So, after leaving Lombard St and Fisherman's Wharf sans cupcakes, I was really starting to get tired. Maybe it was the jet lag catching up to me? Maybe it was the fact that I was awake 2 hours earlier than normal to catch an early flight that lasted 5 1/2 hours? I dunno, but I was falling fast. After walking down most of Fisherman's Wharf, I caught the F Bus (thank goodness for the muni pass - that would have been a long walk!) back to the hotel. Once there, I charged my phone and considered falling asleep on my cozy-looking bed right then and there! I knew that falling asleep at 4:45 pm PDT was a bad idea, so I hit up my laptop to check for hotel reviews.
I don't know about you, but I get terrible at decision making when I'm super groggy and thinking about food. I actually wasn't all that hungry from my late, huge, dim sum lunch, which only made the decision harder. I spent a long two-ish hours reading over reviews and being indecisive before I decided to just head out and hope I passed something that looked decent. There were lots of fancy-looking restaurants but I only wanted soup and dessert or something light and dessert and I didn't want to take up a waiter's section without eating full meal (it's ex-waiter's guilt, I guess).
I wandered around the Ferry Building and a bit in the Financial District before deciding on just trying the Eclipse Restaurant since they had "small plates" on the menu. There's something strangely comforting about hotel restaurants - they are usually more quiet than other restaurants in tourist-y areas and you can sometimes feel more relaxed there.
I especially liked how the restaurant seemed to utilize lots of local and organic ingredients, which I would learn over the trip is happily widespread in San Fran.
The atrium had a really cool interior and funky-looking elevators.
I had a nice glass of pinot grigio to start.
The "small plates" on the menu were just what I was looking for.
I decided on the crab cakes, which turned out to be an excellent choice! I think they may have been the best crab cakes I've ever had! They had a nice, crunchy crust on the top and bottom and the filling was super soft and just plain delicious.
The crab cakes were served with 2 delicious sauces - a creamy (I think) mayo-based sauce and a balsamic sauce.
The side dish turned out to be a great addition to the plate - a sweet corn and jicama salad. The dish was surprisingly simple but fantastically tasty. I'm going to have to try re-creating this at home sometime. Who knew jicama could be so darn good?!
I happily gobbled up the entire "small plate" of crab cakes and corn-jicama but saved room for some cozy dessert - Ferry Building: Farmers Market Seasonal Fruit Cobbler with Streusal Shortcake. I found out from the waitress the seasonal fruit filling was apples and cherries...yum!
After ordering the dessert, I got a cute little dessert-spoon set-up.
The dessert did not disappoint. It definitely made up for those missed cupcakes and was the perfect, comfort-dessert to end the long day. I ended up giving half the dessert to my waitress before digging in because I knew I wouldn't finish it, and I remember how hungry I'd get working as a waitress in the restaurant. I figured she'd probably think I was some weirdo-stranger, but I was happy she took it because I really didn't want to waste it.
The waitress was super nice and did a great job with service. She was very intuitive with when I needed more time and could tell I wasn't in a rush. With that in mind, she also got everything out to me in a timely manner and was super-nice to boot. Even a man in a suit, I'm presuming the manager, stopped by to check on how I was doing with a friendly smile. My meal was excellent and reminded me to not overlook hotel-restaurants because they are often equally quality as the restaurants around them and are sometimes better.
I think I'm going to have to start a yelp.com account because I'd love to support all these fabulous restaurants I'm discovering and frequenting!
EVERYTHING crab in SF is aaaaamazing from my experiences... this post looks divine!!
Posted by: Kelsey Miles | March 24, 2009 at 04:11 AM
That is the same hotel where we went to the rotating restaurant! I think it closed though, but isn't that place beautiful?
Posted by: Michelle (PinQue) | March 24, 2009 at 11:15 PM