Sunday, October 4, 2015
Rode Muni to the Castro. Met Danny who brought with him niece Holly whom I met for the first time. We brunched with dim sum at Mama Ji's (4416 18th Street, 415-626-4416): black tea, shanghai dumplings, cilantro shrimp dumpling, sweet rice lotus leaf, bbq pork rice roll, shrimp rice roll, shrimp stuffed mushrooms, shrimp stuffed eggplant, seared pumpkin cake (with black bean paste filling), spicy cold noodles. $74.77 before tip. I didn't realize until later that the tea is a huge ripoff. I don't care if it's gourmet tea. It doesn't cost $9 for three single servings of tea, especially when many other dim sum restaurants will serve you tea for free. Service by Tina was good in the beginning and then she seemed to disappear for the second half of our meal. We spent a long time trying to get our check. I still tipped well, though. In retrospect I don't know why. We walked the Castro Street Fair. I encountered and said hello to John S and met his friend whose name started with A. I encountered JY who was in town and met his friend Ron. I encountered Eric S and we chatted for a moment. I took lots of photos all day. I encountered Scott and Andy and we met others we knew at Swirl: Tim C, Ben D, Kevin B. I chatted briefly with some guys from San Diego but did not get their names. I dined at Eureka with Scott, Andy, and Tim. Cocktails: everyone had a Manhattan except me; I had a gingertini. Tim had fried chx with fries, Scott had fried chx with beans, Andy had gumbo with shrimp, I had pot roast with mashed potatoes and green beans. For dessert we shared an order of bread pudding. We talked about Qualcomm Eudora, the lending of screwdrivers, friends we know, WTFW, Apple bus etiquette and more. In the restaurant I met a man named Robert who was dining with a large group at an adjacent table.