Downtown San Francisco.
Neat hardware store mural.
Our hotel.
Very small, but it has it's own bathroom.
Very old heater.
Cool metal cutout.
We had dinner at Birdsong.
They have two Michelin stars.
We had ordered the Journey Menu at the chef's table...
... so we get to sit right up front and watch them prepare the food.
Wine list.
Hanging quail.
They're not too busy yet.
The menu.
We had a wine pairing.
The first one.
Now they're starting to go.
Herbs hanging.
First dish: oyster with seaweed.
Very pretty.
Second wine.
The sommelier pouring it.
Dungeness crab.
If you don't cheat by looking at the menu, you can guess what will be served next by what utensils they give you.
Sake.
For the abalone.
Champagne.
Serving caviar.
On top of cornbread.
Sea urchin cream puff.
Am I supposed to cut it into pieces? That might be hard, so I'm just going to throw the entire thing in my mouth.
Pinot Noir.
Kitchen staff staying busy.
Someone keeps track of which dish each table is on. That's a lot of work.
Us with our next course.
Which is quail.
I don't have to eat the feet and toenails, right?
They gave us some little clippers to cut the herbs.
And some lime to spray on it.
Ogii eating a leg.
Broth of grilled bones.
Next wine.
Some sauce being added.
To the squab pithivier.
We have to make sure we drink all of the current glass of wine before he shows up with the next one.
There he is.
BBQ carrot.
Some huge carrots.
Roll.
Ooh, a steak knife, now I'm excited.
First some wine.
Then the beef.
Dessert.
Us with the kitchen.
Some sherry.
More dessert.
And a small bit of ice cream.
With lots of toppings.
One more dessert wine.
Cheers!
Finishing off teh ice cream.
It was a great birthday dinner.
It's weird how some people can be sleeping in tents right outside of other people having $500 meals.
Then onto the Metreon IMAX.
To watch Dune 2.
People were out getting snacks whe the staff told us to run in because they weren't showing trailers.
Birdsong also had given us some jerky to take home and eat.
We haven't had an in-person board meeting for MBOS since before COVID.
Nice place.
Neat picture.
Another birthday present.
A poker ring.
Another one.
A Hawaiian wallet.
With info on the guy who made it.
Some dinoflagellates which should bioluminesce from Monica; very cool!