I ate everything from ball park food at the Giants game to seafood (which I avoid in Oklahoma due to some irrational phobia about how far we are from the nearest ocean). I enjoyed food from mobile trucks that set up for lunch at various locations to places I should have dressed nicer to go in. There was 'diner' fare, complete with delicious breakfasts and rude waitresses. There was bar food from the Irish pub just down the street from my hotel where I had the best fish and chips I've ever eaten and not one but three Irish Coffees for desert.
"Don't leave San Francisco without going to The Bix", says my cousin who lived there for many years.
The Bix is a dinner club with a jazz flare in some inconspicuous alley somewhere that I would have never found without a recommendation. And it was a really cool place. I didn't eat dinner, just their Crab Rolls. I had the Crab Rolls and two Grey Goose martinis, and my friend had two Scotch concoctions and the bill was $73! Not exactly fast food prices. But the food was good and the club was incredible.
But so were a lot of other dining establishments.
The story that makes The Bix unique happened a couple of days later as I browsed through a local store looking for souvenirs. I tripped on to a book called 'Bixology', written by the cofounder. He tells the story of the club, how it came to be, who they intended would eat there, etc. He also tells the story of their specialty drinks, and drinking in general. Then he starts in on their food, the music they bring in and the concept of how all of these work together to create the experience they intend.
It's cool to find a good place. But it's even more cool to find a book about that place that explains what it is to eat there and all about the kind of people the Bix was designed for. I'm very much enjoying being inside the head of the guy who created this awesome place.
And Bixology is the perfect "Thank You" gift for my cousin. What else could I get her from SF that she doesn't already have after living there so long. She will love the gift - and will receive it promptly, right after I finish reading it!