I'M JUST SAYING

IT'S BEEN SO long since I visited Fifth Floor restaurant inside the Hotel Palomar in San Francisco. Why? Well, things didn't go so well my first time around. It was stuffy. The food was trying too hard. The service wasn't what it needed to be.

But this week when I paid a re-visit, can I just say that this place has been reborn? Yes, the look of the restaurant is mostly the same. But every other detail is transformed. We were greeted upon arrival to the 5th floor (not even yet to the bar or the restaurant) with a smile and a glass of wine. Soon after, we were seated and encouraged to peruse the menus -- including the most quirky, interesting wine list I've ever seen. There are pictures and funny quotes and all kinds of fun tidbits buried within.

I had to giggle at Chef David Bazirgan's "New American" menu, which may well be new, and is indeed packed with great flavor adventures, but the American part made me laugh because it's so incredibly accurate. Why? Because it included a fish soup of sorts with Thai flavors, a plate of roasted goat that transported me back to an incredibly memorable dinner in the Douro Valley in Portugal, a bowl of oxtail risotto with roots in an Italian countryside, and some baby beets with Indian-style garam masala. Talk about an accurate picture the Bay Area.

Every dish out of the kitchen was artfully composed and choreographically served; dishes were prepared and served to a table with impressive finesse.

NOW FOR the best news: The restaurant is currently running a prix fix menu that's $85 per person, an additional $50 for generous pours of great wines that pair very nicely with the dishes.The best part is that this SF restaurant is incredibly accesible. It's at the Powell Street exit. Don't exit at Nordstrom; backtrack to Market and lean to the right side of the terminal and you will be fewer than 20 steps from the restaurant.