A reminder for foodies: If you participate in a Zagat Survey by rating restaurants or other venues on their website, you get a free copy of the corresponding printed guide when it comes out, usually a few months after the survey period.
The San Francisco restaurant survey is now open through next Sunday, March 29, and the New York and L.A. restaurant surveys are also open. In order to vote, you need a Zagat account, but it’s free to register. I’ve done this for a few years now, and while there is always a lot of info out there on the web for restaurant research (hello, Yelp), it’s sometimes handy to have the little red Zagat guide.
Last Sunday Thom and I ended up having an impromptu afternoon at a few westside San Francisco spots. We were looking for a place to have brunch, and we decided on the Park Chalet, which is just behind its more visible sibling, the Beach Chalet, on Great Highway. They have a buffet brunch on Sundays; I think my favorite thing was the crème brûlée french toast, yum.
Afterward we went across the street to Ocean Beach and walked around for a bit, then drove up to the Legion of Honor museum, where we happened to arrive just as the weekly organ concert was starting. All great sights, so that means another video! And a few additional photos (map) are up on Flickr.
When I tested the video with my focus group, i.e., Thom, he said the music for the Ocean Beach segment was “very 90210.” Ha!
A couple of weekends ago we had some gorgeous weather, so Thom and I decided to go out in the afternoon. We had brunch at Nini’s, which was recommended to us by Espie. It’s a old-school coffee shop tucked away in a residential area of San Mateo. We’d heard good things, and Nini’s didn’t disappoint. I had an omelette and especially liked the home fries.
I love Thom’s expression. He’s like, “Are you recording?!” Oh, I kid. He’s such a ham. (Mmm, ham.) And apparently I cannot put together a video without adding stock music.
Afterward we went to Coyote Point, the park in San Mateo that faces the bay and has a scenic vantage point for planes approaching SFO. Here’s another video, but first, a production note. I totally replaced the sound in the last few shots with sound effects from iMovie: jet flybys (because we had been talking inadvertently during that shot), and seagulls and waves (since the original sound was pretty weak). Though, it’s kind of funny; you see one seagull, but the sound effect is a whole flock. Ah, the birds! The invisible birds!
We wrapped up the day with a trip to the nearby Peninsula Humane Society (which is where we adopted Tiki and Mojo over a year ago now) and had a nice time visiting with the animals. So cute.