It's a LuLu

Only the blue haired set arrives at a restaurant at 4:30 p.m., right? Not necessarily.

Our hotel offered a great breakfast starting at 7 a.m. so we filled up early and set off to see the sights. Occasionally we would grab a bite, like those great slices of pizza at Za's in the Russian Hill area, but normally two meals a day were the norm.

LuLu's was not normal, in any sense of the word. Like I mentioned, it was in an unlikely spot for an upscale restaurant, near the auto repair shops south of Market. Once inside, you were struck by the modern decor, the wood fired oven that displayed most carnivore's delights slowing turning on the rotisserie and a bar that spanned the length of the room.

As we were the only customers at that hour, they offered us a choice from their limited menu. We had so many interesting choices from antipasti of leek, goat cheese and bacon tarts, or duck confit salad with frisee, blackberries and walnuts or wild mushroom pizza with fontina and thyme but finally settled on two entrees. We shared the garlic goat cheese ravioli with sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts and parmesan and the spit roasted rosemary chicken with arugula, aioli and prosciutto on chiabatta.

The wine list had 5 wine flights, two pages of wine by the glass and 29 pages of wine by the bottle. The list was broken down by country and some even by region and appellation. Prices ranged from 2005 Garnacha Tintorera "Castilla de Almansa" Bodegas Piqueras from Spain for $22 to a 2004 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti for $4885.00. We choose a glass of the 2004 Petit Chablis, Herve Azo from France and a 2005 King Ridge Pinot Noir from Oregon. Both complemented our meals.

Next time you are in San Francisco, put 816 Folsom Street on your list, bring your appetite and credit card because you should never put a price on a good time!