Good restaurant

Discovered a really tasty, cool new restaurant last night. La Mar Cebicheria Peruana at Pier 1 1/2 on Embarcadero. Sometimes I actually do get good recommendations from Yelp. It's a Peruvian restaurant that specializes in cebiche (which I guess is how they spell the Peruvian version of ceviche). I was wrong in thinking that on a Wednesday night we didn't need a reservation - despite the fact that the restaurant's dining room seemed to be quite large, they were already fully booked for the evening. However, they sat us at the relatively sparsely populated cebiche bar, which worked just fine for us (we also had the option of taking a table in the front bar section, but it was quieter by the cebiche bar). Service was quite prompt and attentive. Food was yummy. We got the cebiche tasting which was a sampler of the mixto, the chifa, the clasico, and the nikei, which were all quite yummy. The only odd thing is that they seem to cut the pieces of raw fish really large - like sashimi - while I'm used to the smaller pieces in Mexican ceviche. In fact, it almost felt more like sashimi with accompaniments than how I usually think of ceviche, but still good (actually there was a lot of Asian influence all around - evidently Chinese-Peruvian food is a whole subgenre). For entrees, I got the duo de pato, which was two different types of duck - a duck confit on a bed of risotto and a few slices of duck breast on a tasty potato base with some sort of Asian-influenced sauce. They were both good, though I found the duck breast a bit more to my taste. My bf got the atun, or ahi tuna, which was crusted and seared in 3 chunks, each on top of a different base. Also good. For dessert, even though we were stuffed, I tried the fried pumpkin and sweet potato fritters which came with a kind of syrup to dip them in (I think it was passionfruit infused syrup, but the dessert menu isn't on their website so I can't be sure). They were different, and good, but not incredibly interesting (they sounded more unique on the menu). Kind of a light, airy, fried dough, basically. Oh, and instead of bread, they gave us a huge basket of plantain, yam, and potato chips which we started off by dipping in the 3 sauces they gave us, and then ended up using to scoop up the cebiche. Good stuff. All in all definitely not a cheap meal, but one of the better restaurants we've tried.

Updating

This blog is *supposed* to more or less be a record of stuff I do so I can remember it later, so of course it's totally useless that I haven't been updating.

So, a quick recap, for my own gratification.

We've been to plenty of restaurants that were indifferent or disappointing. Stuff that sounded good but just didn't taste that good. Or wasn't as interesting as it should have been. Places like Zare at Fly Trap, a Mediterranean place with an interesting sounding menu but eh food, or Oola, which is just disappointing.

Some highlights that we tried and very much enjoyed:
Isa (3324 Steiner btwn Chestnut and Lombard in Marina). Cute little restaurant, super-tasty food. A nice surprise, worth the trip up to Marina.

Range (842 Valencia St, btwn 19th and Cunningham Pl in Mission). Went there recently and just thought the food tasted really good. Got a pork chop (very large, very tender and juicy) with squash puree (I love butternut squash soup, very close to that) and swiss chard (yummy and done way better than how Oola did it). My bf got the hangar steak which was tender and good, though we didn't quite like the side as much (mostly b/c kale is more bitter than chard). His appetizer salad was also good. Very yummy, I'd go back.

Can't remember much else except that I'm not so keen to return to Siam Thai - just not that good quality - and I'm annoyed because Koh Samui and the Monkey decided to give themselves an additional $2 in tip (good thing I check my credit card bill pretty closely).

Went to see A Bronx Tale - a one man play written by and starring Chazz Palmintieri that was the basis of a Robert De Niro movie several years ago. It was surprisingly good, surprising mostly because I'm not familiar with one man shows and wasn't sure at first about this one guy up there for an hour and a half talking, but Chazz Palmintieri was very good. Very compelling, very amusing, very touching, and very energetic.

Also went to see Spring Awakening. Not sure what I think about that show. The music was nice, I quite liked it, but lyrically I had no idea what was going on. I kept trying to listen as closely as possible but missed a lot of lyrics. The stuff I did catch, about 80% of the time, didn't seem directly related to what was going on. Or it was related, but in that more abstract pop kind of way. Not as direct or obvious as typical musical lyrics. Plotwise, it seemed like "what are all the bad things we can throw at these teenagers al at once?" and only worked as a function of the time period. It's a show I don't know if I'd recommend, to be honest, even though the cast were talented and energetic and young, and the music sounded good. Though maybe others would like it.

