oldscratch: Based on your review, I looked up Fifth Floor. It seems too new to be in Zagat, but I found a review on the 'net, and they concur with your opinion. It sure sounds like a winner; now I’ve got foie gras on the brain. Maybe when the next stock options kick in . . .
The best restaurant I’ve ever been to is Villa Balsamo (formerly La Villa) on the edge of Saratoga Springs, NY. It’s this mansion hidden off of one of the area’s bigger roads, and you have to drive up a half-mile long driveway to get to it. Since before I can remember, I’ve been hearing stories about how it’s owned by the mafia, and that Godfather-type personages would come up in August for private parties during track season. La Villa didn’t open to the public until summer of 1999, and mysteriously closed down again this summer. For my sister’s sixteenth birthday, she, a handful of our mutual friends, and I went there for dinner. When we had called for reservations and asked about prices, we were told that it would probably run about $20 a person. They serve you “family style,” so there were no prices on the menu. Imagine our surprise when the check came – just under $400! Jeezoman, thank God that I had my debit card with me. Anyway, we had the most amazing meal – mussels, bruchetta (sp?), various pastas, chicken, steak, mozarella and tomato slices, tiramisu, sorbet, wonderful coffee, pastries… Alright, I have to stop torturing myself now. If only dorm food were that good…
Pugluvr, to get to Aqua you probably walked past one of the best seafood restaurants in all of San Francisco. Namely, the Tadich Grill. This place has been operating since the civil war. I used to get the freshwater baby salmon before it got priced off of the menu. The Bloody Mary’s are excellent and the swordfish is sublime.
Before it got torn down, Dinah’s Shack, near Snodfart… er, Stanford University was one of the finest Smorgasbords in the bay area. All you could eat, with six different types of herring and peel and eat shrimp, what a deal!
And now for a weird recommendation, Ceaser’s Fried Chicken. This little hole in the wall take-away makes the finest fried chicken bar none. Located in Hayward two blocks north of A Street on Hesperian, this place is the best. Say hi to Remy and his mom from Chris.
From all of the dewy eyed replies, I guess I’m gonna have to post my recipe for carnitas at this thread.
Yaaay, Tadich! They also make Irish coffees they way they should be made. And as I posted to another thread, one of the bartenders there looks just like the holographic doctor on Star Trek – Voyager. Now, every time I watch that show, I start craving Irish coffee.
I always get the jumbo fried shrimp or the raw oysters. I hope they never change their grumpy waiters.