In San Francisco, I got to kick it in the Ferry Building for an extended lunch hour. I took myself out to the Slanted Door, the venerable Vietnamese restaurant that's been wowing diners for years. They are always packed and so, in the past, I've just gotten take out from their to go front - Slanted Door Next Door. This time I got a spot at the bar and started ordering away. I had their chue farm Japanese eggplant with green onions and coconut milk and the shrimp and pork wonton soup with five spice pork and egg noodles. The soup was very good, but quite filling. I was expecting the pork to be in the wontons themselves, but instead it was sliced, floating in the broth. There were also crispy pork cracklings and tons of sliced scallions. The wontons were delicate and sweet with shrimp. If I wasn't a bit of a fanatic about having my vegetables, I would have been filled by the noodle-soup. However, I'm really glad I had the eggplant as it was delicious. It had a bit of a kick, but the eggplant was tender and the coconut based sauce was addictive. The bar tender was very nice and allowed me to order a half portion, thankfully, because I couldn't finish all of the food. I also had their lychee tea, which was too cloying and sweet. I wouldn't get it again. I do, however, look forward to me next time in Slanted Door's airy restaurant and its perfect bay view. 
While in the Ferry Building, I also made pit stops at Miette, for their delightful macarons, Blue Bottle Coffee, for a killer cappuccino, and Recchiuti, for their decadently luscious chocolates. If I had more time and were checking a bag, I also would have gotten Stonehouse Olive Oil which is peppery and grassy. I did notice that the Tsar Nicoulai Caviar Cafe is gone - I used to hang out there and have caviar and champagne. I love caviar. Oh well.
Before I headed back to SFO for my Las Vegas flight, I was able to meet up with one of my best friends, Jessica, at a great little wine bar and Italian trattoria on California St, called Barbacco. Not to be confused with Perbacco (it's sister restaurant), which I have been to before and is almost right next door, this wine bar offers a great array of international wines in many different tasting options. I enjoyed flipping through their selection on their Ipad menus. I've read about the I Pad trend, and I think it is a good one. You're able to see as little or as much information as you want on a wine. We tried tastes of the French Eric Texier-2009 Roussanne, the Slovenian Simcic-2007 Sauvignonasse (Friulano), the Italian Bera-2006 Monferrato Dolcetto, and the Austrian Becker-Landgraf-2007 J2 Spatburgunder. Lovely. I just wish I had had some time to eat before jumping on BART....
In Las Vegas, it was my first time staying at the Palms. I'm not a huge fan. I stayed in their new condo tower, which was nice, and I enjoyed their workout facilities. But that's about it. In general, the place seemed a bit small and shabby. Oh well. Most of my time in Vegas was spent in meetings anyhow; I did get to scarf down a great meal in the Summerlin neighborhood at Vintner Grill. I had the summer salad which consisted of arugula, shrimp, avocado, fennel, orange segments, toasted almonds and some kind of lemon vinaigrette. It was light and flavorful. The restaurant is also very elegant and relaxed in soft greens and whites. Altogether a nice surprise from my usual Vegas strip experience.
I am very happy to be back home in Austin. While I love to travel, I hate to fly and, after close to 50 flights thus far this year, I am so happy to have a slight respite.
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