Lawyer/Restaurant Investor Has Highflying Taste; Stu Gordon works aloft nonstop, and it pays off when he lands in style.(NEWS FOR YOU)(NEWS FOR YOU: TRAVEL)

Byline: CHRIS BARNETT

For San Francisco lawyer and restaurant angel investor Stu Gordon, there's no place like Home.

The tall, lean litigator just sank half a million dollars into a failed French eatery in the city's hip Union Street neighborhood and transformed it into a reasonably priced American bistro with that homey, easily remembered name.

It's his 30th restaurant over the years and a hit with locals and travelers who want to get out of downtown.

Success wasn't a surprise for Gordon and his wife and soul mate-business partner, Florianne. They aren't rookies. The Gordons are always on the road, traveling for business, pleasure and sleuthing for their next restaurant "big idea."

They've eaten more than 3,000 restaurant meals worldwide in the name of research. A fourth-generation San Franciscan, Gordon's bread and butter business is law; he's a co-founder of Gordon & Rees LLP, a firm based in his hometown. The firm has 284 lawyers -- and that keeps him moving.

No surprise that he doesn't travel steerage. In five of the last seven weeks, he's been on United's new luxury P.S. flight, a 757 three-class transcontinental from SFO (and LAX) to JFK that caters to commercial travelers.