Now this post is gonna be a real treat. I was lucky enough to go to the acclaimed Michael Mina with my dad and Geoff. Michael Mina has a very strong pedigree, with a history that includes Aqua and Charles Nob Hill (but also the ill-fated Redwood Park). The Aqua empire has spread quite significantly, with major projects going on at the Bellagio and MGM Grand in Las Vegas as well. Michael Mina is Mina's new flagship, right at the heart of Union Square in the St. Francis Hotel, and is probably the hottest restaurant opening of 2004. Geoff was a bit excited for this meal because he apparently saw a Food Network special back home about the construction of this place. The restaurant is in the hotel lobby, up some stairs in a massive, open-air space. The decor is clean and simple, with huge columns rising up to the ceiling. The result is a dining room that is at once professional (even formal) but at the same time comforting and relaxed. Simply put - the place looks great. The place has a few options for ordering. You can get a $78 three-course meal, which is deceiving because each course takes an ingredient and serves it in a multitude of different ways (as many as six!). There are also two $120 seven-course tasting menu options - one is a seasonal tasting menu, while the other is Michael's classic menu, which includes many of the dishes that made Mina famous. I chose the classic menu.

osetra caviar, creme fraiche, smoked salmon, egg, fried potato cake This was the freebie opener. My dad and Geoff, who both got the seasonal tasting, got a slightly different caviar based dish. This thing was delicious. I've never particularly loved caviar, but in this dish it was perfect, a great combination with the salmon and the potato cake. I thought it was a little funny to combine caviar with something as simple as a hash brown, but I love hash browns, and it turns out they're a perfect starch to soak up the saltiness of the caviar and the salmon. It was also pretty decently sized - perhaps too big to be considered an amuse bouche!

ahi tuna tartare, scotch bonnet peppers, sesame oil Tuna tartare seems pretty much ubiquitous nowadays, but I think Mina deserves credit for popularizing the dish at Aqua - it's still the restaurant's specialty. Michael Mina's tuna tartare is mixed at the table as it should be, and as delicious as I remember it at Aqua. I think the thing that really makes this tartare is the use of scotch bonnet (aka habanero), which gives the tuna a legitimate kick that is not found in any other version I've tried.

lobster pot pie, brandied lobster cream, seasonal vegetables I wish I could have gotten a picture of this as it was being served. It came out still in the pot, with the pie pastry still covering it. The waiter served it by peeling the pie (almost like a puff pastry) off, putting it on the plate, then carefully placing the ingredients and pouring the sauce over it all. As a result the pie part is kind of buried, but believe me it's there, under the lobster. And boy was it delicious - tender lobster, flaky pie, and a mouthwatering sauce. It was almost like an extremely rich lobster bisque. As you have probably guessed, I soaked up every last drop with my bread.

miso glazed sea bass in consomme, shiitake, bok choy, scallop dumpling I'm often a bit weary about these Asian-style Western dishes, but this one was excellent. The fish was cooked perfectly and melted in my mouth. Neither the soy nor the miso were overpowering. The scallop dumpling was creative and delicious, though I admit the skin was not as good as a great Chinese dumpling's can be.

roasted foie gras, maui gold pineapple, young ginger The menu listed just the roasted foie gras, but there was also a torchon which you can see at the back. Both were good, but I preferred the hot one. It had a nice subtle glaze, and didn't have the big chunks of overly sweet candied fruit that foie gras always seems to come with. The brioche was nice as well.

pan fried poussin, truffled macaroni and cheese By far, the lowlight of the meal. My dad, also underwhelmed by his poultry course, played devil's advocate and argued that poultry is often the hardest course to make "special" so to speak. My poussin was just okay, but I remember a few bites of it being a little dry. The macaroni and cheese had too much cheese and sauce going on to really get a good taste of truffle. The only disappointing dish of the night. The side of veggies (I think that's broccolini!) was crisp and delicious.

steak rossini, seared foie gras, pinot noir sauce The steak course almost made me order the seasonal tasting - their version had some kind of Kobe rib roast that sounded great. But I was reassured by the presence of the seared foie gras and soldiered on. This dish, though not quite as good as the Kobe version across the table, was still wonderful. The sauce was a great complement, perhaps even more so to the foie gras than to the steak. The side was a sort of potato au gratin, and very yummy.

banana tarte tatin, caramel sauce, cinnamon ice cream Whatever points the classic menu lost to the seasonal one on the steak course, they were made up with dessert. This banana tarte tatin really hit on all cylinders. The tarte was smooth, rich, and not too sweet. The intense banana flavor matched with the subtle cinnamon ice cream was a perfect combination. In other words, I really, really liked this dessert.

milk chocolate bon bons with espresso ice cream, dark chocolate bon bons with raspberry sorbet From what I understand, every meal at Michael Mina ends with the presentation of these bon bons in 2 flavors. They were both delicious and refreshing... I just wish I had a box of them in my freezer. The presentation was delightful. Overall, our meal at Michael Mina was fabulous, even despite high expectations going in. Only the poussin wasn't extremely good (that doesn't mean it was bad - just decent), and I'll let them slide on 1 out of 9 items. The service was impeccably professional, and not the least bit pretentious or snotty, especially given that Geoff and I were proabbly by far the two youngest people in the whole restaurant. Also note that my shoddy photography does not do justice to the presentation of the dishes - everything looked as beautiful as it tasted. Some of the dishes from the regular 3 course tasting that we saw floating around the room looked even more impressive. Mina apparently spent a significant amount of time designing china and plates and whatnot, and you can tell some of them are custom-made specifically for certain things on the menu. My dad thinks Michael Mina is now the place to be in SF proper for high-end fancy dining, and from what I've tried I think I can agree.

