Saturday, December 14, 2019
Breakfast: toasted poppy seed bagel with cream cheese, grapes, one pint of hot water. Patrick made a buttermilk pie today. Continued work on writing a new will. Lunch: fried rice leftover from last night, hot water. Began reading Malcolm Gladwell's Talking to Strangers which Patrick borrowed from the library. Attempted to ride Lyft via the app on Patrick's phone, but oddly there were no cars available and the app wasn't responding as it normally did. He canceled the order successfully, and I used Uber from my phone instead and got a car to arrive within 8 minutes. The ride was pricier than normal—$44.42 before a $5 tip—but we had little choice. Lyft wasn't working, and there was no way to ride Muni to our destination in time. Dinner and a show at Berber. We arrived at the stated time (8:00 pm) only to find that the doors to the dining room didn't open until 8:30 pm, so we agreed to have drinks at the bar: two souk de soleil (saffron gin, orange blossom, honey, lemon), one sarab (serrano-infused mezcal, grapefruit, lime, rosemary), and one tatooine (whiskey, jasmine tea, cinnamon cordial): $59.02 before a $12 tip. We were served well by multiple people, but our receipt said our server was Evette. We were identified by a greeter, closed our bar tab, and were led to the performance and dining room to a small, circular table adjacent to a small, circular stage. A drummer was already performing. Still water and pinot noir for me, sparkling water and syrah blanc for Patrick. Set menu: dips and crackers (muhammara, bissara, labneh), kesra semolina bread (nigella, mint), harira soup (french green lentil, medjool date), vegetable bastilla cigars (butternut squash, swiss chard, goat cheese), berber mixed greens (endives, persimmon, walnut dressing), lamb tagine and berber couscous for Patrick (dry black mission figs, cultured butter, seasonal vegetables), upon request for me since I don't eat lamb: the same dish but with chicken instead of lamb. Dessert: baklava with blood orange sorbet, chocolate cremeux with star anise and cinnamon creme fraiche. Patrick also had an espresso with dessert. $239.49 before a $36 tip. Service by Megan G was excellent. In between courses we were treated to vocal, dance, acrobatic, and ballet performances. Emcee Heather sang, entertained, and introduced the other performers. Each was elaborately styled and elegantly costumed. The last performer—Micah—is a friend of Patrick's from a while back who now lives in Los Angeles. We chatted briefly with him on the sidewalk after the show. The performers were moving, the lighting and sound were perfectly arranged and timed. In all, Berber is a class act and a fiscal indulgence that's well worth the price. The stage is small, but there are probably only a few other performance venues in San Francisco where you might be seated this close to these kinds of performers. Patrick's favorite dish was the lamb—he says it was the best lamb he has ever had. Mine was the off-menu chicken followed by the kesra semolina bread. Lesson for next time: there's so much great food that it's hard to save room for dessert. Make the effort and ask to take (entree) portions home if needed. Attempting to get home I tried Lyft, which said "very busy" and predicted getting a ride to us within 3 minutes for $77.54 (!) from Russian Hill to the middle of the Sunset district. Again I switched to Uber. We got a car within a few minutes, and the ride total was $34.27 before a $4 tip. Lyft failed us twice today. Patrick said that if Lyft fails him once more, he will stop using the app entirely. I realized afterwards that what Lyft did to us today was similar to our past, awful experiences with taxi cab companies.