along the highways with the tourists hopping from winery to winery.

The hokiest part was the obligatory lecture at the depot before taking off -- a little too Vegas-y. But in the 15-minute talk we we learned that there are 140 different types of soil in Napa Valley (making for a multitude of grape-to-wine options) -- and the perfect way to swirl to get the "wine nose" -- and thus the authentic aromas -- to the top of the glass. Even for afficionados, a good tip to launch the excursion.

Shop Til You Drop in LA

You may have missed the annual end-of-summer Barneys New York Warehouse Sale in Santa Monica, but you don't have to next year with LA's Shopper Shuttle. This service is a dream come true for fashionistas and wannabes seeking to fulfill spending fantasies in a city offering blinding choices and variety. Organized by zones -- a la Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, etc. -- the service will plan a personal shopping itinerary and take you from store to store. Since Los Angeles is so spread out with many distinctive shopping neighborhoods, this is a great way to get started -- or re-indulge once you become familiar with the place. Be sure to check out downtown's Fashion District (the Mulberry Street of the West Coast), Melrose (from Boho to the hippest chic) and Abbott Kinney (contemporary LA Style).

Fog City Escapes: Antiquing in San Anselmo

Under 5 feet of water in the New Year's Eve 2005 flood, San Anselmo in Marin County is more fully alive than ever -- revived as a complete small town and the self-appointed "antiques capital of Northern California" (buttressed by similar accolades from Sunset Magazine). Plus, we are talking really really friendly and with small unique restaurants of impeccable quality, trust me (and see below). For directions, cross the Golden Gate Bridge going north up Hwy. 101 to the Central San Rafael exit and follow the signs west along 3rd Street toward San Anselmo.

Here we spend a couple of hours -- strolling from town square past the hobby shop and barber shop to coffee bars, funky shops and one independent bookstore -- then hearing Sunday afternoon blues in the park. What more, besides casual but high-quality eating, upscale consignment clothing, chocolate to die for and fabulous retro-kitsch shopping could a womantraveler ask for in just a few blocks?

Here are the best finds...

Antiques: more than 110 dealers in four collectives and 25 smaller shops, including familiar East Coast Yankee and Midwest finds to Western Craftsmen styles.

Books: Whyte's Booksmith (415.459.7323) -- always a smart used rack for children and adults out front.

Consignment clothing: Sax's (415.456.7655) is our choice (brand new/once-worn Michael Stars' tanks for $20 resulted from a recent foray).

Gifts: The Pink Geranium (415.456.9284) is our favorite but others include Italian ceramics, homestyle design, flowers and shopping for the upscale dog.

Retro chic: Vintage Flamingo has a truly unique and entertaining eye with a fabulous collection of contemporary women's and men's hats and terrific kitsch -- Elvis, I Love Lucy, Betty Boop, chrome toasters and more stuff from the '40s, '50s and '60s, plus some contempo skirts and tanks.

Restos hot pix:

• Bistro 330 (delicious French)
• Chocolat -- the piece de resistance on important occasions
• Comforts Cafe (lattes, breakfast, lunch, and takeout) -- the best Chinese Chicken Salad anywhere and the scene for breakfast and lunch
• Debbie Does Dessert (and lunch) -- often with jazz on the outdoor deck
• Insalata's -- classy upscale cuisine and wonderful service
• Taco Jane's -- smokey black gold salsa, fresh fish tacos, Mateo polenta cake and bright crayon-color decor, who would want Yucatan/Cuban/California-inspired food anywhere else?

Turkey: the Great Eclipse 2006

Here's the final installment of our 4-part interview with former Washington Post foreign correspondent Joanne Omang on her girlfriends trip to Turkey.

Q: Talk a little about the special experience of going to Turkey for the full eclipse in March 2006.

A: The rational mind says an eclipse is utterly predictable and lasts maybe four minutes if you’re lucky, so why bother to travel to see one? But the whole event takes about four hours and is truly startling and, at a deep level, very eerie.

At first, as the moon begins crossing the sun, the light feels gradually thinner, like winter has come. Each bit of dappled sunlight through tree leaves has an amazing crescent shape, the shape of the light beam coming down.

When the moon at last obscures the entire sun, totality is sudden: the sky turns to midnight, the stars come out and what used to be the sun is a ring of fire around a black disk. A cold wind rises. The birds go nuts (they somehow know it’s not a cloud) and all around the horizon it’s suddenly sunset. Everyone who sees it just gasps.

So much to register, so little time! And in your gut, at a level so deep your rational mind has no power over it, a tiny fear arises: what if it doesn’t come back?  You know this is silly but there it is. It probably goes back to when we were all lizards. When totality ends and the sun gradually returns to its former glory, you can’t help a small feeling of relief. We survived another one!

Islamic tradition recognizes this unsettling reaction. Mohammed told his followers in 632 AD that a solar eclipse was not an omen or the result of anything humans had done but was merely evidence of God’s control over all things. Pray together during an eclipse, he said.

In Turkey I was very lucky to see the March 29, 2006 eclipse at the site in Konya of the tomb of the 12th century Sufi poet and mystic Rumi. His followers are the famed whirling dervishes, and their whirling is a form of prayer: the left hand reaches to the sky and the right toward the earth, and the world revolves as they do. They whirled before, during and after totality, reassuring the rest of us that the earth continued stable on its axis. Any traveler to Turkey should try not to miss seeing the dervishes perform.

Women Talking Turkey 3

Here's part 3 of our interview with former Washington Post foreign correspondent Joanne Omang on her girlfriends trip to Turkey.

