Margy and I were sitting watching the Fleet Week airshow with (it's about 4 PM) with the torn out page of SF Restaurants from Wine Spectator and starts calling. Gary Danko is our second try and they have a table for 6. Margy's wearing jeans and they said they had no problem with this but most people dress better, so we pop over to the cannery and she picks up a skirt and two blouses (OK, so she did sucker me on that one) before dinner.
We arrive, Margy's shopping bag is stored for us and we are quickly seated. After much indecision we decide to punt and go with the tasting menu and it's accompanying wine pairings, except we decide to make a substitution on the desert (and of course they will substitute an appropriate wine) for us.
This place's service is the best I've ever encountered. There seemed to be as many staff as patrons. All dressed in Secret Service uniformity (down to lapel pins which turn out to be a couple of Restaurant awasds: Mobil's 5 stars and something else I forget). I almost expect to see earphones. Margy is escorted to the restroom which they endeavor to clean between each patron.
Each course is fully briefed on both the food and the wine paired with it. Course one Glazed Oysters with Osteria Cavier, Zuchini pearls and Lettuce Cream paired with a Sake (I'm not a trememndous sake fan, but it was a good pairing). Course two, Horseradish Crusted Salmon with the thinnest cucumber shavings I've ever seen paired with Nikolaihof Grunner Veltliner. Course three Guinea Hen Breast with Saffron rice, chirizon ald clam ragout paired with Provocateur Pinot Noir. Margy especially liked this wine.
Then a cheese wagon comes out with perhaps 30 cheeses on it. We are offered four cheeses and Margy suggest that meens we have eight selections if we pool our choices. The cheese pusher lets us go with six each of his selection that were fabulous. For some reason the wine pairing for the cheese course doesn't arrive (I wasn't expecting one, there wasn't one listed on the menu). But one arrives and so do two more varieties of cheese to make up for the "delay."
Our desert substitution was Grilled Mission Figs with Goat Cheese Mousse, Maple Ice Cream, and Port Sabayon (which we subsituted for the Pumpkin Cake). This was presented wtih a Botrytis semillon of which I've forgotten the details.
Margy wants to know when the next trip to SF is.
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