SFO Veggie-DO 1/5
 

jrblack is coming to the Bay Area for among other things a MR. It seems like the perfect opportunity to have a do. We plan to go to Millenium's
Anyone interested in joining us?

Details so far:

Date: 1/5/2005
Time:1830

Venue:

Millenium
Savoy Hotel
580 Geary St. (at Jones St.)
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-345-3900
www.millenniumrestaurant.com

Parking: On street parking on O'Farrell (1 block South of Geary) becomes legal at 6 PM. If you arrive soon after six, you can probably snag a spot. There are some garages on Geary, Taylor, and O'Farrell. If you can't snag street parking and don't mind a bit of a walk (about a half mile), the Sutter-Stockton Garage will likely be the cheapest alternative.

Those on expense accounts can avail themselves of the valet parking.

Attendees:

Confirmed:
VPescado
letiole
violist
TravelKhatt
jrblack + 1 (Debby)
T-wiz
KathyWdrf

Maybe:
mahasamatman

What? No chicken feet or steak or critters that live in the sea? Am I on the right board? ;)

I'm in.

Considering that this is happening in the Bay Area, i would love to attend my first DO as a FT'er. But, being a thursday its unlikely i can make it. Things will be busy at work right after the holidays.

violist is in ... $234 for the BOS-OAK turnaround with connex
in LAX outbound, ORD return ($229 with ORD both ways)
(got a premium seating offer for an additional $390 for all
legs; didn't take it, although $619 for confirmed first is pretty
good, insofar as in the 1980s I was paying that for coach) :
163/6505 arr 3:39 pm
1212/563 lv 11:20 pm


Would prefer the place to be nearer BART as I probably have to
be on the subway before 10.

ML

we might be in!
 

I recommend not greens as they can be a pain about groups...but parking at Millenium sucks.

If pepole would consider the East Bay there is long life vegi house which is good and cheap in downtown berkeley

Herbivore in the Mission is close to BART and has public parking lot a block away for a dollar an hour...

I forgot about parking at Millenium. Greens would probably be better. You really think a group would be a problem on a Thursday night? We've done small groups with no problems. I guess we could see how many people are interested in give 'em a call.

violist: I could give you a ride to the closest BART station.

I'm in. I am quite interested to meet this Dr. Black who seems to have become such a crucial penpal for my Vinnie, and it will be lovely to see the rest of the usual SF dining suspects (plus bonus Bostonian violist!). I've been wanting to get to Greens for years, for both food and location reasons. I see where the SF Chron's main restaurant guy revisited it this last Spring and included it in their Top 100, if that means anything to anyone:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/listin...nue?vid=181375

Greens IS awesome!
 

I was only remarking that they haven't (in my experience) been very helpful for groups larger than 6 or so...they don't make much of an effort to make sure you have tables together and have stuck groups have been with in odd places.

And my experience is also that Greens is very busy Th-Sun....

But if that's the consensus I hope we can make it.

Closest BART is likely Civic Center - a straight shot doen Van ness and a turn....

I'll come too! And I'll bring a friend.

She hates to fly, but she does log some air-time (on the sharp end of a climbing rope :p ). But more importantly, she's a great person, fun to talk to, and a highly-adventurous eater.

I'm a maybe at this point. Probably won't know for sure until a week or so beforehand.

If it's lunch, I can definitely make it. If it's dinner, I'm a maybe.

As John has meetings in the South Bay during the day on Thursday, this will need to be a dinner and we probably want to stick to the city (as opposed to the East Bay) as John has early morning meetings as well.

So:

Herbivore and Green's seem to be the two options at this point. (my informal and entirely unscientific poll shows more folks favoring Greens, but this assumes that Green's promises to behave as far as seating us). I don't have a strong opinion, unless someone can tell me which one has a closer Steak House so I can get some real food after it is all over.

