CORTEZ

Ok. There seems to be a conquistador theme creeping into my life right now, for some strange reason. First with The Fountain. Then, Montezuma's revenge struck close to home (not me but my neighbor). Now, the restaurant... Cortez was pretty awesome. All month in San Francisco, several restaurants were offering a "Dine About Town" special menu, including Cortez. The chef is also a baker, and he makes, by far, the best bread in town - something called Bay Bread... simply melts in your mouth. Just talking about it is making me hungry. Otherwise, it's quite a fusion - pseudo-Mediterranean meets tapas with aspects of California nouveau...

Fusion. You'll find just about every restaurant in Northern California has a "fusion" character.

MoFo, CaGa and ErSe helped polish off the Bordeaux during the 3-course meal. The cocktails we all had beforehand were pretty fancy, too. The tawny port that came during dessert, though, was mine, all mine...