A LOL for You

Good Airport Eats: Cat Cora's Kitchen

Cat Cora's Kitchen will change your mind about airport dining. We grabbed a quick meal there at SFO's Terminal 2 before we flew home after a weekend trip.

If you check in on yelp, you get three free oysters. We like free stuff.

Three seasonal oysters.

Oysters are typically served by the half dozen or dozen. This was a nice free bite.

Surf Slider Trio -- fried oyster, grilled shrimp, crab cake, and housemade chips ($14).

Bite-sized handheld seafood? Yes, as good as it sounds.

Lobster macaroni and cheese with coldwater lobster and Gruyere ($14).

Creamy, meaty, and delicious.

Slider Trio -- Wagyu beef, lamb burger, spicy pork, and sweet potato fries ($14).

Great flavors. Great mix.

Pistachio baklava -- flaky phyllo layers, cinnamon, honey syrup ($7).

Light and crisp. Nice sweet bite to end.

With Cat Cora's Kitchen and other great stores in Terminal 2 at SFO, I wouldn't even mind that much if my flight were delayed.

Candlestick Park

I went to my first professional football game at age 34. Mr. Monkey couldn't believe I'd never been. I present to you Candlestick Park.

A total heartbreaker for the 49ers. Those Cowboy fans sure were loud.

I can't lie. I'm definitely a bigger fan of basketball.

Spacious and Comfortable: Hotel Monaco

The Hotel Monaco in San Francisco won't wow you with extraordinary amenities or sleek styling, but it's in a pretty decent location and is spacious and comfortable.

No complaints here. Service is very good. I'd definitely stay again.

Beat Generation Chic: Hotel Triton

In addition to the magical ice cream room, we also stayed in a regular room at the Hotel Triton. It was much smaller, but it was cheery and well-lit.

The Hotel Triton doesn't mess around with its themed rooms. Not only was there a collection of Beat Literature, but the wallpaper consisted of actual text from Jack Kerouac's On the Road.

Sweet Dreams: Hotel Triton Haagen-Dazs Sweet Suite

Because Mr. Monkey has been researching hotels for his company, we have stayed at a number of different hotels in San Francisco recently. One of our more interesting nights was in the Haagen-Dazs Sweet Suite at the Hotel Triton.

The ice cream is all-you-can-eat! If you finish it, it will be restocked! The theme is carried out so thoroughly that I swear the room even smelled like ice cream.

Southern Comfort: Hops & Hominy

Believe it or not, Hops & Hominy was in yet another San Francisco alley, albeit not the same one as Gitane, Cafe Claude, and Claudine. Considering my good luck with alley dining, I may never nosh at an establishment on a well-lit main street again!

Hops & Hominy brings a little piece of the South to the Bay Area. Our table of four was quite pleased with our dinner, which was impressive in light of the fact that the restaurant had just opened two months ago.

Bundaberg Ginger Beer.

Always a solid non-alcoholic choice! Served in a Mason jar!

Complimentary cornbread with honey butter.

Hot, hot, hot and made even better with the delectable light whipped honey butter.

Black-eyed pea fritters, herb aioli ($8).

Unexpectedly epic. They don't look like much, but whoa! Fantastic!

Fried green tomatoes, spicy buttermilk dressing ($8).

Sadly, these were overshadowed by the black-eyed pea fritters. Good but not at all awesome.

Pacific salmon pan-seared, broccoli and roasted pepper risotto ($25).

Our friend ate all of this. All of it. We thought he was going to pick up the plate and lick it.

Deep water shrimp and cheesy Southern grits ($19).

The shrimp was smoky with a hint of kick, and the grits were steeped with cheese as promised by the menu description. Thumbs up for Mr. Monkey's dish!

Buttermilk battered chicken, mac 'n' cheese with bacon, Brussels sprouts ($19).

My friend and I were the big winners with this entree! Oh my gosh! Crunchy, well-spiced, and juicy chicken! Super rich and meaty mac! Gorgeous Brussels! Worth tons of exclamation marks!

Sweet potato hash cubed, house-cured bacon ($6).

We all really enjoyed this side dish. I'm not exaggerating when I say our friend nearly buried his face in this bowl.

Cherry-apple cobbler a la mode.

Everything you could ask for in a dessert -- sweetness, tartness, heat, cold, crumble, and cream. We fought each other with our spoons for this.

Beignets with powdered sugar.

Disappointing if only because they looked so amazing. I thought they could be sweeter. Perhaps a dipping sauce could help.

It wasn't a perfect meal. There were some slow service issues. There were a few weaker dishes. But, overall, I would still happily recommend Hops & Hominy to you. I think the young restaurant has a lot of potential and is on its way to excellence.