The Mrs one "must-do" while in the Bay Area is pay a visit to the Westfield San Francisco Centre. Mostly window shopping but an occasional purchase here and there - she also found a new favorite shop, Edition by Banana Republic. I personally like cruising the basement market section, if not to purchase then simply to drool over the vast selection of foods. Of course shopping, even window shopping does require a lot of energy and energy replacement so "what's for lunch"?
We perused the restaurant offerings on the 4th level and selected Lark Creek Steak. Being a steak house, I had to start with that traditional steakhouse drink, the Manhattan. Since we did have dinner reservations later in the evening, we didn't want to stuff ourselves to capacity so we simply ordered one entree apiece. The Mrs decided on the Steakburger. Eight ounces of freshly ground steak cooked to your liking (medium rare) then topped with grilled onions, bibb lettuce, tomato and pickles and the Mrs added a slice of Gruyere. Served with 1/2 inch cut fries doubled cooked for that tender, baked potato like interior and crisp on the outside but not greasy. Our server James even brought 2 plates of ketchup for the fries (a big WOW from the Mrs since she always runs out of ketchup). She said it was the BEST burger she's EVER had to date. It was an excellent burger.
I selected the 6 ounce Filet Mignon Steak Tartare served with fries and baby greens along with Sauce Bearnaise. The overall service and accoutrements served was the BEST rendition of steak tartare I've had. And I've tried quite a few. Sometimes it's mixed tableside, sometimes there's hints of truffle oil in the meat, sometimes it's cubed vs ground meat but for the most part, the meat has always been very good in texture and flavor (duh, it's raw so the quality HAS to be good). But served alongside a baby green salad (to help cleanse the palate) and served with excellent fries and since I'm a mayo kind of guy with frites, the Sauce Bearnaise was icing on the cake. Along with a glass of 2006 Handley Pinot Noir, I was in taste bud heaven! James even told me the secret of the spicing addition to the meat but swore me to secrecy so you'll have to try it on your own.
We didn't intend on having dessert but since the Pear Crumble sounded so good, she had to try it. I continued on my semi-liquid diet and opted for the Mocha Martini... a perfect balance of chocolate and coffee that I immediately tried to copy it as soon as we returned home.
This was our 2nd visit to one of the Lark Creek Group's restaurants on this trip and on both occasions, they didn't disappoint!
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