It has been a week of eating out.

It began last Wednesday, when - copying a highly successful model from back east - I suggested to two girlfriends that we meet for drinks and dinner at a restaurant in Los Gatos. We had to amend the plan when we discovered that my pick had not made it through the recession, and for various logistical reasons, chose to meet at Left Bank Brasserie, at San Jose's Santana Row for our night out. One large pile of mussels and a glass of bubbly later, I headed back over Highway 17, very content with my evening. We didn't rate the restaurant that highly, but we do have the foundations for a west coast dinner club in the making. (Reciprocal dining rights will be available to the east coast ladies...!)

Less successful was my long anticipated trip to Bonny Doon's Cellar Door Cafe. It appears that, just because you make great wine (rose fans should check out the Vin Gris de Cigare, and Syrah fans should try their Syrah Le Pousseur), does not mean that you run a great restaurant.

The space is fun. Industrial hangar meets wine bar chic is an unusual look, but it makes sense, given that wine vats 20 feet high sit right next door. The tables are communal, and the restaurant touts that the dishes are to share. That's all well and good, but in food (as in comedy), timing is everything. The gap between our starter and main course was so long we thought they had forgotten us. When the entrees finally did arrive, they came at 12 minute intervals, which meant that five of us were trying to eat one portion at a time. Not ideal. And they really did forget my main course. When it finally came sallying forth from the kitchen, I was super-excited...right up until it was set down by the couple next door, who immediately attacked it with gusto. Words were had with the waitress, who attempted to redeem the (already lost) situation by offering us the limpest looking cookies any of us had seen in a long time. The pity of it was that the food that did arrive was good. They just need to work a lot harder on the delivery. And learn to bake better cookies!

Today was spent networking in San Francisco. At lunch I ate a delicious sushi grade tuna salad from Seller's Market, a great (and sustainable) soup salad and sandwich place. And before I headed back down the Peninsula, I stopped for some food for the soul, taking in the Richard Avedon retrospective at SF MOMA.

Tonight, in honor of an earlier post, (or perhaps because she's cooking to celebrate both her own and my uncle's birthdays), my Aunt Daisy is making Julia Child's boeuf bourgignon. The dish takes hours to make. Delicious smells are wafting over me as I write.

Here's hoping that my culinary adventures continue (and continue to improve). Bay Area restaurants on my list include Manresa, (probably a birthday treat, that one), Gary Danko and Amber India. Watch this space for further reviews...