A Vitrine full of Treasures by Candy Hisert  A Vitrine usually holds works of art or fine jewelry, but in the St. Regis San Francisco Vitrine’s works of art are of a culinary nature.
 The 74-seat restaurant, located on the 4th floor of the hotel, has a lunch menu of little jewels and heartier dishes served in a serene, sophisticated atmosphere. After a morning of exploring some of the museums surrounding the St Regis, it is a therapeutic to sit down to a bowl of Vitrine’s Chicken Soup flavored with lemon grass and filled with shitaki mushrooms. It is nothing like mama used to make!
 Before the soup, the chef sends out an amuse-bouche, which on my visit was a perfect crab cake with an aioli with a zip of chili. Fabulous, especially since my companion can’t eat crab. (I gobbled down two).
 For my main course, I had the tuna salad to die over. It came with avocado (is there anything better than rare tuna with avocado?), (mango?), and organic greens, some which came from the Chef’s organic garden on the Yerba Buena Terrace adjacent to the restaurant.
 My companion had the ravioli, which were light as a feather. Each dish was a  little gem, but together they made a masterpiece. We rounded out the flavors with a side of fresh asparagus that we fought over.
The only problem at Vitrine is what to choose for dessert. Common sense should have lead us to the very light sorbets (one fruit flavored, one cucumber) with fruit. However, the butterscotch pot de  crème was another work of art; and it slid down as easily as sorbet. Of course, you could go to Vitrine and order the Organic Beef Burger or the Corned Beef Brisket. Do you enjoy Rembrandt more than Monet? The St. Regis San Francisco is located at 125 Third Street.
15.284.4000
www.stregis.com/sanfrancisco Photos by Madelyn Miller, the TravelLady
Photo of the interior shot – Joe Fletcher San Francisco-based Candy Hisert was Madelyn's first gourmet friend. She is a docent at several museums, so discovering Vitrine meant a new culinary treasure to share with fellow docents and friends. Madelyn Miller is a travel and food writer who loves San Francisco. She was glad she found a wonderful restaurant her savvy San Francisco friend had never tried. Read Madelyn's stories on www.travellady.com, www.carladynews.com, www.yogayaya.com, www.chocolateatlas.com, www.cocktailatlas.com, www.teaAtlas.com and www.coffeeatlas.com | 