Sundays in My City - La Mediterranee, San Francisco - November 21, 2010
I moved to San Francisco in January of 1976. Three years later, La Mediterranee
opened at its Fillmore Street location, serving its wonderful Middle Eastern
specialties. Eventually, other locations opened but I frequented the Fillmore Street
locale most often. If I had a doctor's visit at CA Pacific Medical Center, I would
inevitably schedule it around the lunch hour so I could stop by La Mediterranee for their
wonder Baba Ghanoush or a Middle Eastern Plate. Once, when my son, Jeremy,
had badly sprained his ankle at football practice and we were headed for the CPMC
emergency room, I called and ordered food from La Mediterranee, knowing we would
be having a long night ahead of us. Other patients waiting in the ER were very envious
when the wonderful smells emanated from our plates.
Friday, a friend drove me over for my appointment with my urologist. After x-rays, I
got the go ahead to come back on Monday. Edith and I had found a great parking
place only a block from La Mediterranee so I took her there for lunch. Since there were
two of us, we splurged on their scrumptious Mediterranean Meza for two, with a
taste of most of their specialties. I must confess, many of the items were not on my
no fiber diet. I didn't figure indulging once in all this time would be a disaster.
Interior of La Mediterranee
There are many colorful dolls decorating the walls.
One of many bright tile table tops
My friend, Edith, perusing the menu - her first visit here
Only water this time....but my medicines are finally done so I'll
have wine again soon!
Dolmas, Mediterranean Potato Salad, and Levant Sanwiches
Baba Ghanoush, Tabuleh, Hummos
Lamb Lule
Chicken Cilicia, Spanakopita
The entire meal was fabulous. Their fillo dough specialties are excellent - the chicken
cilicia has cinnamon spiced chicken with almonds, chickpeas and raisins, and the
spanakopita is a mixture of spinach, feta, almonds and onions.
For dessert, we had my favorite, datil amandra - a confection of dates and nuts, rolled
in fillo, served warm, topped with whipped cream.
How nice NOT to be in pain, for a change, and to be able to enjoy such a nice meal
with a good friend!
I am participating in Unknown Mami's Sundays in My City!
Check out the other participants and join in the fun.
what a great looking restaurant. Love the dolls on the wall and the food, well YUMMO!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fascinating restaurant. I might forget to eat, and just spend the time looking at all the decor. The food looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful restaurant! The food looks magnificent and the decor is lots of fun. Very colorful and bright! I am so glad you could have a great time!
ReplyDeleteFantastic post, Carmen, oh and the foods look so scrumptious..Beautiful photos!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you're not in pain, Carmen. I hope your feast didn't make things act up again. I know the feeling of being on a restricted diet. No fun at all, but it looks like breaking the diet was more fun than enough!!
ReplyDeleteTake care of yourself.
Luv, K
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel
You moved to San Francisco the month and the year I was born. I hope you enjoy wine soon.
ReplyDeleteRegards
Valery
[Barcelona Daily Photo]
Wow such wonderful photos! I so love the sweater you have on :)
ReplyDeleteI love that place! I have never been disappointed by a meal there.
ReplyDeletegreat shots
ReplyDeleteReally, really beautiful sights. You find good things!
ReplyDeleteSan Francisco is such a great food city and if this place has been open since the 70s it has to be fabulous! Thanks for the tip. I'll add it to my SF file in case I ever make it up there again.
ReplyDeleteCheers, jj
PS Hope you're feeling good.
Glad to hear you're having less pain and the meds are almost done. Bring on the wine! lol
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a fabulous restaurant and the food looks delicious Carmen! I'm glad you are feeling better and tat you were able to enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteI would love that place!
ReplyDeleteyummy looking food...
Cheers!
Thanks for sharing these photos with us. San Fran is just a great place to find places like this!
ReplyDeleteCJR
Hi Carmen, how are you, love? :)
ReplyDeleteYou have no idea how happy I feel inside, when you say that you are NOT in pain! :) Go out into the world, and love everything in it! :)
I have to say, your blog takes a looooooong time to load on my pc... I think it's due to the size of your photos... you might want to try downsizing them, anyway, we can click on a smaller photo if we want to view the bigger size. :) Just some advice, in case you want your page to load faster.. :)
So glad you are pain free and can enjoy your gorgeous restaurant. The food looks delicious, and some I know from living in Cyprus.
ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful place to live in.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are getting pain free. You have been through the mill.
Your photos is lovely though & you don't look like you've had such a rough time.
All the photos are really interesting.
Maggie X
Nuts in May
What a cool shop. And man, I love dolmades.
ReplyDeleteConsider my poetry book when you're Christmas shopping - Life's Journey by Carmen Henesy – it’s out on Amazon ( Poems about the things that have been important to me in my journey through life, some humorous, some sad, some that may have meaning to you as well ) I finally did it at the age of 65!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Lifes-Journey-1-Carmen-Henesy/dp/1451547366/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274652997&sr=1-1
( Check out the reviews! )
Kebeni -
I can't count the number of times I've eaten at
La Mediterranee - the food is always consistently good and their wines equally so.
Tara R. -
La Mediterranee is very tiny - a long narrow
center aisle with tables on each side, consistently packed at lunch time, a few outside tables. The other site is a bit larger but I like this location best.
Life with Kaishon -
I love the variety at this restaurant and thte cheerful atmosphere. I never tire of it.
***Icy BC said -
When you come to SF, Icy, this will be one of our stops!
Kay L.Davies -
I only splurged that one day...am back on my no residue diet but, tomorrow, I'll be switching to low residue, which is a little less restrictive....two weeks on that, then the colonoscopy and, hopefully, back to normal.
Irredento Urbanita -
Well, I should always remember your birthday!! Yes, I can't imagine ever living without wine. I love it and, part of the joy of travel to wonderful places like Australia, Italy,Spain, and Argentina is sampling the wonderful varietals in those parts of the world!
Sonya -
Isn't that purple sweater great? I have gotten a lot of wear out of it...my favorite color!
Unknown Mami -
I should have known you would have eaten there!
sm -
Have you had Middle Eastern food in India? Of course, Indian food is still my favorite.
Sharkbytes -
I wish my current budget still allowed me to eat at all my favorite places. I've definitely had to limit my dining out to a couple of times a month.
Joanna Jenkins -
You are so right, if a restaurant isn't good, it doesn't stay open in this city! If you're ever up here, we MUST get together for lunch or dinner, that's for sure.
Amy -
This is the first time meds have restricted my having a glass of wine but Flagyl is one of those that can make you seriously ill if you drink while on it. So I was very careful. I think you can't even take cough syrup with alcohol. Thanksgiving, I'll definitely have wine!
BLOGitse -
Great food...never disappointed because the quality is always the same: excellent.
newmami_rgv -
Living in the Bay area, one can find every cuisine in the world. It's fabulous.
Glynis -
While I don't think I passed the kidney stone, I'm just glad not to be hurting any more!!!
Maggie May -
All weekend, I didn't have any pain from the kidney stone. I saw my doctor's partner today and it looks like I'll just wait for Dr. Kahn's return from vacation on Tuesday. Back to the ER if I start having pain again but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
secret agent woman -
I could eat a dozen dolmades! I've never tried making them but I'd like to see how they'd turn out!
good to see you are doing well- that food makes me want to go to our favorite Lebanese restaurant ....yummy photos!
ReplyDeleteThat food looks scrummy. If I lived in America I would be the side of a house. I have to keep my intake below 1000 calories to lose weight. My metabalism is crap.
ReplyDeletewow... now i am hungry.
ReplyDelete