Saturday, October 11, 2014

Trace at SF and More

Trace at the W in SFI have stayed at the W Hotel in San Francisco several time, but I had always ignored their restaurant Trace. Given all the great restaurants in downtown SF, I never gave it another thought.  Turns out Trace can be a great place for a dinner, especially if you are in the hotel and don’t want to venture out.  Like most trendy places in California that cater to the younger swish set, this one pairs fresh, local produce that is easy on the palate with smartly dressed, pretty waitstaff that are easy on the eye!

My Roasted Beet Salad was made of burrata, pistachio, lettuces and honey sourced from bees farmed right within the hotel premises.  The flavors and textures worked very well and augured a good experience for what was to come.  The freshly shucked oysters were delightful too.

Roasted Beet Salad at Trace

Oysters at Trace

The Roasted Chicken Leg Confit had been served with summer peppers, acorn squash, and green leeks.   Again, a great dish that I enjoyed.  I thought the combination worked pretty well, especially with the ‘moong’ lentils on which dish was assembled.

Roasted Chicken Leg Confit at Trace

The W also has a cool new gym now.  The last time I was here they were remodelling and I was happy to see the final result.  Very nice and very W!

The new gym in W SF

Having stayed off steaks for a while, I decided to give in to temptation and indulge one more time, this time at the popular Brazilian churrascaria, Fogo De Chao. No place can serve you so many different cuts all in the same meal. While they have a well-stocked salad bar, that’s not what the patrons come here for.  This place is for the red-meat carnivores!

Sirloin galore at Fogo de Chao.

All you need to do is turn up the card at your table green side up, and soon the gaucho waitstaff are at your table with large skewers of meat.

Gaucho waitstaff at Fogo de Chao

Meat bearing Picanha, the prime part of sirloin flavoured with sea salt. Filet Mignon, wrapped in bacon. Alcatra, a top sirloin. Fraldinha, the bottom sirloin. And that was only the beef.  There were cuts of lamb, pork, and chicken too.  The chicken hearts are particularly popular here.

Sides at Fogo de Chao

An interesting set of South American sides consisted of fried, carmelized bananas, corn bread and mashed potatoes.  And if you have a sweet tooth and still some space in your stomach after all that meat, the Tres Leches Cake is a must. The gooey, sweet goodness is something I can never resist.

Tres Leches Cake at Fogo de Chao

One of the things that made this trip to the USA unique was the President of the USA.  It almost seemed like he was following me around!  First my flight into JFK had been delayed because he was there, then he lands up in my own hotel here? As is inevitable, a rag-tag bunch of protestors with colourful placards were there too making a din about saying No to wars as nattily dressed people began arriving for the fund-raiser in the evening.

Protestors as Obama comes calling

As is my usual practice, no trip to San Fran is complete without one quick lunch at Osha’s 2nd Street restaurant.  The Angry Prawns and the Green Curry Fried Rice were everything the doctor had ordered on this cold, damp day.

Angry Prawns at Osho

Green Curry Rice

Thai food at Osho is just the comfort food I need to instantly warm me up whenever I feel a little depressed with the chilly, rainy SF weather that shows up often here.  The Green Curry rice was a new one on their menu and was completely delicious.  Hot, flavourful and substantive.

San Francisco at my feet

Finally, it was time to fly out.  As Singapore Airlines’ flight took off on a bright but cold day, the skies were clear and I could see the entire city laid out in its glory under me.  Now for the long flight over the Pacific to get to Singapore.  See you there!

2 comments:

anusia said...

Very nice food.Looks yummy and tasty. I wish I could have them.

Shantanu said...

@anusia: Thanks for visiting. All you need to do is plan a trip to SF!