Cha Cha Cha Tapas & Restaurant Bar: San Francisco

Date:  vendredi 16 octobre 2009
Location:  1801 Haight Street
San Francisco, CA  94117
Tel:  1 415 386 7670
http://www.cha3.com/


Ohhh what a wonderful evening.  It had been quite a few months since I had last seen my very good friend, the lone Ducati rider, Carlos.  Aka the cool cat.  A fellow aquarian, I am convinced that this is why Carlos understands me well.  Dreams, love of foreign things, cultures, foods, and languages.  Wearing torn things, sweaters and jeans.  Most of all, the ever off-calm-uncertain anxiety that resounds in all aquarians... we love all of that (minus anxiety).  We met back in early 2000s when we both worked on the engineering team for a wireless start up.  Yes, you saw that right,  I was a software engineer.  At least that is what it read on my card.  Snort.  Yup and pigs do fly!  Ok no really, we did write code in XSL and XSLT, worked with 3 weblogic servers on each of our machines... and learned how to sms really super duper fast.  This was back in 2000. 


Logistics and activities keep Carlos and I from seeing each other too often.  Carlos is a Mexico City boy, now living in Palo Alto.  He loves his socco (as all Mexicans do and they are so good at it!), his Duc, his super cool looking all black riding gear, and lounging around with his Mexican bro Chelo and Chelo's Russian girlfriend Anja.  They incidentally both live right down the street from me in Russia.


It was time to reunite.  We loosely planned to meet at 8pm.  Destination?  He pinged me Friday am - "Cha Cha Cha, Haight Street."  Normally I avoid Cha Cha Cha.  It is crowded, fussy, muggy, takes FOREVER to be seated, noisy, and the food is heavy.  I did not enjoy it so much the last time I dined at this very same Cha3 in mid-2005.  However, Soledad is all about saying YES to things she would normally say no to.  So, I said OK CARLOS!  Then, I set my mood to enjoy at least a good long hour wait with sangria in hand, waiting for our table.  I actually looked forward to it, as the extra time would allow us to catch up. 




Sure enough, we waited 1h25mins.  We had sangrias.  We chatted.  We got hungry.  We waited some more...  at a certain moment we passed the point of no return.  We were starving, yet too weary and hungry to feel upset about having waited so long.  Then it became test - to resume waiting until we were seated and not be quitters.  Carlos started hallucinating, almost jinxing us by saying that it would really be horrible, if after we waited over an hour, to be seated and then have the server tell us that they were out of plantains.  I told him to DO NOT SAY THAT!  Do not jinx us!!!  That would be a tragedy! But really - come on, plantains are plentiful, they are cheap, they are a staple of the Mexican cuisine.  I was not worried.  Carlos was still a little worried, though.  ^^


Well, we got our seats at the bar finally.  We were gleefully happy.  Like 2 forlorn souls, coming in from the cold, waiting for our hot meals.

We were not disapointed.  I am still dreaming about our creamy plantains.  PLANTAINS, he taught me to say in Spanish.  Carlos is fun, bc we trade languages all the time.  Flittering in and out of Espanol, Francaise, Anglias... un peu Chinois...  we both wish we knew more foreign languages.  Neither of us really think about having kids but swear that if we did, they would speak at least 5 or more foreign languages!  Ahhh, back to the plantains.  Warm, creamy, with black beans, a little bit of sour cream.  Sweet.  Filling.  Oh my friendly banana plantains, how I love you so.  I really do. 

It is hard for me to move on from writing about the anticipation leading up to the plantains, but I will carry on.  We also ordered ceviche, which was also SO YUMMY!  I loved the chewy texture of some of the seafoodies...  for some reason that night I particularly enjoyed the chewy tentacles of the mini baby octopus.  I typically say NO to octopus, but what the hey, I am saying YES to all things now and I am happier than before when I lived a rigid life.  So, YES to octopus, and yummy fun!

We also shared the red snapper dish cooked in banana leaf that came with a side of plantains (MORE plantains YAH!), black beans (w00t!), and mexican red rice.  Oh my goodness.  I just do not know how to tell you that our entire meal was utmost fantastic.
 

Of course, we did not forget to order more sangria.  In our older age these days, we certainly do not drink the way we used to.  So, we ordered just a small pitcher of sangria.  Good to the every last droP.  oh ohohohoh!!  We had FLAN!!!!


We felt so good that night.  Warm food, even warmer friendship, catching up on over 10 years it seems of coming and going in and out of each other's lives.


It was one of those nights, I went home thinking to myself my life has been so simple and bare this past year.  Yet at the same time, it has been perhaps the most beautiful, colorful,  rich, and poignant year I have ever lived.  So long as u have just a few really good friends - your pockets will always be full.  And your bellies too.  =*)

Oh the story does not end here.  Carlos and I went home and passed out before 12am.  The next day - we continued on to TOAST (yes the brunch place I am "always going on and on about" as per my friendling foodie friends quip).  Again, we sat.  We ate.  We pondered life, the passage of time.  Listened to a well-to-do Spanish couple sitting next to use discuss how they were going to increase their current family of 4 to a family of 10 (8 kids!).   Ahh, the joys of a beautiful life.  I love you, my dear friend!  Thank you for being my sound of reason so many times when I needed you.