the basin i don't do restaurant reviews very often. but sometimes i just have to. i don't get to go on a date with the beautiful and talented alisa very often. so when i do i like to go somewhere nice. she acquired some new clothes and looked fabulous. we arrived early enough that the road construction didn't make us late. it did however, keep us from window shopping. we felt overdressed as soon as we got there. first impression inside was underwhelming. the giants game was on tv. it was noisy enough that it was difficult to have a conversation. the waiter had no useful wine recommendation. the gumbo was good. in a rice stew kind of way. the salad got sent back. someone had spilled the salt shaker on it and didn't notice. the heirloom tomato salad was much better. i dodged. cause, you know, it's t-o-m-a-t-o-e-s. the bread was good. but the butter had another salt bomb. i had steak and fries. paid an extra $10 to call them papas fritas instead. they were good. lightly salted, crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, not oil soaked. the steak itself was really good. lean and tender and done perfectly. however, it was encrusted with msg. which really amplified the char flavor. i thought an 11% tip was generous. afterwards we went for what should have been a nice romantic drive along skyline. the plan was to stop somewhere and watch the sun set and kiss and other mushy stuff. it didn't happen because of the msg headache. went home. went to bed. didn't get up until morning.  ¶ 8:00 AM