San Francisco
Started off the annual visit with the Lai family with a bit of a change this year: finally hit two places that had been on our list to try for a long time, Three Babes Bakeshop and House of Prime Rib. Pearl came down to Three Babes Bakeshop after we arrived, we ran off to Dandelion Chocolate's factory location for a spot of hot chocolate as we were a bit early for our pie pickup, then back to pick up our pie.
As pie is highly seasonal, ended up with a banana cream (was it a chocolate banana cream?) that was pretty good, and a peach pie that was quite good. Not my favorite of either per se, but worth trying at least once.
Due to a relatively last-minute rescheduling of this trip, our House of Prime Rib reservation had a bit of last-minute fuss; as one of the most popular reservations in San Francisco, prime time slots at HOPR must be reserved a full year in advance. Since we couldn't do that, we took what we could get (super late dinner, 8:30pm) and then checked regularly leading up to the trip. Turns out very close in (i.e. the week of), there often are last-minute cancellations, so if you are vigilant like Pearl, you can often snag one.
With Pearl able to grab a much better 5:30pm time for dinner, we happily headed over for one of the best prime ribs we'd ever had. The City Cut (8oz, currently $63.85), House of Prime Rib Cut (12oz, $67.85), The English Cut (12oz in thin slices, $67.85), and the King Henry VIII Cut (16oz bone-in, $73.85) are all very close in price, although only the King Henry VIII cut has the option of a complimentary second slice. Sides are included as well; with such a big group, we got the full spread, from the spinning salad (The Salad Bowl) to both mashed potatoes and loaded baked potatoes (Pearl said the loaded baked potato was one of the best she'd ever had), Yorkshire pudding, creamed spinach, and creamed corn.
As delicious and relatively premium as the experience is, including gleaming silver carts full of prime rib, they are admirably efficient. Servers are polished, openly encouraging you to order more, since almost everything food-wise is included in the price, yet with almost all dishes nearly ready to go, we were out of there in 75 minutes without feeling rushed, which is impressive.