Mr. & Mrs. Guru Visit the San Francisco Area

No American city has a monopoly on "best restaurants," though New York, San Francisco and Chicago have the largest number, in my opinion. But any claim at being "best," has an ephemeral quality. Chefs have more of the gypsy quality than chorus girls (and boys), and many let some of their dedication to quality slide when they spend more time on television than in their kitchens. To me, cities set themselves apart in several ways – one is the quality of food in their suburbs, another is the fact that they have many outstanding, independent, single-ownership restaurants, always a better bet than chains, even white-tablecloth chains. Cities that rate high on a food scale have restaurants that offer three outstanding meals every day, plus brunch on weekends, which show a wide range of ethnic cuisine, and which provide very good meals through the entire spectrum of prices. Having just placed San Francisco in that top rank, and having been fortunate enough to spend some time there and in its northern environs of Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino Counties, I thought I'd share a few thoughts on restaurants from that territory. Some were discussed in the September edition of Sauce Magazine, but two are hereby repeated because they deserve the repetition that may be necessary to fix them in memory. With a few exceptions, they were visited only once. Some were places we had visited in years past, some were led by chefs whose reputation – or cooking – we knew. Some were just, "Hey, that looks good. Let's look at it." That method struck gold at Home Plate (2274 Lombard St.), a few blocks from the motel we used. A sports fan-punster could not ignore the name, and even though we were on our way home from dinner, and the restaurant was closed, we spun around a couple of blocks and pulled up. Mrs. Guru jumped out, spent only a few seconds looking inside, hurried back waving her arm and shouting, "Bingo!" It's a small storefront place, open for breakfast and lunch, owned and operated by Chinese, and without a single Chinese dish. Classic breakfasts, homemade biscuits and sausage (both pork and chicken, in glorious, well-spiced chorizo and andouille), delicious, freshly cooked hash-browns, even the legendary Hangtown Fry, a San Francisco-born open-face omelet with oysters, bacon, mushrooms and green onions. Absolutely superb, without a single breakfast dish more than $7.75. And, since we were flying home later in the day, we took some wonderful sandwiches with us – far better than the pre-packaged stuff that American Airlines offers from a bin as you board the plane. Everyone a server! At the other end of the price spectrum is the eponymous Gary Danko, at 800 North Point, near Ghiradelli Square and Fishermen's Wharf. If memory serves, Danko worked at the Ritz-Carlton in Clayton when it was new, moved to the remodeled San Francisco Ritz, eventually went out on his own. Dimly lit, with beautiful service, a glorious wine list and prices to match, Danko's restaurant offers three course meals with many choices for $55, four courses for $64 and five courses for $74. Elegant cooking, including lobster risotto, pancetta-wrapped frog legs, citrus encrusted wild boar, perfect chocolate souffle. The September Sauce Magazine touches on a number of San Francisco restaurants, including these, but both Home Plate and Gary Danko are good enough to deserve a second mention. Touring the wine country brought its own experiences. Californians are serious about food, as they are about wine, and many restaurants, both large and small, take the same approach. We had exciting meals, and some that were nothing special, but the lunch that will be talked about for a long time came at the Marshall Market in a wide spot in California Highway 1 known as Marshall, Calif., on the shore of Tomales Bay. It's a small market that sells sandwiches, some groceries, firewood, camping supplies and beer, but it had fresh Tomales Bay oysters, and we sat on the back porch, barely big enough to hold two tables, sloshing down oysters and beer and enjoying the sunshine. And, to keep the record straight, we did not eat at the famous French Laundry, nor did we try for reservations. We did beautifully, however, at Bistro Jeanty, a block away in Yountville, and at Mustard's Grill, probably the first fine dining establishment in the Napa Valley and still one of the best. Mustard's, on Highway 29 in Napa, a mile north of Yountville, looks like the quintessential roadhouse, but the fried green tomatoes are a wonderful appetizer, and everything else on the menu is flavorful and freshly cooked. Philippe Jeanty has been a star chef in Napa for almost 30 years, coming from France to be the first chef at Domaine Chandon when it was the