Tuesday night, I went on a friend date to a newish organic restaurant and the traveling production of In the Heights. Both fall onto my list of recommendations for things to do in San Francisco, this weekend.
Roots is an organic restaurant in the Orchard Garden Hotel right next to the gate to Chinatown. The chef is pretty awesome and whipped up a special item "off the menu" for my friend based on our waitstaff's recommendation. It was salmon with a jalapeno jus, if I remember correctly. We shared a fennel and baby greens salad and I had an outstanding Grilled Hanger Steak with grilled Delta asparagus in truffle oil... Anything with truffle oil makes me happy but, this dish was excellent. The only down/upside was that the menu said it came with caramelized onions which were actually deep fried red onions and likely had gluten all over them. But, damn they tasted delicious!
In the Heights got rave reviews from the SFgate critic and me! It is a new musical with latin flair. I enjoyed it from beginning to end and found myself smiling stupidly and shaking my hips in my chair on more than one occasion. And, one of the things I appreciated the most was the diversity of the audience. It's not often you go to a musical and have more than just old white people. My friend and I got seats in the mezzanine through Goldstar, which made the experience even better because we could see the stage in its entirety but, not from 3,000 feet in the air.
The male lead, Usnavi, was quite amazing and I swear, he just graduated from college and is living the dream (see him at the end of the video below). He rapped and riffed and danced from his soul. And, the Abuela Claudia character had the most amazing voice I've heard in awhile. Everyone did but, she could really belt it out and she had some truly heart felt numbers. This is one that I'll go see again next time it's in town.
Check out the Youtube video of rehearsals for the traveling cast.
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