sebo

517 hayes st. in hayes valley, a few doors down from propellor (shameless plug number one!)

motivation: we needed to eat after
sera beak's brilliant book release party (shameless plug number two!) and our friend m was trying to drag us to another sf film festival at the roxie (shameless plug number three!). we agreed to grab a bite and then meet her there, but in no time at all we were lured into sebo and said fuck-it to the movie option. it's that kind of place.

in true c fashion, i had thoroughly enjoyed the red sake at the red book release party and the love was flowing. i took that as an incentive to continue enjoying fine libations, which sebo has plenty of. their drink menu was created by the owners in collaboration with the new sake store across the street (shameless plug number four! somebody give me some kickback!), also the source of the cute "please do not drown your fish" on the chopsticks.

price: expensive. perhaps because of the hot couple making out at the sushi bar, or possibly due to our impending inebriation, pinky took one look at the $7-$8 nigiri on the menu and the f word was uttered once again: fuck-it, let's order some fish. that elicited an oomph! from a, a wise woman of few words. (she's also a kickin artist and i'd link to her website here if she had one, alas...)

quality: amazing. pinky described the shimajii as "firmly ethereal". the wasabi was fresh. the tinmedai (gold bream) stunning. i found myself moaning instead of speaking so pinky did most of the ordering. he got all adventurous with the maguro mugi tororo, that i thought looked too much like spunk. even the server warned us. but my "i don't think i'm gonna have any" was totally reversed and we finished every, last, slimy bit. the end of the meal was capped with supercalifragilistic summer strawberries.

belly: not full. the food, though delicious, took a while to get to us and despite our initial bravado we were getting nervous about the total. so i'll come back when i win the lottery and stuff myself then.

flirtability: lots of potential. the server was cute and the chef/owners also easy on the eyes. the sexy couple at the bar kept our attention roving but the place was not all that full, so we had limited possibilities that night. the decor is worth pointing out as it's key to the ambiance: elegant oblique angles in the design of the tables and the japanese screens on the walls make the place feel really classy. these kinds of graceful touches extend even to the bathrooms.

last notes: in our attempts to chat up the server, we discovered that sebo is short for sebastian (one of the owners' son) and the owners were previously involved with another innovative and superb sushi restaurant called midori mushi (shout out to gerard!). pinky summed up the evening brightly, noting that though we aren't part of the susherati, this place clearly is.

itadakimasu!