No skating shows for me this fall, since Kurt Browning pulled out of the two Disson shows he'd been in, due to his father's illness (luckily he's better), and I pulled out of the one show I did have a trip planned to due to a cold.

A number of weddings, though, including one I was in. Big, beautiful affair at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay where I was in the wedding party (strapless dresses don't stay on! makeup doesn't come off! hair looked weird! still lots of fun!), and a more low key, but still nice, affair the next day at the Marriott San Mateo. Lots of weddings this year, got another one coming up in November, and another in December...

Otherwise, still indulging my Doctor Who obsession by watching every special feature there is on the DVDs and all the Doctor Who Confidentials I downloaded (since the DVDs only have the "cutdown" version).

Enough of an update for now, I can't remember anything else =).

David Tennant

Evidently my last blog post was a collection of YouTube links for Neil Patrick Harris. Well my newest actor interest is David Tennant, aka the 10th Doctor Who, who's currently winning critical acclaim onstage with the RSC as Hamlet and Berowne (Love's Labour Lost). Aside from being an excellent Doctor in the new Doctor Who, and possessing an incredibly charming Scottish accent and personality in interviews (and DVD commentaries - he's a total Doctor Who geek/fanboy), he's been in quite a number of things on British TV over the years. YouTube is a treasure trove of links to his past performances, so I figured I'd use this blog as a place to keep track of the various things I've found, some of which I haven't even watched yet, for easy future reference.

This is obviously a post basically for me.

People Like Us - a mockumentary about acting, featuring David as a struggling young actor, being followed by a camera crew for a day. Very dry, absurd sense of humor played totally straight.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Takin' Over the Asylum - one of David's first professional roles, and apparently recently released on DVD due to its popularity on YouTube. About an aspiring (but failing) Scottish DJ who tries to restart a radio station at a mental asylum. Features David as a young manic-depressive in the institution, and lets us get to know a number of patients over the course of six episodes. This is actually a really touching series that presents mental disorders quite seriously.
Episode 1, Part 1
Episode 1, Part 2
Episode 1, Part 3
Episode 1, Part 4
Episode 1, Part 5
Episode 2, Part 1
Episode 2, Part 2
...this is taking too long since there are 30 parts. Follow the "related" links to find the rest.

Recovery - one of his best roles, IMO. About a regular man - a husband, father of two, and supervisor of a construction site - who is struck by a truck one day, sustaining serious head trauma and waking up completely different. He has trouble with his memory, has lost all his inhibitions, and is quite unable to function as an independent adult. His wife struggles to deal with this new man, and his children don't know how to react to him. He filmed this between seasons of Doctor Who, I think, and there's not a trace of the Doctor in his performance.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9

Sweet Night, Good Heart - short film, with David's character completely screwing up his attempt to break up with his girlfriend.

Nine and a half minutes - another short film, this one evidently a couple playing out a relationship in 9.5 minutes, though there are some puzzling things about it I haven't quite figured out.

Measure for Measure - a scene from Measure for Measure, from a Shakespeare documentary.

Only Human - evidently a BBC pilot that was never picked up. Kind of an odd concept - David as a private eye or something who suddenly gets an AI helper
Part 1
Part 2

Love in the 21st Century - I don't know anything about the series but David was in one episode. A woman just turning 30 is pressured by her mom and everyone around her into thinking she wants to have a baby, and so she starts resorting to rather unconventional measures to get one... David is the doctor who catches her eye as a potential father of her baby.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

The Chatterly Affair - just David's scene, playing a professor who testified at the trials surrounding the banning of Lady Chatterly's Affair.

Mrs. Bradley Mysteries - haven't seen this yet. David and Peter Davison (one of the previous Doctors) in a shortish clip from one episode of this series.

The Deputy - someone just uploaded this. David doesn't have a huge role, and given it's about the Deputy Prime Minister of Britain, it's not terribly fascinating to me, but I do kind of enjoy his part, particularly his interactions with the Deputy PM (he's an aide).
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

There's definitely a lot more - for instance, I haven't linked to anything from Blackpool, or Casanova (neither of which I've seen, both of which I've heard a lot of good about), and there are a number of other roles with clips on YouTube. But I'm kind of tired now and must do other things =).