"Tuna Does Vegas" - Food, Frivolity and Hilarity in Downtown SF

On rare occasions in San Francisco, one experiences perfect evenings where the blue sky is reflected everywhere in the windows of the tall buildings, and the temperature is a comfortable mid 70s. Last night, Rusty and I enjoyed a light dinner outside at a Catalan restaurant, B44, on Belden Lane in the financial district of San Francisco [http://www.b44sf.com/index.html]. The restaurant has a delightfully sweet and sinfully tart Sangria, a combination difficult to master. We shared small plate appetizers as our meal, and were mildly amused that the word tapas was never printed anywhere on the menu. We started with steamed mussels mixed with the odd combination of english peas, pancetta, and a sofrito sauce, somehow the peas really complimented the mussels. We moved on to a sausage and white bean plate with an exquisite garlic sauce. The Ceviche was damn near perfect and was a welcome cool addition on this warm evening. The only disappointing dish was the steamed clams, an overly salty dish with bitter undertones. We finished our meal with a smooth 10 year old madeira, a strong carmel color with a carmel taste to match. It appears in Catalania, there is a competition in which men create a tower of people. The owner/head chef has participated in this practice. The restaurant has many photos of these human castles and the restroom actually shows a video of the men creating these towers...odd that it is in the restroom but still kinda cool to watch. The seating was very close together making it very difficult to ignore people at the next table , as luck would have it we were next to an excessively pretentious couple on their first date trying way to hard to show how demanding each could be...but on the other side we enjoyed a bit of conversation with a delightful couple, translate this to mean two people willing to laugh at our jokes. This restaurant is a bit pricey, but will definitely remain on our list of favorite special occasion places.


After the light meal, we went to the Curran theatre to see the fourth Tuna Texas show, Tuna Does Vegas. For those of you unfamiliar, Joe Sears and Jaston Williams play all the characters of a small town in Texas. The show is absolutely hilarious and provides quotable one liners for years after viewing. This time, the entire town of Tuna Texas goes to Las Vegas as one of the central characters renews her wedding vows. Favorites Vera Carp (Smut Snatchers President and wealthy woman of Tuna), and Bertha Bumiller are back (Bertha still reminds me of Med's mom Shirley, the good christian woman with a heart of gold). Inita Goodwin and Helen Bed manage to get to Vegas and end up show girls at the Hula Chateau hotel and casino. As each character came out for the first time, claps and cheers erupted from people remembering their personal favorites. It was as if we had come across old friends after a long absence. The actors were still as witty as ever. The plot ridiculously thin, barely a skeleton from which the characters spew out snappy dialogue. The experience was very intimate in that we were only six rows back and center stage. This show is one I highly recommend to all. For tour dates or more information: http://www.tunadoesvegasthetour.com/index.htm. We also saw a few friends at the play and went to the Gold Dust Lounge afterwards for a quick drink. What a perfect denouement to our evening.

in other news...

In the"Small World" category, I was standing in a Souvenir Shop on Pier 39, a tourist hell we normally avoid like the plague but were frequenting to get SF hats for our Aussie trip, and who should walk in but Lori my receptionist from North Carolina. She just happened to be in SF for a brief stay with her mother and daughter. Wow, this just blew me away. We managed to get together for a quick tour of the city and a bite to eat. She's a lovely southern lady with a bright smile and a sunny disposition.

We're down to a less than a week before boarding the airplane to Australia. Neither Rusty nor I have been particularly excited as of yet because of our massive amounts of work before then. The first leg of our trip with Di has been over scheduled and seems an exhausting itinerary, but I'm eternally grateful to Di for arranging everything. She has the organizational skills (and the demeanor) of an Infantry Drill Sergeant but sure as hell gets the job done.

Well, gentle readers, next posts and pics will be upon our return from Australia and may include several weeks worth of adventures. Wish us luck as I cross the equator into the southern hemisphere for the first time ever...