Greedy girls of Silicon Valley
I had dinner on Thursday night with three of my favourite Silicon Valley women: One works for a prominent venture capital firm, one is an editor for a major publisher, and the other is an entrepreneur/journalist/web guru par excellence. Then there was me, whatever I am.
We asked for a table way at the back of the restaurant, so that the live jazz duo didn’t get in the way of our conversation. (None of us understood why people would want to have loud music as an accompaniment to dinner – unless they tend to have dinner with very boring people.) Our separation from the rest of the diners meant that the waiters tended to neglect us from time to time, but the privacy more than made up for it.
Oh, and there was the food: We all had salads (video here). The spinach salad came with gorgonzola, bacon, slightly caramelised grilled onions and crushed walnuts, all dressed with a spicy, mustard-heavy vinaigrette. It was a damn fine salad. So fine, in fact, that I ordered another one. One of the other girls ordered a second (chicken-free) Caesar salad, and yet another followed up her salad with a plate of beef carpaccio, which she deemed delicious.
Yes, the portions were European rather than American, but it still struck me as somewhat embarrassing that we were all so famished and shameless about ordering another savoury dish in lieu of dessert. Speaking of which, we will have to go back for their sweet panninis: This place does one containing Nutella and marshmallow cream, and another pairing Nutella with peanut butter. Too good not to try.
We’ll have ample opportunity to do so, as we’ve decided to make this dinner a weekly event. That’s why I’m not disclosing the restaurant, as we’re afraid of not being able to secure our prized table. It will become the place of legend once the four of us have taken over the technology epicentre of the world, but until then, it’s our secret.