Sachin Agarwal: March 2007

In San Francisco I started SF Wednesdays to explore new bars in the city.

My latest attempt to fill my friends calendars is the New York One Dinner Per Month Club. New York has really incredible restaurants, but you can't just walk in for dinner on a Friday night without a reservation. Unless you have an Amex black card (mine is still in the mail). Since these restaurants require reservations 1 or even 2 months in advance, I'm starting a One Dinner Per Month Club where we pick a top tier restaurant and make reservations early.

If you are interested in joining, let me know.

In other food related news, Paul and I went to The Post House for National Wine Week. As we were seated, our waitress greeted us "What's up guys, ready to get drunk?" Needless to say, it was a very fun lunch. I highly recommend getting lunch during National Wine Week, if you are a fan of steak and wine.

I love going to hidden or secret bars and restaurants in the city. It's like the movie Swingers: it's cool to go to one of these places because it means you know how to find them.

Some favorite (somewhat secret) places are:

The Back Room
Angel's Share
East Side Co

Last Wednesday I had dinner at Kuma Inn, a Thai tapas restaurant in LES. There's no sign; you walk through an random door, up some stairs, and down a hall. Food was excellent. But we had to wait 45 minutes for a table with no reservation.

Thursday was amazing.

Had dinner at La Esquina. From the outside, La Esquina is a little taco stand. There are a few tables, and service from the sidewalk through the window. If you walk inside, go through the door marked "Employees Only", down the stairs, through the kitchen, passed a coat check, and you end up in a beautiful underground Mexican restaurant.

La Esquina is a celebrity hotspot. Great food and margaritas. highly recommended. You won't be let in (even to the bar) without reservations.

After that we went to Milk and Honey. This is as secret as it gets. The location is a secret (though you can figure it out by searching online). The phone number is also a secret, and it changes every few months. You can only get in if you have a reservation, so if you don't know their current number, forget about it.

I got the number from Jason and called them earlier in the day. The voicemail message said to text them my reservation request. I sent them an SMS and got a response a few hours later confirming. We arrived at around 9pm and found the door with the address on it. We rang a bunch of door bells, stared into the camera above us, and eventually we were buzzed in.

The place is tiny and not particularly nice. But the cocktails are really amazing. You just tell the bartender what kind of drinks you like and he'll make some random concoction. I had a great whisky sour type drink, made with egg whites and everything.

Milk and Honey only seats about 20 people so if their info was public they would be packed with a line outside every night. By changing their phone number constantly they limit how many people can find them. Instead of letting in the first 20 people who show up each night, they let in 20 people who are resourceful enough to find their number. I love it.

Best Buy has a secret Intranet site that they use when customers try get deals advertised on the public internet site.

I can't believe a giant store like Best Buy could get away with this. I can think of at least two times I was hit by this exact thing (and I had no idea what was going on). Last year just before leaving for India my dad and I were buying some digital cameras as gifts. The salesman at Best Buy went to their site and it showed a higher price than what I had seen at home. He then tried a different computer and we saw the lower price.

Crazy.

We went to Jewel Bako again last week. I really love that place. They get fresh fish every single day so nothing is old. The sushi has just the right amount of rice, not too much filling. I always try some bizarre types of sushi, always awesome.

Last week we went on a Friday and had to wait 45 minutes for a table even though we had a reservation. The owner, Jack Lamb, was there apologizing profusely. He gave us a free bottle of champagne while we waited, and free dessert at the end. This is why having the restaurant owner present is great. Despite having to wait, our whole party was extremely happy.

Yesterday as I was leaving my apartment Jack Lamb walked right by me and he said hi. Sweet, he knows who i am. He has the coolest hair. He looks like Tim Robbins.

Audi's tagline is "Never Follow" but that's what they have been doing for years. They are trying to catch up to BMW and they are always two steps behind.

Check out the new Audi A5 on their website. Finally Audi is coming out with a sports coupe. Awesome! But wait, is that the new 3 series? They TOTALLY ripped the new 3 series design. It's unbelievable.

I have always LOVED Audi's design over BMW's design, but BMW was the clear winner in the performance driving aspect. While Audi has not been able to catch up to BMW performance wise, BMW has done a great job in their current car designs (some stuff I hate, but mostly good).

I really wish Audi would come out with a BMW competitor, but right now nothing in their lineup excites me. When I bought my Audi, it was cheaper than the comparable BMW. I don't even think that's true anymore.

Audi claimed 0-60 for an RS4: 4.8 seconds
BMW claimed 0-60 for a 335i: 5.2 seconds
Car and Driver 0-60 for 335i: 4.8 seconds

The RS4 costs almost $30k more. Are you kidding me? Can't wait for the new m3!