budgeting

Yes, you can go out for dinner and drinks on a Saturday night in San Francisco and spend less than $40. And that even includes parking.

Case in point: Last night in the Mission. Brian and I had dinner at Puerto Alegre. (By some great miracle, we actually walked right in and didn't have to wait two hours on the sidewalk.) I ordered the super vegetarian burrito and flan; he got the two-enchilada combo, plus another enchilada à la carte (the food is just that good -- you have to order seconds). And we shared a pitcher of margaritas. The bill was $38 (I think -- my memory's a bit fuzzy -- blame the tequila), which we split. Fahabulous.

Then we met up with Jessica to continue the quest of checking out all the wine bars in the city. Our stop: Paréa. The first two pages of the wine list focus on Greek wines. This definitely isn't something you see every day. The last time I had Greek wine was in Sacramento two years ago -- the summer Olympics was going on, so fancy-shmancy gourmet grocer/wine shop David Berkley was doing a Greek wine tasting. Honestly, I wasn't impressed. I thought everything tasted like pine sap.

But since Greek wines are Paréa's specialty, I decided to give them another try. I ordered a white (and am kicking myself right now for not writing down the name and the grapes -- it was a blend of three Mediterranean varietals, none of which I'd ever heard of before). By-the-glass price: Only $5.50. (Seriously, you never see this anywhere in this town. I am so used to paying at least $8 for any kind of alcohol.) And the wine was good. No Pine Sol this time. Instead, it reminded me a lot of an unoaked Chardonnay.

All in all, a good night. And I still have $2 left in my wallet.