Feelin' Crabby (again)

It was back to San Francisco again today for round 2 of Says You.   We heard yesterday that the Jewish Community Center was having a Gershwin exhibit on the upper floor and we decided to get there before the crowd and check it out.   The weather driving down was glorious, but when we got into the city, into the full sun downtown, we could see the thick fog on Twin Peaks.

The Jewish Community Center is about at the level of the middle of San Francisco, perhaps a bit closer to the ocean, so by the time we got that far out, we had completely lost the sun and were deep in fog and cold wind, which I figured was just great for my cold.  (If this is my last entry, know that I died in the night!)

We got to the JCC 2 hours before the show and had plenty of time to look at all the memorabilia, most of which were original covers of sheet music, but also delightful things like this list of things George liked and didn't like (perhaps his version of a meme!)

There were lots of awards -- Emmys, Congressional Medal, Grammys, etc.  But naturally the one that caught my eyes was this Academy Award nomination.

We left the exhibit and went to the cafeteria to get a gnosh before the show.  Tony Kahn saw us when he was walking in with the rest of the cast and stopped to talk.  Then we went into the show and during the mic check, Tony shared with the audience the e-mail I had sent to him last night (saying that when the 7 cast members walked through the lobby it was like the 7 dwarfs walking through Disneyland).

When the show was over, we chatted a bit more with Tony in the lobby and then came the highlight of the day.  We watch a TV show on the San Francisco public TV station.  It's called "Check Please, Bay Area."   I have heard there are similar "Check Please" shows in other parts of the country.  We occasionally think how nice it would be to try such and such a restaurant.  It's what led me to Betty's Oceanview Diner in Berkeley, in fact.   Generally if the "average price per person without drinks" is expensive, we dismiss it.

But my ears perked up the night they reviewed Thanh Long in San Francisco.  I think you can run the video off the web site.   This is a crab restaurant.  Crab is their specialty.  Crab.   Dungeness crab.  Big Dungeness crabs!  I immediately put it into my cell phone in case we ever had the occasion to need a restaurant in San Francisco.

The place is waaaaay out in "the avenues."   In fact, if you go another block, you'll be swimming in the ocean.  The look of it is certainly nothing that is going to make you stop, if you are driving by, and decide to check it out.  In fact, you might wonder what exactly the building is.

But inside, it was an absolutely charming setting.

What is even better, it seemed like almost every table had a huge whole crab sitting on it, or bibbed people up to their elbows in crab meat.   I had come home.

We were seated at a table for two very close to two women at a table for two.  I couldn't help looking at what they had and asked them.  They had the whole roast crab, an seafood eggplant dish and garlic rice.  They were sucking meat out of a huge claw and making orgasmic sounds.  I naturally turned to the waiter and said "We'll have what they're having."

They tied big plastic bibs around our necks and brought the food and soon we, too, were sucking sweet warm crab meat out of huge claws and making orgasmic sounds ourselves.

The women had been right--it was fabulous.  And considering that we split the 3 dishes, though it was more than we usually spend for dinner, it wasn't THAT expensive.  I will go back again in a heartbeat!

Our "Says You Weekend" has been delightful from start to finish.  Any weekend that ends with a huge crab on my plate can't possibly be bad!