A few days after I got back from Vancouver, Geoff came down to SF to visit for the first time in a long time. Our first dinner was at Foreign Cinema, a place in the Mission. The place is themed around, you guessed it, a cinema. After entering, you walk through a long corridor before entering a large, open room. Usually, they'll have a movie being projected onto a massive wall while you eat. There is also an upstairs section which I didn't get to check out. It's a very interesting setting and hard to describe - you should go check it out yourself if you can! I'm sure the film buffs love this place.

baked fromage d'Affinois, finnish potato and roasted garlic - $10

beef carpaccio, dijon sauce, waffle chips, fried herbs & capers, cress - $10

sea scallops & mussels, saffron-fennel broth, romesco, aioli, arugula, chapons - $22 The food is a vague mix of French, Italian, and some Mediterranean... I it's guess best described as Californian, like so many restaurants nowadays. The fromage, under the heading "Urban Picnic (unleash the appetite!) is delicious. It was just a simple presentation of cheese, potatoes, and garlic, but the three ingredients went together extremely well. The baked fromage was extremely smooth and creamy, with a fairly mild flavor - a great complement to garlic and potatoes. I loved the dijon sauce on the carpaccio; I'm always glad to see something more than olive oil. After trying the original carpaccio at Harry's Bar in Venice, I really feel that carpaccio deserves some type of aioli/mayo sauce, and this dijon fit the bill. The waffle chips were a bit too salty though. The scallops and mussels were a nice twist on bouillabaisse, using seared scallops which I thought was a great idea. The saffron lended some color without overpowering the dish, and the broth was delicious. I also loved the romesco (like a red version of rouille using some nuts and red peppers) which can be seen on the big crouton. Foreign Cinema is definitely worth a visit. It's also a great option for bringing guests or out of towners - the place has a unique character to it. The whole them is interesting and a lot of fun.

My dad really beat the rush in spotting Myth, the new restaurant featuring Sean O'Brien, former sous-chef of Gary Danko. It occupies the space that was formerly MC Squared, and is just a minute from the apartment. We went just after the new year, and the place was still quite empty and quiet. The space is absolutely gorgeous - clean, modern, refined, and comfortable, all without being at all tacky or cold. I personally thought that MC Square's design was very cool, but many people thought it felt a bit soul-less. Myth certainly isn't guilty of the same. To be honest, I think Myth has one of the nicest designs of any restaurant I can remember going to for a long time. The aesthetic is at once simple and beautiful. There's also a nice bar at the entrance that seems like a great place to get a drink. Anyway, like I said, my dad was keen enough to spot this place before a lot of others. It looks like Michael Bauer at the Chronicle put out a glowing review a few weeks after we went, and the place has since been very hot.

garganelli pasta with foie gras cream and marsala - $8 The menu offers a commendable amount of flexibility. Basically, the pasta and the seafood dishes are both offered in appetizer or entree sizes. There are also a variety of other appetizers, as well as numerous meat entrees. I chose the garganelli as an app and the salmon as an entree. The garganelli is, without a doubt, one of the best and most interesting pastas I have had in a while. The description made it an immediate decision as soon as I saw it (foie gras cream? marsala? heaven?), and I was not disappointed. Garganelli, a sort of imperfectly-shaped tube pasta, is paired with a cream sauce that contains no big pieces or chunks of foie gras, yet bursts with foie gras flavor. Then again, as any who have cooked foie gras can attest too, the stuff tends to sort of melt into ooze after you cook it for a while. Mmm, foie gras ooze. The pomegranate seeds you see on top add an interesting sweet twist. This dish is just excellent in every way: it inventively uses ingredients both common and unusual to create a whole that is simply delicious.

citrus glazed salmon with lobster lemongrass sauce, king eryngiis, and basmati rice - $17

pear upside down cake with cr�me fraiche ice cream - $8 After such a great starter, I already knew there was little chance that my salmon would be able to keep up. As I soaked up the last bit of sauce in the pasta with my bread, I kinda just wished I'd ordered an app from the app list and gotten a bigger portion of the pasta. Luckily, the salmon dish was also great - skillfully-cooked, tasty, and well-matched with the buttery rice. It wasn't as good as the garganelli, but it was still good, and I happily enjoyed every last bite on my plate. My pear cake was decent but unspectacular - I'd probably order something else next time. All in all, I am happy to have Myth as a nearby option. Hopefully, its recent successes don't do anything to harm the quality of the food. The space is really wonderful and it's a great, comfortable place to eat. The garganelli is heavenly indeed, and, at $8 as an app or $14 as an entree, an absolute steal. Most of the entrees come in at around $20 or under, with just lamb chops and steak at $26. I'm sort of expecting the prices to go up though...