San Francisco - Boulevard

Boulevard was to be our big meal of our trip as we were celebrating our third anniversary which is about 2 weeks from now. We were very excited about our first Michelin star restaurant experience.

We arrived a little bit early and had drinks at the bar. While we were there we saw a couple come in with a baby. To a fancy restaurant. And it was almost 9 at night. I was giving them the side-eye.

I started with the Crispy Maryland Softshell Crab with toasted garlic rice noodle salad, lime vinaigrette, red curry, and green papya relish. Absolutely loved the crab. Thought the noodles had a great taste. The Husband was not a fan of the noodles though.

The Husband had the Organic Heirloom Tomatoes with Italian bufala mozzarella, Bellwether Farms ricotta, Padron peppers, olive & fresh garbanzo relish, olio verde, and basil. Some of the best tomatoes we have ever tasted. The bufala mozzarella was to die for. And the ricotta was wonderful as well.

For dinner I had the Butter Poached New England Lobster with creamed Brentwood corn, summer frying peppers, fritto of cornmeal crusted baby corn & Padron peppers, and lobster nage. One of the best meals I have ever had. The lobster was amazing. Buttery and tender. The Husband was in love with the corn. It might have been his favorite part of the entire meal.

The Husband had the Wood Oven Roasted Angus Filet Mignon with fondant fingerling potatoes, blue cheese, celery salad, crispy bacon, spinach wilted with roasted shallot & trumpet mushrooms, warm mustard vinaigrette, and red wine beef jus. This was the disappointing part of the meal. We're from Chicago which is known for it's good steaks. This one just did not measure up. It was overcooked for what was requested and to me it just tasted bland and not very tender. The bacon was delicious though.

For dessert I had a cheese plate. I had the Melange cheese which came with some grapes, bread, and nuts. Heavenly. I just wish they gave you bigger pieces of cheese. I could eat just cheese for dinner.

The Husband had the stuffed chocolate chip cookies. He loved them. I'm not a huge chocolate fan so I thought they'd be better stuffed with vanilla ice cream to make ice cream sandwiches.

After dinner we headed to RN 74, Michael Mina's new wine bar for a drink at the recommendation of our concierge. We liked the hip but relaxed vibe of the place. They had a great looking menu that you could eat at the wine bar and late-night dining. Late-night dining is usually my favorite while drinking but Boulevard had stuffed us. I also liked that you can order smaller tastes than a whole glass which meant I could try more.

RN 74 is pretty upscale though. They had a glass of wine on the menu that was $65. A freakin' GLASS! That's like the same price as our bottle of wine at Boulevard. And most of the bottles we drink at home are $10 from Trader Joe's. So obviously a different class of place than we usually go to. Very nice though and I'd recommend it to wine lovers. Or even wine novices like myself. They had plenty of other wine available for reasonable prices.