by Matt Provines on Had a Saturday conference in the area one weekend and figured I may as well stretch it out into a Thurs-Sun 3 and a half day weekend and enjoy myself for once. Trouble was, my friends were all too lazy or busy to find a cool activity for that Thursday night, which meant it was up to me to seize my own destiny. I've been through several times, but I don't "know" San Francisco by any stretch. I just go where people take me, I end up stuffed full of great food and too much booze, I crawl onto the last plane Sunday night or the first plane Monday morning and I'm satisfied. So it took a little bit of legwork to come up with a show at Cafe Du Nord. And the reaction I got from folks- "oh yeah, I think I"ve heard that place is good" wasn't exactly exciting. But I stood firm. Boy was I glad I did. The sound was inexplicably awesome (didn't seem like a well-designed space in that regard), the drinks were served up quickly, friendly, and with a proper reverence for the rise and fall of the music. Also, still had some money in my pocket when I was done drinking, which is always nice. It's dark, it's hidden, it's design projects an air not of exclusivity, but an insistence that you have to want it at least a little bit. Like High Fidelity attracting the bare minimum of window shoppers. Everyone's welcome, but not people whose interest it...TOO casual. It feels like a place put together by people who expected to be in the audience themselves. It's made for the music fan, with things managing to being close and comfortable but without having people on top of each other or elbowing through the crowd or tripping over tables and chairs. The way this stuff is supposed to work.
by Fritz Carbon on We attended a company reception here one evening - we had the pool hall area reserved for our group. We had a wide variety of appetizer foods - two flavors of Buffalo wings, Quesadillas, burger sliders, pork BBQ sliders, grilled shrimp, chips and guacamole, calamari, pizza, and more - plus some desserts. Food was pretty good! I especially enjoyed the Buffalo wings - they were done just right - skin was just a tad on the crisp side - which is how I like them. Served with a Blue Cheese dipping sauce and celery sticks. The waitresses did a nice job of keeping us all supplied with beer - and even managed to track us down as we moved around a room filled with a lot of people! I had several Fat Tires - a beer we still don't have access to out on the east coast. Thanks Jillian's for a fun evening!
by Dessa R. on What a cool lounge! I've come here on Wednesday nights and people crowd in here later (past 11p) on those evenings-they have a live DJ. I LOVE the bathrooms there too...it's just super cool, no cover, dress code, cool barstaff and just a great place to hang out.
