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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Food and movies beat the San Francisco rain

Dan Webster

Above: Kokarri's zucchini cakes may be small, but they sure are tasty.

It may be Arctic conditions in Spokane, but San Francisco on this early-January day felt more like Seattle, the Bay Area winter rain and chill permeating my jacket like an hungry relative looking for a loan.

And the weather wasn't our only problem. Our short stay in the City by the Bay started rough: a six-hour flight delay in SeaTac causing us to delay our hotel bedtime until nearly 4 a.m.

Ah, but once we awoke, San Francisco — even despite the rain and mid-50s weather — proved to be a delight, both gastronomic and cinematic. Which is the point of this blog post: If you're in the mood for a mid-winter break, San Francisco is a worthy choice.

Our first stop was at Kokorri, a Greek restaurant, where we had lunch. We shared appetizers — spanakotiropita (spinach tarts), zucchini cakes (see the photo above), grilled octopus and grilled lamb riblets — and a chopped salad (romaine lettuce, roasted pine nuts, Kalamata olives, fresh dill all mixed with a perfectly sparse amount of creamy feta dressing).

The online reviews of Kokorri make the place sound like a bit of Greek heaven. And our experience, from decor to service to the food itself, proved the point.

Then because we are, more than anything else, movie fans, we hit the Embarcadero Center Cinema, where we did a two-fer: "Jackie," a study of the late Jacqueline Kennedy (before she became Onassis), and "Lion," the based-on-real-events story of a lost Indian boy who ends up searching for his birth family. We'll address both on the show we do for Spokane Public Radio.

On our way back to our hotel, we stopped by Aquitaine, a French bistro and wine bar. We shared the house special, pork shanks, and a couple of glasses of red wine. I can't remember the last time I felt so welcomed in a restaurant, and the warm little corner we sat in was the perfect place to share what was a delicious meal.

For a nightcap, we dropped by the Clock Bar at the Westin for a couple of post-meal cocktails. Sitting off to ourselves, we clinked glasses in a toast to a good food, good movies and good times.

Yeah, it rained all day in San Francisco. Does that a lot in January. But the weather did not spoil our day in the slightest.