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Equinox: Go For The Food, Stay For The Food
By Javier Rangel
On the day of the eighteenth annual holiday lighting ceremony of the office towers at the Embarcadero Center, where seventeen thousand lights illuminate the entire skyline, followed by a fireworks display to top off the excitement. "Dinner with a view" is hardly the phrase to describe this fabulous restaurant situated at the top of the Hyatt Regency in the Embarcadero Center. It is San Francisco's only revolving rooftop restaurant that completes a 360 degree turn every 45 minutes, offering patrons spectacular views of the San Francisco Bay and the sparkling city skyline.
The Scene
With an intimate, candlelit and casually upscale atmosphere, this restaurant is a perfect place for those extra-special occasions. With reservations, you'll be seated quickly with attentive service. There isn't a single bad seat in the house, since the tables are spread out along the windows of the restaurant, offering equally stunning views of the surrounding skyline as the restaurant revolves slowly.
The Food
With appetizers ranging from Absolut vodka shrimp martinis with a classic "shaken not stirred" approach to traditional crab cakes and salads, the menu offers a variety of dishes that appeal to any food connoisseur. Their poached Alaskan halibut a la nage dish with fennel, Pernod, saffron and red skin mashed potatoes was quite delectable. The prime rib salt-crusted au jus served in a 10 oz. portion, slow roasted in rock salt, with red skinned mashed potatoes is also high recommended. Also served is a 22 oz. bone-in cut prime rib.
Insider Tips
The prices are pretty hefty and can be pretty damaging to a medical student's budget, however, there are ways of getting around this obstacle. Visit the Web site www.restaurant.com, where one may purchase $25 gift certificates to this and many other restaurants at reduced prices. For example, from the Web site there is a link to their e-bay auctions for the various gift certificates, through which I lucky enough to obtain a $25 gift certificate for Equinox for about $4.
Make reservations to the restaurant, without them you won't be able to get in on a Friday or Saturday night. Go for appetizers, drinks and desert since the entrees are fairly expensive, most are around $30 a dish, whereas appetizers, drinks and desert are mostly under $10 each.
Javier Rangel is a second-year medical student.
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