San Francisco??

Jen's parents are going to spend a month in California and Will and I were giving them some suggestions for San Francisco, at which point I thought I better save some of these recommendations for ourselves, in case we go there for our anniversary:

When we went to San Francisco as kids with my parents, we always had to eat one night at Grotto #9 at Fisherman's Wharf where we filled up on sourdough bread and butter but I don't know if it is the same as 50 years ago! We also always went to Schroeder's German Restaurant, but it was always very formal and reserved and their website makes it seem a bit rambunctious now with Polka bands. Apparently they still have the murals on the walls, which are not to be missed. They had the most wonderful brown breads and potato salad, which apparently they still have: All dinners are served with choice of German potato salad or cole slaw as appetizer, German bread and butter.

I also remember the wonderful dark rye bread at the Cinderella Bakery that Mother, Daddy, Penny and I visited in the 1990s. I found the Shanghai influence there unusual and I don't see any Shanghai noodles on their menu now -- their cafe menu looks nice and Russian, with pelmeni and piroshki and borscht. And any talk about San Francisco bakeries leads me back to the Fantasia Bakery that baked the desserts at Schroeder's and that was run by the father of one of my UC Santa Cruz housemates. I ran across this little blog posting about him in Culinary Muse.

The Tadich Grill is also interesting and it's been there a long time, although I don't remember going there as a kid, just hearing Mother and Daddy talk about it. I went once as an adult and enjoyed the little private curtained rooms. Fish and french fries are always good.

I've always wanted to go to the Cliff House to eat. You can see where it is on this map of 38 Essential San Francisco Restaurants. And their Wednesday night prix fixe menu at the Bistro is only $25/person (can that be right?) with cioppino and creme brulee!

The San Francisco Chronicle has a list of top 100 restaurants in the Bay area, but they are upscale and trendy, I'm afraid. They do list the prime rib place that Will was referring to: The House of Prime Rib. I've never been. Daddy took us to Tommy's Joynt instead -- but only for lunch for corned beef or pastrami sandwiches. I think he also went for the beer -- unfortunately I was too young to enjoy that aspect.

We'll have to go to a Chinese and a Japanese restaurant, and it's better if we find a little undiscovered hole in the wall and not a hoity toity place that has been gushed over in the media and that serves trendy cocktails.

Pittsburgh

I thought I better pull together some places to go in Pittsburgh before Penny and Leena come in May. Then I could use it for other visitors as well! I jotted down some ideas in my iPhone notes and I will just add them here and fill them in later.

Food
We Chaparros always start with that
1. Udipi Cafe (Indian Vegetarian). They have their menus online so maybe we can puzzle out what we want before we go there. And Will, Jen and the kids could go here too.
2. Strip District - Wholey's, PA Macaroni Company, Lotus Foods.
3. Chefs' Picks for Pittsburgh Restaurants. A March 2012 article on favorite restaurants.
4. Primanti's? Which one? A clean one or a dirty one?
5. Someplace with Will and Jen and the kids. Hofbrau House? Church brew works?

Uppity Food
Should this be our opportunity to try a "cutting edge" Pittsburgh restaurant?
1. Salt of the Earth. The duck looks interesting, the Haluski looks crazy and how can you ever have undercooked Lamb Shank? We could combine this with a tour of the Allegheny Cemetery and a walk through Lawrenceville. Maybe drive past Children's Hospital...
2. Root 174. I don't know if I'm up for the Bone marrow crème brulee or the smoked salmon sausage but maybe the menu will change. Root 174 seems to have a lot of pork tongue and what is so special about a hanger steak?
3. Legume Bistro. Wouldn't I feel guilty eating wild baby antelope?

Attractions/Neighborhoods
1. South Side (walk along East Carson Street or the river trail?) and Mt. Washington and the Inclines
2. Hill District? August Wilson: Pittsburgh places in his life and plays
3. Oakland: Nationality Rooms, Carnegie Museums and Phipps Conservatory, Lunch at Ali Baba's
4. Northside: Ride The North Shore Connector from Downtown to the Northside, visit the Mattress Factory
5. Downtown: Free Walking Tour of the Cultural District Downtown - noon to 1 pm by the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. Or go on the Post-Gazette self-guided walking tour from 2006.
6. Outside Pittsburgh: Homer Laughlin Fiestaware factory...

Events
1. Venture Outdoors Festival at Point State Park
2. Sheep & Fiber Festival, May 19-20, Waynesburg
3. Pittsburgh Folk Festival, May 18, 19, 20, Monroeville.

Sevilla

So I'm checking out the possibility of going to Sevilla for our 40th wedding anniversary. Naturally we'd like to stay in an apartment in the city center -- like we did in Paris. Here are some possibilities:

La Casa del Pozo Santo tourist apartments, which are located in historic buildings in the city center.

Venere Vacation Rentals in Seville lists quite a few apartments

Apartamentos La Casa del Pozo Santo - at booking.com (we booked through them for Glasgow).

ApartaHotel Resitur.