As everyone knows, I was hoping for a bit of Romance for this combined business/pleasure trip. Mother Nature threw a bit of a wrench into the mix with an actual rain storm on Friday night, and on-and-off drizzle and sun on Saturday. But I'll throw out a few things we enjoyed:

FLIGHT: JetBlue, LGB-OAK. Smooth and pain-free as always. Hey, it's an hour flight, so how bad could it really be? The AirBART/BART combo from OAK into downtown SF (Powell Station for Union Square) couldn't be more convenient. The schlepp up Powell to the hotel wasn't too bad either.

HOTEL: Crowne Plaza Union Square, 480 Sutter (at Powell). Middle-of-the-pack business-/tourist-oriented urban hotel. It's not as luxurious as the Mark Hopkins or the Fairmont, but it was perfectly fine. Clean and relatively spacious rooms, VERY comfy bed, great views up Powell to Nob Hill, helpful staff, superior location, lobby bar with wonderfully friendly bartenders.... What's not to like?

RESTAURANTS: We made it to a relatively new place on Belden Place called Belden Taverna. Mediterranean cuisine, stylish room. The food was quite good.

Another night was a business-related event at Washington Square Bar & Grill up in North Beach. Starter soup was pretty awful, but diners who had the alternative salad were very pleased. Main courses were excellent. Desserts were great too. Main dining room was extremely loud, which was a pain. Still, it was fine.

Friday night and we're craving seafood and it's raining-- and we're not in the mood for romance, we just want good fresh seafood. And we end up at (SF locals can freely shudder now) Scoma's at Fisherman's Wharf, as the receptionist at the Crowne Plaza suggested. The place screams "60s Class Joint!!" (was that a picture of Charo on the wall?), and it wasn't cutting-edge or trendy or anything. It was just good. REALLY good. And packed. However, the hilarious hostess got us seated super-quick ("The wait for two? Five minutes. Four if you're nice.... OK, it just became 15 seconds! Follow me!!"), and the wait staff treated us like regulars. We tested the kitchen with easy-to-screw-up items-- fried calamari appetizer and a scallop risotto main course. Perfectly cooked (not rubbery in the slightest) and full of flavor. We shared a cab with two lovely women attending a convention for adolescent counselers (and paid the whole fare). Time for a nightcap at the hotel bar...!

Saturday morning and we felt like breakfast nearby-- and what's more convenient than Sear's on Powell? The food was fine, the service quick and friendly, and oh those tiny pancakes!

Saturday was a day of walking and walking and walking and then R&R in the hotel room for a couple of hours. We had heard from a local about an intriguing French-Japanese fusion joint in the Castro, and that evening found ourselves wedged into the tiny dining room at Sumi (Fresh and Sexy) on 18th Street. Mixed crowd gay/straight (dominated by the former, but so what?! We're all adults here), and the vibe was relaxed and actually pretty romantic. The food was superb. Definitely off the beaten path, and in a relatively quite block in the Castro just off the main drag (excuse the expression). Sometimes you have to get out of Union Square....

We're already talking about a return trip in a few months, to hit a few of the New Hot Spots. This time was relaxation and getting a taste for the City (and I do love the City!!). We may not have hit the heights of Trendy, but we loved what we did hit. And isn't that enough sometimes?

>> actual rain storm on Friday night, and on-and-off drizzle and sun<<

A new record was set for March - highest number of days with measurable rain for March. It's raining now!!! March is not even over yet. Had record high temps in Feb.

Stu Dudley

Stu, I feel your pain-- we're still getting the wet stuff down here in southern CA....

Your advice was so detailed and perfect for what I had been hoping for, I feel bad that we ended up winging the entire trip! But since we still enjoyed ourselves (tremendously), it just means we'll need a few more visits to work through the list from everyone's suggestions.

Great trip and a great report. Thanks for sharing.

Hi rjw, am glad you had a great time! Another big storm now..not exactly spring weather. It is so dark outside (I am about 50 NE of SF) I need lights on just to walk around.

hi, rjw!

Great trip report!

Love your style too. Get the book, then throw the book out the window and do everything fresh and new and exciting!

Come back soon! (We'll write you another book which you can throw out the window again!)

easytraveler: I had printouts, books, you name it. I had plans. And whenever my honey and I travel together, well, unless we're meeting up with other people, our plans always go out the window. So why make an exception for San Francisco?!

Besides, we're all collectively building an online Knowledgebase for the City. I may not have been disciplined enough to follow the excellent suggested itineraries, but some hearty traveler will. And they'll report back on how wonderful they were.

FYI the name of the restaurant you went to in the Castro is Ma Tante Sumi--which makes sense for French-Japanese fushion--nice little place!!!

SAB: That's how it's listed in the phone book, but when we arrived, all the signage said "Sumi" (or "Sumí")-- and below that, "Fresh and Sexy". The food was yummy, I'll tell you that.

I didn't say much about Taverna, but I'll add that it's maybe a few months old, so I'm sure it's still shaking out its menu and wine list. I wasn't impressed by the latter (although my oenophile colleague made a great selection of a young Chianti, redolent of plums and fresh-cut grass), but the menu was quite creative (sample dishes: starters of lentils and hummus frites, pork chop with Barolo wine reduction) and well-executed. The service was quite good, and I think within a few more months it will be a great addition to the dining scene there on Belden Place.