One of my friends is renting out a condo in San Francisco just 5 blocks from Union Square. (A junior 1 bedroom in a completely secured building. Lovely lobby with receptionist and rooftop patio access included if anyone’s interested!) G had a few appointments scheduled with prospective renters and asked if K and I would like to tag along for a little shopping and lunch immediately following. I said yes, but only if we could go to my favorite wine bar aka Press Club, too!

K and I hung out on the rooftop patio while waiting for G to finish up with her appointments.

Cityscape. And hey, it’s my favorite SF hotel The Intercontinental to the right of my head. On me: tee by Gap, shorts by Express, cardigan by I Love H81 for Forever 21, necklace by J Crew, bag by Burberry, watch by Fossil.

After a quick detour at one of my favorite home stores, CB2, G introduced us to lunch at the Rotunda in Neiman Marcus. It was exceptional. It’s appeal? Aside from the delish lobster club and Asian chicken salad I devoured (see below), the restaurant itself is situated under an immense glass dome on the 4th floor of the department store. The grandness of the architecture coupled with the top notch service and crisp white linens transport restaurant-goers to a completely different space and time where and when lunch was an event. Yes, the salads are $20+, but it sure beats the cost of a roundtrip flight to Europe or building a time machine!

Easy breezy sophisticated dining at The Rotunda Restaurant at Neiman Marcus.

Complimentary chicken consomme.

Salute!  Loved my Mumm Sparkling Wine. $13.

Warm melt-in-your-mouth GIANT popover with strawberry butter. These are complimentary, too!

I wasn’t exaggerating when I said they’re giant!

Grilled lemon shrimp salad. $24.

Lobster Club. $28.

Asian Chicken Salad. $20.

I’d love to return for high tea or a cocktail (they’ve got a beautiful full bar) sometime in the near future. Now if only I can do this and avoid their contemporary women’s and handbag collections because those are daaaaangerous territories! I literally had to round up and herd my friends out of Neimans, barking “FOCUS!” half-jokingly so we could get to Press Club and still have time to return to the South Bay for a birthday party. There was no way I wasn’t going to pop in when I was only one block away.

As always, Press Club was perfection. As I wrote in my Yelp update,

Press Club, you slay me every time. Even at 3 pm on Saturday afternoon.

I’d never been there that early before but yesterday I introduced two more friends to this place after lunch and shopping at Neiman Marcus. Now you can count them as fans, too. We were making plans to come back before we even left.

Things to know if you go early: the ambience isn’t quite as swanky but it is still sophisticated and inviting. As always, I didn’t want to leave even though the lights were a little brighter, the clientele was more casual, and no wine reps were on the floor to pour and talk about their wineries and wines (they show up at 5). You could still order light bites, glasses, and flights from Ray who was manning the main wine bar. I had a wonderful glass of Miner Family’s Pinot Noir ($20) and my friends had a Chardonnay flight ($18) and truffles ($?). All were top notch. We bought a bottle to go but like I said, we are already planning our trip back!

What I didn’t mention? Everything but the bottle of wine ended up being on the house. Awhile back I did a write up on my love affair with the wine bar and was contacted by the Director. She thanked me for the nice review and said my next glass of wine there would be on the house. Well, they went a full step further by treating my friends to the Chardonnay flight and truffles, too! K also received a good $20 off her $75 bottle of wine. However, one of the best perks I discovered from writing these reviews? It can start a dialogue and a relationship with your favorite places. As we were exiting I was approached by a man who turned out to be the Director on site that day. He wasn’t the one I’d initially been corresponding with, but he heard I was there and wanted to personally thank me for my review and for coming by again. Very cool.

I think I have also definitely changed my friends’ minds about food blogging. The first time K ever ate out with me I had to yell at her when she dove right into the food before I could get a photo. This time around both were into setting up photo ops for our food and libations!