Food & Wine-94
AVIVA'S SAN FRANCISCO BIRTHDAY
DECEMBER 2005
Aviva Briskin was celebrating her 29th Birthday (again) and so her husband
Pierre, Amy and Jesper FitzJensen and I met at PJ's Oysterbed on Ninth and
Irving in The City. It's a restaurant tipping its chapeau to the
great chefs of New Orleans.
It's a busy place, with an interesting set of murals on the west wall, a bar in
the back and kitchen and prep area on the left as you enter the place.
We chose to start with some oysters and beers (Dixie's Crimson was pretty good,
actually...a nice New Orleans' brew).
The birthday girl enjoyed a sip of Amy's Hefeweisse.
We had a few other little starters...
Mussels.
Rock Shrimp.
Jesper enjoyed a small bowl of Gumbo.
Aviva went for the crab cakes, as did Amy.
By this time, our Domaine Carneros "Le Reve" was chilled and ready to
enjoy.
Now the main courses started to arrive...
Jesper ordered the "pound" of prawns. Amy was so interested in
these, she ordered a community plate of these, as well.
Pierre and I each ordered the Jambalaya, a sort of Cajun rendition of Paella.
Meanwhile, Aviva was busy with a small plate of Cajun ribs...
Sometimes people watching in San Francisco is mighty amusing.
Amy was busy with the shrimp...
Aviva then got busy with a few birthday gifts...
The PJ's crew brought dessert with a candle and everyone sang "Happy
Birthday" to Aviva.
Her other birthday present was a bag of Hershey's chocolates and a "Sweet
Machine."
We then summoned a taxi to take us back to Mason street and the Hotel San Remo.
It soon became apparent that dinner might have been our "Last Supper,"
as the driver of the van we were in was definitely in a hurry.
I asked him if he had driven in Rome or Paris, as "I think I might have
driven with you once."
"I'm not a religious person, but a prayer right about now might be
appropriate."
"You know, if you drove a fire truck here in The City, you'd probably
arrive before the fire started."
He was clever and drove us down Lombard Street.
"Do you ever leave any paint on the walls?" I asked him as we caromed
down the crooked street.
We got to our destination and everyone headed inside the bar, as they all,
apparently, needed a drink.
The next morning we ambled around the neighborhood...
We checked out of the San Remo and enjoyed this quick "San Francisco
Getaway!"
Thanks for including me!
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