Q: How can girlfriends going together create a stellar trip in Turkey (eg, without guys)?

A: Plan to indulge the girl-group whims that would make a man roll his eyes, like shopping.

• Make a day-long expedition out of finding the perfect set of tea glasses or painted ceramic plates or a hallway rug.
• Walk and window shop for hours, look at a hundred carpets between museums and bargain hard for the perfect one (but smile and accept a glass of the ubiquitous sugary tea while you do it -- that’s part of the sport of shopping here). It’s a great way to see the local life en route.
• Then allow yourselves the down-time your guys might not: spend two hours gossiping over Turkish coffee after lunch at a waterside café. Visit the Turkish bath (hamam) every day. Have a different kind of kebab at every meal – shish, doner, fish, vegetable, chicken, lamb, burger, with yogurt, with tomato sauce, with onions, with pita…you get the idea. And don’t stint on the baklava – you’ll walk it off.

Q: Special tips about what to pack and wear? 

A: Two pairs of walking shoes are a must so you can alternate between them. Many streets are cobblestones so save the heels and tottery platforms for cab-ride evenings. Make sure to maximize your camera memory –Turkey is one wow-shot after another.

Let your credit card company know you’re going to Turkey so they won’t think someone stole your card and deny approval for the cost of that fabulous tribal necklace.

Q: What about eating?

A: Turkey has expansive culinary riches. Eat eggplant dishes whenever you see them on the menu—all delicious and the specialty of the region, with meat and without. Stick to the bottled water, but the tea and coffee are always safe and the salads are trustworthy. For raucous local color, try the Pandeli restaurant up in the walls of the Egyptian (Misir) Market.

Our best and most memorable meal was at Asitane, a sophisticated white-tablecloth restaurant in the Kariye Hotel, out by the city walls and near the spectacular Kariye Museum and its priceless Christian-era mosaics. The restaurant serves classic Turkish dishes including items from a sultan’s imperial menu of 1539.

Women Talking Turkey 2

Here's part 2 of our interview with former Washington Post foreign correspondent Joanne Omang on her girlfriends trip to Turkey.

Q: What practical tips do you have for womentravelers to Turkey?

A: Turks are Moslem, so you’ll need to wear a scarf over your hair if you visit a mosque (and take off your shoes before you enter). But the culture is firmly secular so you can wear jeans or sleeveless dresses, too. Otherwise, use what you already know about travel anywhere: dress modestly, don’t flaunt your jewels or your money, carry a smallish bag close across your body, be extra careful at night and leave your valuables and your passport in the hotel safe.

Istanbul is a city like any other in that sense – it has more than 10 million people, not all of them nice. But Turks are used to tourists by now, and their culture honors guests.

• Ask a shopkeeper to take photos of your group with your camera, and she will offer you a glass of tea.
• Ask a local for directions to the Hagia Sophia, and chances are he’ll take you there personally.
• Don’t be afraid of walking anywhere alone or with a friend – getting lost in the narrow winding streets is part of the fun.

Q: What are the best hotels for women?

A:  A dozen good and economical ones cluster in the Old City (Sultanahmet) neighborhood, many with stunning rooftop views of the monuments, the minarets, the Golden Horn. We loved the Hotel Turkoman, www.turkomanhotel.com, half a block off the main square, but ritzier accommodations are available nearby, including a Four Seasons.

Plan everything you need for your trip at http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/ the website of former Peace Corps volunteer Tom Brosnahan.

Women Talking Turkey

Turkey clearly is one of the hot destinations these days and sister womantraveler Joanne Omang, former Washington Post foreign correspondent and one-time Peace Corps volunteer in Turkey, returned recently for a girlfriends trip. I caught up with my longtime pal for a four-part interview.

Q: Why is Turkey being “rediscovered” as a travel destination?

A: Turkey has more Greek ruins than Greece, more Biblical sites than Israel, more Crusader forts than France, great food and culture and nightlife and more jaw-dropping scenery and unique sights than anyplace else I’ve ever been. Also it has fabulous shopping, is reasonably cheap and perfectly safe for the most part. What’s not to like?

Q: Where should womentravelers put their focus?

A: Soak up the history in Istanbul. Start at the Hagia Sophia, my favorite building in all the world, the biggest and most breathtaking for nearly 1000 years, first a Byzantine cathedral full of marble from all over the earth and dazzling Christian mosaics, then an Ottoman mosque covered in tile and carpeting, and now a museum showing all its layers at once. Climb to the gallery on a circling stone ramp built for an emperor’s palanquin.

• Next door, the Sultanahmet (Blue) Mosque, the only one in the world with six minarets, takes tile artistry to a whole new dimension, and the nearby Topkapi Palace, big as a small town, housed generations of sultans and harems and intrigue in mind-blowing splendor.
• Cool off with a visit to the spectacular Yerebatan Cistern, the underground reservoir that has kept the palaces supplied with water since Hadrian’s time, a forest of Roman columns.
• And put it all in context at the jewel-like Islamic Arts and Crafts Museum, famous for its antique rugs, set amid lovely gardens i n another former palace across the street from the Blue Mosque.

All these are within five minutes’ walking distance of each other – and your hotel too. But figure two days for just this much. By then you’ll be ready to soak up some history literally, in one of the area’s hamams, the Turkish baths. You can soak and steam yourself limp amid lion-headed gold faucets and Roman-era marble basins and then loll on a warm marble slab while shapeless old women exfoliate you – that is, massage and scrub you down with raw-silk mitts.