Dan,

 

Do you prefer Fleur de Lys?

To be honest with you (and I'm not trying to be a jerk) neither restaurant is on my go to list of ultra high end restaurants in San Francisco.  Between the two of them I'd choose Danko primarily because its a tougher reservation to get (my concern for you however is that Danko has a (deserved imo) reputation for not doing as good as a job with tourists and people who don't have a 415 area code phone number). 

Personally I'd rather go to the Dining Room (although if Siegel leaves then I'd strike this from my list); Masa's (first choice); Michael Mina (Mina is far from a perfect restaurant though and can be hit or miss); La Folie.  If I didn't go to Aqua so often for work then Aqua would be on the list too.  I'd even consider rolling the dice and going to Fifth Floor (just reopened yesterday).  A half to a full step down would be places like Ame, Spruce, Boulevard, etc.

Dan,

 

Will do (shouldn't be too terribly long since I'm making some wine at Crushpad). 

Based on your feedback, decided to go back to Aqua as I've yet to be disappointed there.

 

Roy

Waterbar:

 

Gorgeous (although derivative of Kuleto's other restaurants like Boulevard).  Very expensive straight forward food of quality.  Better than decent wine list.  I'll be back. 

One of our current favorites in SF is Bong Su located on 3rd near the W Hotel and SFMOMA.  They classify the cuisine as contemporary Vietnamese.  We've had three or four GREAT meals there in the last few months.  Very hip decor.  Respectable wine list.

 

They have a sister restaurant in Palo Alto called Tamarine which I've heard is good too.

Couple of updates

 

Coi remains my pick as the best high end restaurant in the City.  Its a bit quirky (located next to a strip club) but the food that Chef Patterson is bringing to the table is the best available.  (Note I'm giving credit for innovation.)  Always order the egg course no matter what you do.  Hopefully the New York Times giving props to Coi doesn't overwhelm it.

 

Waterbar keeps providing a great seafood with a view experience.  Prices are seriously high - $65 for turbot and one side (it used to be more believe it or not); $90 for a iced shellfish platter - but worth it imo. 

Randy,

 

My wife and I ate at Bong Su last night on the strength of your recommendation.  The chef must like you.  The wine list is impressive and the service was terrific but we didn't think the food was that great.  Granted, we were lightweights and didn't try that many dishes - we were coming from a gallery opening with food so neither one of us was that hungry - but none of the four dishes we tried was memorable.  It's also pretty pricey - one shared app, two main courses, one side and one cup of tea was over $90.  We'll probably try it again at some point- were there one or two dishes that knocked you out?

 

Richard