Back To The City; or, Heading To Margaritaville

It had been months--literally--since I had been to San Francisco prior to Saturday. Ever since the move to Santa Cruz last October, I put out roots like a particularly sedentary house plant and stayed put.

A meal at Tres--formerly known as Tres Agaves--was a great way to go back, especially because Marina and I met up with Emily and Vaughn.

St. Patrick's Day--and a rainy, chilly St. Patrick's Day at that--spent at AT & T Park watching two soccer games amidst raucous fans of Mexico left me hungry. We wanted a place close to the park so we could have an easy walk back to the Cal Train Station at 4th and King. We also wanted a place where we could make reservations, because, well, it was St. Patrick's Day, and judging by the number of people riding the train that morning who were fully outfitted with cases of beers, it was going to be a busy Saturday night.

Tres fit the bill, especially because we could make a reservation en route via an Open Table app on Marina's iPhone, obviating the need for any extraneous human contact. I remembered Tres from the Tres Agaves days, when Jeff and I went there for drinks one night. They are famous for their tequila, and by extension, their margaritas.

They did not disappoint. A pitcher of house margaritas was elegantly divided up by our server into four glasses, two salted, two un-salted. It was elegant in how they were ordered: Marina--no salt; me--salt; Vaughn--no salt; Emily--salt. Alternating not just in salt-no salt terms, but also by boy-girl. How civilized is that on our part?

The margaritas were good, the tortilla chips, salsa and guacamole were excellent and warm, and the shrimp tacos I had were perfect. We were also impressed by the service. Not only was everyone friendly, professional yet relaxed, but they were also magicians. The table we sat at was quite wobbly, and one of the busboys came over with a napkin--a napkin, a tell you--and fixed the issue after a moment's study of the table. Marina or Emily called him the Table Whisperer.

The point of my blog is: go to Tres. You will be very impressed before you can count to three.