Give Me Some Food

Once upon a time, when I started teaching, I met my two teacher friends: Sarah and Amelia. We taught, we went to lunch, we wore denim jumpers and wooden jewelry. j/k (but why are teachers so drawn to these?) After four years Sarah and Amelia ditched. The end.

But not quite.  Amelia still lives in San Francisco and Sarah moved to Lincoln (a suburb of a suburb of Sac) to get pregnant. But every once in a while she’ll come into town. She just called last week:

 “Hey, I’ll be in town Tuesday.”

 “Great! I’ll cook you something!”

 “Actually I really wanted to go someplace that screams San Francisco. Really cool and hip.”

 So I had the choice of turning my living room into a hoppin’ club- or of picking a restaurant to go to. Bringing in strobe lights and beautiful people sipping mojitos was going to be a little expensive (and they probably wouldn’t all fit) so I decided we’d go out.

 When I told Amelia I had picked Medjool- she decided to be late for her class and join us for a drink before.

 “oh my god! I love Medjool. It’s like an all in one restaurant. It’s a bar and a café and a restaurant and a hostel.”

 Wait. Do I want my restaurant to also be a hostel? Because I don’t think I do. I thought this restaurant was hip, not granola. When it comes to food- I want places that are good at making food, not keeping traveling students for cheap by cutting corners. What corners will they cut? Will the old bedspreads become our napkins?

 “Amelia, are you sure? Have you been there?”

 “yeah yeah yeah…I’ll see you there at 6:30.”

 Then she hung up before I could protest. Oh well- I guess we’re going to Medjool.

Here's Amelia waiting for me out front.

It was a warm night and not too windy, so Amelia and I had a drink on the roof top terrace while we waited for Sarah. I hear they have brunch on the weekends which would be divine.  The view of the city is breathtaking and even if it is windy they have heaters. We each sipped a lemon drop and waited for Sarah to show up so she could tell Amelia that she was pregnant!

 Sarah I went downstairs (Amelia was off to class) and discovered the place all straight guys in
San Francisco want to know about. Medjool is hiding all of the attractive women in the city. Seriously. Here is a hint guys- you all go to these clubs and bars and all you see are other guys. Sausage Fest. Where can you go to find women?! I can name that tune in one note: Tapas. Women love these things because if they’re like me, they like to try many different things at once, or if they are not like me- they’re anorexic and can pretend they are eating when they aren’t.

 We ordered five dishes. Sarah remarked that she wanted to order one of every dessert – ha ha funny pregnant lady.

 

 Look at their eyes! All of the people here are soulless! Oh, maybe that’s just my camera.

 The menu is divided up into Southern European, Northern African, and Middle Eastern tapas. We ordered at least one from each category.

 So the food-  Most of the food neither impressed nor depressed me. I don’t remember the food that much because I was so busy talking to Sarah. At points I was laughing so hard,  I almost blew water out my nose.

There was a smoked duck on tomato bread, drizzled with olive oil that was especially good.

The tomato bread had a little sweetness to it that complimented the duck rather well. And the olive oil that was drizzled on top was buttery and thick.

There was also a green bean salad with tomatoes and onions that was especially good.

I know green beans are good for you and I’m always looking for other things to do with them. Serving them in vinaigrette with roasted onions and tomatoes seems like a good idea.

So in the end, I didn’t mind that Medjool was a hostel -it’s actually called the Elements Hotel- you can get a dorm bed for around 28$-  Book your reservations now!!

Medjool
2522 Mission (bet 21st and 22nd(
415-550-9055
www.medjoolsf.com