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November 20, 2008

STRIPSTEAK - Vegas

Rest_strip  OK for starters I’m on a flight outta Vegas to JFK tonight. Nobody in the middle seat, woo hoo! BUT, the woman next to me…well first, I am flying Virgin America, which rocks. Kinda like JetBlue was 10 years ago. Planes so new and clean you could eat off the seats. And you can order food whenever you want - yay! And they have Red, the cool touch screen interactive media system on the back of every seat. And therein lies the rub.

The woman in the aisle seat is wide awake. Not reading. Not working on her computer. Not clipping her nails (as some gross d-bag was doing during the last flight I took. Yuck. Wouldn’t eat off that seat). So Red anyhoo, this woman has, for the past 3 hours, stared intently, wait maybe not intently…hmmm what is that word anyway. She is staring at the start screen. The "Red an interactive the touchscreen is fire and she’s the first caveman. Or cavewoman. How is that possible? A total lack of curiousity. Wait! She did just pull out a zip lock baggie full of loose life savers? I think she may be a terrorist.

Anyhoo, I took a couple of my sales guys to dinner last night after they worked their butts off at the Word of Mouth Marketing show. Asked Pete to pick the place, and like an old pro the bastard picked the most expensive spot! Pick it he did. We headed down to Mandalay, watched the Jets whup some Mass-holes and then headed on over to STRIPSTEAK, Michael Mina’s Vegas meat house.

First, Mr. Mina you have been officially pardoned. This place is So Much Cooler than your signature restaurant in SF. Michael Mina SF: My grandmas living room. Michael Mina Vegas: Giselle's boudoir. Get the picture? Modern décor, great vibe, lots of glass and great lighting. Our waiter was cool, the hostess was hot. Perfect-o.

The menu has a killer selection of meat of course, from the $175 6-oz (is there cocaine in this steak?) A5 Kobe Ribeye to the 14-ounce bone-in Filet. Ya don’t see many bone-in Filets, lemme tell ya. And I can’t help giggling every time I type ‘bone-in’.

So let’s break it down. To start, I has the Chopped Salad, great traditional iceberg wedge with blue cheese, beefsteak tomatoes and baco-bits (OK, real bacon, I don’t want Mina suing me).  For appys, TJ & Pete ordered the Truffled Mac & Cheese, Bacon Creamed Spinach, and Jalapeno Creamed Corn (Glad we all had our own hotel rooms. Hope everything that happens in Vegas really does stay in Vegas!).Three of the best appys I have had for a looong time, my apostles. The spicy corn took the award though.

For entrees, Pete and TJ had the 14-oz Bone-in (lol, can't help myself) Filet (thank you Pete for not ordering the 6-oz Koge Ribeye @ $175;). That bone adds some flavor, my kittens. I had  a bite, great taste, tender, just a little more done than my carnivore taste buds prefer though. Not Mina's bad, it's the way it was ordered. They loved it. I ordered up the 10-oz Angus Filet. RARE dammit! Bam! They killed it, awesome flavor and everything and more a kick-ass Filet should be.

Swilled it down with a solid Zin I can't remember the name of. Except for dollar-cost averaging I ordered it and it was the cheapest Zin on the list.

Although they rocked the show, I still don’t want to have to do a ‘dinner cost/# biz card leads’ math exercise on this one!

STRIPSTEAK

Mandalay Bay

702-632-7414

November 10, 2008

Spruce - Laurel Heights

Picture 10 Hello Bitches! Woo hoo! We are back, baby so watch out! Did ya miss us? Spent so much time campaigning for our next new Prez that we had to forgo our night job. How are we ever gonna make VinDivine to prime-time (or even cable) if we don't keep it fresh?! Maybe Barack can create a new cabinet post for us. Anyhoo, hope y'all didn't starve awaiting our delicious dining insights!

Y'know what's more fun than watching a bunch of wacky Monks brawl at church? Going to the hot, Esquire's Best New Restauarant of 2008 Spruce with our Fab friends Dave, Shari and the ever resplendent Gina. That's what. Damn life is good!

So, I think this place is in Laurel Heights. It's on Sac between Locust and...wait for it...yep, you guessed it: Spruce. A pretty crafty business decision not to name it Locust. These guys must be the real deal.

We gave Spruce a good year or so to work out the kinks before we descended on it to give it the make or break decision. Ha. Actually it seems like the first time we'd been out of our SOMA 'hood for about that long. Pathetic.

So, down to the nitty and the gritty. I dig neighborhood places. Tucked in between homes in residential neighborhoods. Me likee. And this place is da bomb, especially from a style perspective. Awesome open space, big artwork on the walls, chocolate mohair (yes, mohair) walls, and a great bar scene. They done it up right.

And I hear that about 75-80% of the produce comes from their own private farm. Fancy!

OK, I wasn't taking great notes about what the other folks at the table ordered, my bad. Dave, Shari, Gina if ya wanna pipe in here, bring it!

I had heard nuthin' but great stuff about the Tomato Soup w/ Burrata Cheese, but they didn't have it on the menu. They had Potato Soup instead. Sounds like prison soup to me. So we started with the Rocket Salad with Warm Fromage Blanc and Aged Balsamic, cuz I despise young vinegar. Sickens me actually. Give it to me crusty. Really what got me was Rocket. You usually don't see Rocket unless you're somewhere outside the states. It's spicy Arugula and I love love love it.

For the entreé, Janine  and I both had the Albacore Tuna on a bed of lentils and arugula. And don't start with me, I know when we review we're supposed to order different things. Lord I tried. I went for the Harissa Chicken with Farro Couscous and Dates & Almonds, but they brought me Tuna anyway and I didn't want to hold everybody else up from eating. Cuz' they are the polite types that would wait until everyone was served. I think. Whatever, so I took one for the team. So there. Gina's Chicken looked killer though so give it a go.

Killer wine list too! Actually not a 'list' per se it's more like the the War And Peace of wine lists. Something like 50 pages. And we treated that list like our bitch! Went heavy on the Zins although there's crap from every corner of the world at this joint. Almost too much to process for my feeble brain. A winner - the Brown Zinfandel, Chiles Valley from Napa. Get some!

A couple nits: A) a tad bit on the pricey side, if ya ask me. (but hey, Gina paid, even though we wanted to!) 2) they seem to serve you what they want...I swear to god I ordered chicken, but they served me albacore tuna just the same.C) When the bargain list is 'White wines under $50' you know what you are in for! Not bitching just setting your expectations in this difficult economy;)

Above all though is hangin' with cool peeps in an awesome surrounding. And you will get laid if you bring a date here!

Spruce
3640 Sacramento Street
San Francisco, CA 94118
415.931.5100

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