And may they ever be

Among the great things about living in San Francisco is that its restaurant scene and dining opportunities are virtually unrivalled this side of NYC. It's been said that a new restaurant opens every day (which means that nearly as many close their doors). It's also been said that you could eat out at a different joint every meal and never eat at the same place twice due to the sheer number of restaurants and the fact that with the turnover, you'd forever be playing catch-up.

Of course, when faced with all these options, it can be very difficult to choose between them. Or when someone asks for recommendations, well, I gotta have some criteria for whittling down the choices. Does the neighborhood mater? How about price range? Interior lighting? Wait staff attractiveness? Type of food? Because just deciding which sushi place is tough enough, so throwing in Greek, pasta, Thai, French, Persian, seafood, dim sum, Afghani,* or any of the bazillion other possibilities makes the task nigh on impossible.

Anyhoodle, all this is to say that it was difficult for me to come up with a list of a few dining options when Erica (of the Rawlins Ericas, best friend to Joy since forever) e-mailed me to say she and Jeffery would be visiting. Which, YAY!

So where I failed, they stepped up and were able to decide on the Bambuddha Lounge as the meeting place - a funky loungy place attached to an old motel (complete with swimming pool), with asian-fusion cuisine that turns into a rockin' bar on weekends. It was not particularly rockin' this evening, but the tunes were good, the food was tasty and the company, terrific!

Despite all I've heard about Erica in the years I've known Joy, I'd only actually met her and Jeffery once, at Joy's wedding. But hanging out with them over dinner it was as though we were old friends. I love that. (And they brought me a bottle of Jeffery's wine which I can't wait to try... I love that too!)

When I try out that wine, I'll raise a glass to good friends of good friends who are now good friends. I'm so glad they got in touch!


* Ok, scratch the Afghani off the list. The best Afghani restaurant in my neighborhood is closed because a giant chunk of hillside crashed into their building a few weeks ago. Stupid landslide. Now I'm craving pumpkin lamb ravioli.