CoH Northern California M&G 2010

So? Who's coming & when are you planning on getting in? Any idea where you'll be staying if at all?

Nosey questions to be sure, but you know me, I can't let the occasion go by without some sort of Justice shindig & the answers to these questions will help a lot with the planning. Especially since it will require more research on my part as I don't know San Francisco nearly as well as the South Bay.

Also, letting folks know you're coming might make the difference between whether they come or not, & it's always nice to have more familiar friendly faces show up.

Oh & for those looking for a place to stay, the address for Elephant & Castle also looks to be the address for a hotel called Club Quarters. Can't get much closer than that. A quick Google search suggests rooms might be had for $191/night or less. Reviews on the site for the hotel indicate clean but small rooms for a decent price. I'm guessing those are decent for San Francisco prices, but I haven't really looked around.

Also nearby is Le Meridien indicating prices for $249/night & the Hilton San Francisco on Kearny (no prices indicated via the search).

Well that's it for this quick & dirty preliminary post. Hope to hear which folks will make it & open to suggestions for outings. Thus far I'm looking at a sort of late lunch, but am open to suggestions.

Hilton: double bed starting at $215 (about a 3 min walk)

Club Quarters: single bed starting at $159, King and sofa bed starting at $219

Hotel North Beach: single $55, two twin beds $80 (about a 5 min walk, I don't trust this one for some reason.... wonder if they have an hourly rate...)

Mandarin Oriental: Penthouse Suite with 2000 sq' for CA residents starting at $950 (5 minute walk/ 15 minute crawl)

hmmmm, wonder which one I'm gonna get...? After Party in my room?

<waves at Red_Gren>

Consider this my RSVP for a luncheon.

I'd love to, but I just can't justify the expense for a Meet and Greet.

Since I live in the Bay Area (Near a BART station, no less, making it easy to get into and out of the San Francisco area) and have nothing on my agenda that day, I should have very little trouble making it to this! A late lunch somewhere would certainly work for me as well, although I imagine it would help to have a meeting place in mind so that I know which BART stop to get off at.

My suggestion is that we should do a lunch or an early dinner in Chinatown. It is just couple of blocks away from Elephant and Castle.

I got word that TJ will be making it out & will be coming in on Friday. Anyone else coming in early?

Still need to get in touch with friends about any recommendations or suggestions they might have, but one thing I've been toying with is checking out places featured on Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Inns & Dives"

Personally, I'd be up for doing a Chinatown lunch, but given my preference to include as many people as possible & TJ's aversion to asian cuisine, I'm hoping we can find another venue that is equally appealing to all involved.

Though I gotta say, now that you've mentioned it, I now want to figure a way to work in a meal in Chinatown sometime over the weekend. Ooh... Dim Sum on Sunday maybe? Anyway, since you're here & posting, any recommendations for places to go in Chinatown DD? (They don't have to be Dim Sum places, Dim Sum just occured to me as a possible good thing to do in San Francisco kind of thing. Any suggestion would be welcome!)

Wish that Blood Speaker and I could make it, but still being unemployed...

Raise a glass or two for us, though, please?

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I plan to fly up Friday night and have plans to stay in the City until Sunday afternoon. I would love to get together for a meal outing or two. Looking forward to seeing those who can make it this year.

Enough dawdling. So here's a few ideas that I'm going to throw out & see what sticks to the wall.

Really close to the M&G is the Ferry Marketplace which will have a farmer's market going on as well as a number of restaurants, cafes & small eateries to choose from. We could potentially go there for lunch & then hang out until the M&G.

The Triple D options:
Closest to the M&G are
Dottie's - featured in the "Comfort Cookin'" episode (Breakfast & burgers)
Grubstake Diner - featured in "One of a Kind" (Burgers, salads, sandwiches, steaks, chops & chicken)
Rocco's Cafe - featured in "All Over the Map" (Italian style - soup, salad, pasta, entrees & sandwiches , also does breakfast)
Tommy's Joynt - featured in "Long Time Legends" (Hof brau style eatery w a buffalo stew & buffalo chili)

tremorr suggested both
Buca Di Beppo
Brenda's Soul Food

DD suggested lunch in Chinatown

Comments/opinons from those coming?

For myself, I plan on taking Friday off & getting a room for Friday & Saturday nights. I'll have the car & should be able to cart 3 others around if we need to drive anywhere. (Which I'll try to minimize as I HATE driving in San Francisco. Probably because I don't do it often enough, but *shrug* whatever.) My plan is to try out a couple of the places on the triple D list over the "extended weekend." Brenda's looks interesting too.

I'm late to the party as usual, but Dottie's sounds terrific. I remember that episode. I can't confirm if I can make the lunch, but I will be at the M&G. If anyone does not have hotel room reservations and needs them, send me a PM. I can get rooms starting at $139 at the prestigious Fairmont San Francisco.

When is this thing again?

Sorry that I've been slacking. I've not seen widespread enthusiasm for a get-together & so I've not felt an urgent need to make any decisions.

Looking at the hours of the places mentioned above, the Grubstake Diner looks like it could provide the widest window for folks to gather, lunch, & schmooze without having to make reservations (since I don't know who's coming or when). Since we were talking a late lunch, say we meet up there around 2pm? That should be late enough for there not to be a busy lunch crowd & we should finish up there early enough for those who want to then retire back to their hotels to freshen up for the M&G @ 7pm.

So... the details:
When: 2pm, November 06, 2010
Where: The Grubstake Diner, 1525 Pine St.

It's a little over a mile from the Civic Center BART station going up Polk St. Things I noticed off Google Maps, you'll be passing Brenda's French Soulfood that tremorr mentioned, & in no particular order... passing near the Mitchel Brother's O'Farrell Theatre, the Great American Music Hall, the Lush Lounge, Loveslap Recording, SNOB Wine Bar & Lounge...
The Grubstake Diner is also about 1.4 miles from the M&G site for those not needing to retire back to their hotels. As DD pointed out, Chinatown is close to the location of the M&G and wouldn't be a huge detour if you were to walk from the Grubstake to Elephant & Castle.

N.B. Not being a resident of San Francisco & not using a topographical map, I haven't the slightest idea what hills or seedy neighborhoods you may encounter.

For those that want to check out the menu ahead of time, the website for the Grubstake can be found here. There are menus for Breakfast (served all day) as well as for Lunch & Dinner, Wines and Beers, Beverages and The Portugese Corner.

Hope you all have fun. I'll have to live vicariously through TJ since I can't make it. I'm sure he'll tell me all about the weekend and the people, so much so that I may have to threaten him to get him to shut up.

Having looked at some of the reviews, it's likely a good thing that Dottie's wasn't the choice. While the food is reportedly extremely good, the long lines and wait times wouldn't really be conducive to a gathering like what I've seen from previous Justice dinners.

EDIT: TJ is thinking of going either to Holder's for Bacon Waffles or possibly to Stack's in SF for Bacon Waffles on Saturday morning.