The San Francisco Neiman Marcus has a beautiful glass domed ceiling. Under this dome and light is a restaurant with a great view of Union Square. I haven’t been to the Rotunda restaurant for years, probably since I was barely a teenager, on a mother/daughter outing.
As I was planning a get together for my long-time girlfriends, I thought the Rotunda would be a great place to re-visit. I knew it was a beautiful setting, but I wasn’t too sure about the food. Sometimes when a restaurant has great view and setting that are themselves attractions, the food doesn’t meet up to the surroundings. In this case, though, I was pleasantly surprised.
We ordered drinker and toasted to our long overdue reunion. The cocktails menu was fairly extensive, modern and inventive.
We placed our orders, and parts of our lunch began to arrive. The first piece was a palette cleanser, a small thimble-full of broth and a gougere.
When other restaurants serve bread, we each received a plate with a popover. I love popovers, but have them so infrequently, that when I saw this, my eyes filled with joy and anticipation. It also came with a small side of melt-in-your-mouth strawberry butter. Delicious!
We enjoyed our various choices, my Vietnamese Salad, sandwiches, and salads for others. The setting and the company were wonderful. We felt comfortable and well taken care of. We also had a window table, so we could also take in the views below. Additionally, from time to time, models would walk by dressed in clothes from other parts for the store. They would stop and provide details along the way if desired. It was an interesting difference with lunch.
Following our lunch, we all grabbed our spoons and dug into the communal lemon mousse. It was perfectly made.
After lunch, we headed across the street to Macy’s where they had their annual flower show going on. The first floor cosmetics area, extending into the neighboring jewelry section is entirely covered with flowers. Each year, there is a different theme behind the floral decorations; this year the theme was America the beautiful. Here are a couple of samples of the flowers.
A wonderful day catching up with great friends, good food, and grand surroundings.
The Rotunda also offer an afternoon tea service. From the menu, it looks wonderful. We had a reservation, which was probably a good idea as it seemed to be a popular spot to take a break from shopping, and for new generations of mothers and daughters to share a lunch date.
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