Dining

Side Dish

Gone Fishin', Where's the Dancing Baby?, Paper Moon, and New Kids on the Block

A A A Comments By Harry Coverte Wednesday, Dec 8 1999

Gone Fishin'
What does Boulevard know that other San Francisco restaurants don't? The city's most popular dining room is shutting its doors this New Year's Eve. Along with the employees of other Embarcadero and Union Square restaurants, Nancy Oakes' staff will have the night off -- but that's not why the restaurant decided to close.

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Boulevard

1 Mission (at Steuart)
San Francisco, CA 94105

Category: Restaurant > American

Region: Embarcadero

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For some restaurants, NYE is the most lucrative night of the year, especially with the pre-millennial gouge that's successfully unencumbering revelers of their cash in 1999 (Charge it! The Y2K bug is your friend!), but a few establishments are closing rather than risk the riots and drunken sloppiness that have marred past celebrations. After all, it's hard to justify feeding someone a luxurious five- or six-course, $300 dinner while people are throwing plastic cups of cheap beer around and yelling, "Show us your tits!" outside the window. Nuff said.

It's OK to close once every thousand years. I'm staying at home.

Where's the Dancing Baby?
The wispy, waify Ms. McBeal, Calista Flockhart, was blown into a chair at the Grand Cafe last week. She ordered a Caesar salad -- no dressing, no croutons -- and plain grilled chicken breast -- no oil, no skin. For some reason this is news. Now we know firsthand how she keeps that, um, girlish figure.

Paper Moon
Elan Vital, the hidden gem of Hyde Street, has called it a day. The space will reopen with new owners and a new concept in a couple of weeks as Luna Rosa, an affordable Italian spot run by Stefano Coppola (no relation) of Ideale. Meanwhile, you can still eat the creative dishes of chefs Ruth Schimmelpfennig and Will Dodson at their other restaurant, Frascati.

New Kids on the Block
The Boulangerie, San Francisco's own little taste of Paris, has broken ground on its second location, right next door to La Folie.

Tapas out, sushi in? A new fish and seaweed joint, Mos Sake, has appeared in the old Babaloo spot on Lombard. Good luck in a difficult location.

Know something Harry doesn't? E-mail Coverte@aol.com and sweep the dirt out from under the rug.

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