luella

I have wanted to try this restaurant out for a year and a half.  Luella, is a the name of a beautiful little girl of a friend of ours, and the name of this great Russian Hill restaurant.  If you take the Powell & Hyde cable car, you'll pass it on your way to Fisherman's wharf. Unfortunately, we jumped on the Powell & Mason cable car that doesn't go anywhere near it and involves a hike clear up hill when you realize you were on the wrong cable car.  Luckily when you take the wrong cable car, jump off as soon as your observant husband realizes we made a wrong turn, jump off and hike up a hill on a nice night, you get to take pictures like the top two photos of San Francisco.

Once you get off the wrong cable car and on the correct cable car, it's a breeze to get to. We went to the restaurant on a Saturday night without reservations. You should really make reservations. It'll help.  They have 4 miniature seats next to the bar (seriously, think Kindergarten desk chairs) so if you want to avoid sitting in those, make a reservation. Luckily only a few minutes after we camped in the mini chairs, two of the five bar stools opened up so we snagged them. The wait was only 30 minutes but the seats were so comfy and the bartender was great, that we just had dinner at the bar. 

While waiting for dinner, we got a bottle of Steele Zinfandel.  This wine fell short [1 star].  It lacked all the bold flavors that we typically enjoy. For dinner, I had chicken and Mike had halibut.  We both decided that you should order the chicken.  Normally we both go bananas over all things halibut, but this one missed the mark a bit.  For dessert, we enjoyed a Swenson sundae, however that deserves a post all its own.  If you are ever in the Russian Hill neighborhood, you need to try some Swenson goodness. They are a landmark of San Francisco and not to be missed.

If you want to visit Luella and try the chicken visit: luellasf.com.