first French invader to make sparkling wine in the Napa Valley. On tour in those early days, he visited St. Louis with Michaela Rodeno, then the winery's publicist, and we had lunch at Anthony's, where the sight of Mme. Janty, in a micro-mini skirt, caused waiters to walk headlong into the glass partitions. The fact that serious injury was avoided was a miracle. Eventually, Jeanty left the winery and went out on his own in downtown Yountville, where he runs an outstanding bistro with casual fare that makes one think of the finest French cafes. By the way, he has established a second location in San Francisco, Jeanty at Jack's. Country dishes like ragout, cassoulet, coq au vin, rabbit are his stock in trade, and they are rich, hearty and filling, yet the various delicate flavors come through. It was a high spot. Healdsburg, in Sonoma County, is the latest California Wine Country town to collar a famed chef. New York's Charlie Palmer has opened the Dry Creek Kitchen in the fancy, newly remodeled Healdsburg Hotel, but two dinners were unimaginative, almost boring, especially when compared to those just above. There is a possible excuse; the air conditioning was out in the lobby and the restaurant, and the daytime temperature was in three digits. In other words, damn hot by day and into the evening. However, Healdsburg is home to Taqueria El Sombrero, a block or so off the square at 245 Center St., where the tacos were delicious and amazingly inexpensive, and the clientele was almost completely Mexican, busily devouring tacos filled with tongue, tripe and other organ meats that few Americans eat, but which many Mexicans enjoy a lot. Good, if not great, guacamole, outstanding pork, both deep fried and known as carnitas, or marinated and grilled and known as al pastor. On California Highway 128, heading through hills, vineyards and spectacular redwoods from Hopland to the Pacific Ocean, there's a little town called Boonville, about halfway to the coast. It boasts the Buckhorn Saloon, home of good sandwiches and many types of beer, and a few miles west, tucked into the hills is an architectural and engineering gem where the Roederer folks came from France to make what may be the best sparkling wine on the continent. Michael Salgues, who came from Reims to start the operation 10 years ago, has returned to France, and we shared a bottle of glorious bubbly on his final day in California and talked about lunch at the Buckhorn, dinners in Paris, fishing in Mendocino County and many other good things. We spent a couple of days in beautiful Mendocino County, touring the county botanical gardens, watching a production of Puccini's "The Golden Girl of the West" on the Mendocino bluffs (the town and the county have the same name) and heard much of the Andrew Lloyd Webber music from "Phantom of the Opera." Farther north, in Fort Bragg, we enjoyed a couple of dazzling breakfasts at Eggheads, which calls itself the best restaurant in Oz. It's heavy with memorabilia from the movie, and on the way to the rest room, which involves going through the kitchen, out back and to a shed next door, one follows a well-painted, well-worn "yellow brick road." The little restaurant prepares outstanding home-fried red potatoes and a lengthy menu for breakfast and lunch that is led by classic eggs Benedict, fluffy, meat-filled omelets and a few specials like "Dorothy's Delight," or melted Cheddar cheese on an English muffin, topped with two eggs, smothered in homemade salsa and topped with sour cream. So good we went back a second day, then strolled up the street to Roundman's Smoke House for great "Cajun Death Beef Jerky" to fuel us on our drive. Eggheads is at 326 North Main St., Roundman's at 412. We also enjoyed a seafood dinner at Sharon's by the Sea, on Harbor Street, the dock below Fort Bragg, where we found ourselves, like true Californians, sitting on the dock of the bay. Heading back, we stopped in Ukiah and, after visiting Vichy Hot Springs for a charming soak in 120-year-old concrete tubs, where the bubbly water flows at 90 degrees all the time and which supposedly were used, long ago, by Jack London and Ernest Hemingway, among others. We asked a winemaker about a dinner choice in this town of 14,600, and when he discovered we liked Thai food, he sang the praises of Ruen Tong, on State Street. And he was right on the money. A small, unprepossessing looking place from the outside, it's filled with strikingly beautiful and delicate Thai furniture and decorations inside, and dumplings as light and delicate as I've ever had. Fiery sauteed Asian eggplant, pale lavender turning to white, fresh jumbo shrimp lightly sauteed and a marinated roast pork that had us singing on the way out. They make fine wine in the California wine country – and great food, too.