Can't make this one, alas, got a fairly early flight the following morning to Japan. But I'm a dedicated carnivore and I have nonetheless really enjoyed Greens every time I've been there, so if I could vote, that would surely be my choice. Good wine choices, too.

Edited to add: The Ft. Mason foundation is trying really hard to figure out how to charge for parking there, so think of all the money you save by going to Greens before that happens.
:)

Greens is on OpenTable.com and shows availability on that date. Might have to eat a little early or late, though. @:-)

After long painful interactions with vegitarian restaurants and careful consideration of the guest of honor's time constraints, it has been decided that we will be dining at Millenium. My apologies to those driving. I will look into cheap lots nearby and post a followup. This should be easy however for those wanting easy access to public transport.

Thanks, V, for doing this. Millennium sounds good, albeit a tad pricy.
Was wondering if we would get a wider range of takers were we to
do something more modest (or just a different range?) next time.

If they weren't closed for a company vacation in early January I would have picked geranium which is much more moderately priced. Other less expensive veggie type places would have been likely if it wasn't for time and geography constraints.

I'd like to but am not really fond of going into the city. I'll sit and wait patiently until something is going on a little closer in to me...

:( :rolleyes: :cool:

Well, you can always volunteer to organize one yourself! That way, you get to pick the venue and see who comes! ;) @:-)

A little OT, but the one time I put together a FT dinner in the East Bay everyone who came except for me lived in San Francisco.

Isn't Brentwood that little fruit stand out by Stockton :p

Greens can handle groups just fine. Call them directly.

Advantages: great food, great view, great parking.

Disadvantages: not close to BART.

Assuming that your definition of fine includes "seating either at 6.00 or 8.45 and no time in between."

Neither of which would work for us.

My apologies.

My comment was general, not of the specific day, in response to the statement that Green does not handle groups well.

Not a problem - I just wanted to make clear that I did due dilligence on this one.

BTW I think the set seating times for large groups is a daily thing with them and not due to existing reservations.

After the MR seminar in Mt.View, have been looking forward to an SF-DO ... but I'm just too much of a carnivore for this event. :(

(Plus it looks like I need a couple of thousand more posts to be in the same league with most of the rest of you! :D )

Hi, I realize Greens won't work for this event, but just so people won't discount it for their own gatherings, only groups of more than 10 are usually relegated to early or late. Less than that and they can give you a regular booking - existing reservations permitting.

Construction is also underway on a new room for group events.

I am not sure if I can make this DO, but I will check back in with you all.

Best wishes,

Time to firm up reservations
 

The current reservation is for 10 folks. Including everyone on the "Maybe" list, we have 11. Please let me know if you want to be put on the confirmed list.

If we get more than 10 interested, I will call Millenium and see if we can adjust the reservation.

Say it's not so...

The Baron Beef Von Zeppelin going to a "vegetarian" restaurant!!

Oh, the humanity...

Meat-Mania will never be the same again! :D :D

I'm pretty sure I will be able to attend. ^

Alas, I cannot. :(

Would anyone be interested in drinks afterwards at the Hilton or elsewhere around Union Sq.? I don't get in until 8:30 p.m., so I'll miss most, if not all, of the dinner.

Last chance to confirm your seat. I will be calling the restaurant tomorrow to trim the reservation to the number that have confirmed.

we are no's - sorry to miss it!
 

have fun!

Squeakr - sorry to miss you and Mr. Squeakr.

letiole and KathyWdrf - I've updated the first post with some parking advice.

Reservation is under the name of "Fisher".

Is this for Jan 5th or May 1st? Day/Month/Year is the standard in Canada but somehow I am thinking this is for Jan 5th right?

Correct - Jan 5.

This is why I always post events with the month spelled out rather than numeric, as in for example: "NYC Deli Do: Lunch @ 2nd Ave Deli, Saturday, January 7." No possible ambiguity there (other than the year ;) ). I think it's good to include the day of week in the title as well. @:-)