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

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

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 ). 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.