Saturday night we heard the San Francisco Symphony, under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT), play a wonderful program: Copeland's music from the film "Our Town," Berg's "Three Pieces for Orchestra" and Brahms Symphony No. 1.
San Francisco is so lucky to have MTT as its conductor and Saturday's performance was no exception to his excellence. Since the Berg piece was a bit complicated, and even shocking, MTT spent a few minutes before starting it, talking to the audience about its complexity and playing short examples to demonstrate his explanations. While the Berg was not my favorite, I certainly appreciated it as it was played, thanks to MTT's mini-lecture.
As we always do, we dined at one the nearby restaurants before the performance. This time it was Absinthe. I love the ambiance of Absinthe with its stylized French murals on the dining room walls.
We haven't been to Absinthe in over a year and were a bit surprised that the entrée prices have increased. Most entrées are about $30..higher than most restaurants in the neighborhood.
But, we did enjoy a pleasant meal and were seated at my favorite table, a corner booth in the main dining room that allows both of us to look out onto the dining room from our cozy corner.
I started with a cup of Squash Purée, a thick squash soup flavored with ginger and topped with toasted almonds and crème fraîche. Jim chose the French Onion Soup.
For entrées, we both ordered the Grilled Scallops...three grilled scallops on a bed of sunchoke purée, baby artichokes, fennel and wilted chard.
To end our meal, we shared a selection from the Cheese menu which offers about a dozen cheeses. Our choice was the Portuguese Toledo cheese which was accompanied by medjool dates and toasted raisin bread.
A nice San Francisco evening of food and culture.
1 comment:
Hmmmm, that dinner looks wonderful. Glad you had such a lovely evening!
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