Well, vanity, really. I participate actively in a Portland-oriented on-line community, and I happened to post something in a food-oriented thread about the San Francisco restaurant Le Colonial. Here was the post:
But part of what I miss was the ambience. If you're ever in SF with SisterMary and a hundred bucks to blow, go to Le Colonial. It's hidden away amongst a forest of tall buildings, and once you've tossed your keys to the valet parker, you walk in the main entrance and... *poof* you're in colonial-era Vietnam, in a French-style villa, and the city around you has disappeared. Go upstairs and out to the balcony, where the wicker fans turn lazily in the summer air, and you can you can have a cigar with your bourbon while you wait for your appetizers to come. Sit on a couch with your main squeeze and delight in delicate flavors delivered to you by wait staff who--to a one--have the gift of making you feel like nobody else in the room matters while they're helping you.
While you're eating, you might have a fleeting thought of the city outside, but it'll be fleeting, as if the city were just a bad dream of a place very, very far away. But just in case, you might want a little glass of port after dinner to keep your palate sweet as you rejoin cold, dirty reality.
Sigh. As I say, that restaurant is the best thing about San Francisco.
One of my esteemed forum-mates complemented that post and asked if I write like that in my blog, and I thought, well, why not? So here goes!
