Monday, January 7, 2019
Breakfast at home: leftover baby bok chow with steamed rice. Walked and rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. No in-person standup. Styling work: external link in PharmD hero for Eric. Followup with Lawrence L about the canceled CERSI event. Lunch at desk: leftover pizza, water. Siteimprove work. Rode Uber Pool to the Mission. Met Patrick for couples counseling. Rode UberX to the Castro. Dinner at Izakaya Sushi Ran (415-655-3738, 2223 Market Street) with Patrick: happy hour sake, hot, for both; miso soup for both; hamachi (yellowtail) sashimi; ebi tempura roll; This One Time At Band Camp cocktail (bourbon, vermouth, sherry, charred marshmallow) for Patrick; Trickster God cocktail (rums, chartreuse, pineapple, lemon) for me; tori (tempura chicken with shiso and chipotle tartar sauce); sata andagi (fried doughnuts). Izakaya Sushi Ran has been open about three weeks, we were told. We asked our server about the happy hour menu, and she told us that happy hour menu items were available in the bar and that we could order that at the bar, pay there, and then bring it to our table. We thought that was weird since in most other restaurants you can order happy hour anything from a dining table and have it delivered to you and placed on your dining check. Consequently for the first 15 minutes or so I was repeatedly getting up from my seat and going to the bar, once to begin placing the order, once to return to Patrick with a question: hot or cold sake?, again to place the order (hot), then back to our dining table to wait for the order to be prepared, then again to pick up and pay for the order only to find that the bartender (contrary to the instructions were were given) was just then delivering our drink order to our table, so I returned to the table. We received the drink order. The bartender left. A minute later I remembered that I was supposed to pay at the bar, so I returned to the bar and was told by the bartender who delivered it that (contrary to the instructions we were given) he had moved the order to our dining check. When our miso soup arrived we were pleased to find sizeable shiitake mushroom slices within, which we don't usually see in miso soup. The hamachi sashimi was fresh with perfect color, flavor, and texture. The ebi tempura roll was interesting for its inclusion of asparagus. The sake wasn't enough for us, so we ordered cocktails at this point, and then there was an unusually long wait before the tori arrived. At first I thought that doing tempura in two dishes was overdoing it, but I'm glad we did because the tempura ebi wrapped in a sushi roll doesn't permit one to fully appreciate the light perfection of the batter which we tasted with the tempura chicken, which was also moist and tender inside. The cocktails arrived shortly after the tori arrived. We enjoyed the sake and the cocktails, but we didn't notice any of the advertised charred marshmallow in Patrick's cocktail. At least one of our dishes was decorated with a full green shiso leaf—a nice touch. Service was slightly better than good. When Patrick left the table for the restroom a staffmember folded his napkin in the fine dining style. $121.90 before a $20 tip. Clearly a fine effort but with some wrinkles to iron. Rode UberX home.