The Dine About Town Halftime Report

The OpenTable Dine About Town Halftime Report is brought to you, in part, by VISA, The San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau and The Letter D.

So we're one week into Dine About Town and I've already hit up three restaurants in seven days: XYZ, Luce and One Market. I would have hit a fourth but, sadly, Jeanty at Jack's closed the weekend before I called it one of my go-to places for downtown dining. Bistro Jeanty in Y-Ville remains open, so I can still get my tomato soup fix when needed, but I'll prolly never see The Secret League of Culinary Francophiles Robohostess again! /cry. And, let's face it, Yountville is a serious trek compared to hopping on a BART train, but in an age where places like Aqua are (allegedly) having financial problems it's not surprising to see places close their doors for good. Still, it will definitely be missed.

But, on to better news! First off, my assertion that Dine About Town more or less amounts to getting a free dessert or starter was wrong, particularly at lunch. It's more like $5+ of your meal AND a free dessert/app. For example, the tuna that The Hottie had at Luce is normally $19. You don't need to break out the spreadsheet app on your Blackberry to see that 3-courses for $21.95 is therefore a he|| of a deal. And, thus far, it's the same sizes as regular menu items as well. In fact, when the server from XYZ brought out The Hottie's ginormous ham croque & salad he commented that “I thought we were giving half-portions for Dine About Town...I guess not”. (BTW, the same server gave The Hottie the single largest pour of wine in the history of dining out. Seriously, there was m-a-y-b-e 1 cm left empty in the glass by the time he was done pouring – and it wasn't a particularly small glass. Best of all the “Wine - LUNCH” as it showed on the receipt was a whopping six bucks. The Hottie went back to work happy)

Also, places seem to have embraced Dine About Town a little more. XYZ and One Market had the Dine About Town Menu's printed on the regular menu while Luce had a separate menu presented to us as we were sat – so no 'asking' for the special menu was necessary. In fact, One Market had two different offerings (one with pricier mains and desserts for an additional charger) AND a special wine pairing. Much like the aforementioned tuna, the wine was a steal. It's was $14 for the pairing but the first glass (a pinot grigio) was regularly $12 so, basically, the second glass was free. And this was AFTER The Hottie has a Green Flash at the bar. A delicious concoction of Hendricks gin muddled with cucumber, kiwi that had something to do with San Francisco Happy Drink Special Time (or some junk). Apparently, One Market is too upscale for a “Happy Hour”, so they give it a different euphemistic name so we won't notice o_O

And if you're beginning to notice that The Hottie is a bit of a lush...yeah. I'm not saying she is...I'm just sayin'

Finally, I wouldn't be surprised one bit if Dine About Town got “extended” an extra week or two. L.A. extended theirs last year and, if it's packing the booths and making less Open Tables (That's a pun, son - get it! Okay...that was pretty lame...but I'm not taking it out...so there) I can easily see restaurants wanting to keep it going. In fact, One Market had a little insert with the check, announcing that they would already be extending the promotion AND debuting a new Dine About Town menu for the extra two weeks. Nomnomnom.

Next week: Hard Target – L.A.