A Week Around San Francisco - Trip Report

[biskuit]

An ex-Californian now living in Atlanta, we try to get back once a year or so to visit friends and do all the wonderful things we love to do around San Francisco. This trip was great, beautiful weather, great hiking, lots of great food.

First, a quick rundown of most of the food we ate, then a detailed trip report. If you want to see a version of this with photos embedded (too much trouble here), you can go to http://www.atlantacuisine.com/cgi-bin/efor...8723088/142#142 and scroll down to where you start seeing photos. OR, if you want some photo overload, not just food, but also flora and fauna, check out my flickr photoset at http://flickr.com/photos/kaplanbr/sets/72157604543710396/

Super way good highly recommended:

Sushiran (Sausalito) - better than ever, incredible meal

Santa Ramen (San Mateo) - better than ever, the kurobuta pork rocks

Fish (Sausalito) - great place on the water, northern california all the way

A16 (San Francisco) - on par with Delfina, which is high praise in my book

Los Amigos Taqueria (Pescadero) - wow carnitas taco from a gas station, gotta love it

Very good, recommeneded:

Pancho Villa (San Mateo) - my old standby, always good

Duarte's (Pescadero) - the "half and half" soup rocks, had a great "Arrogant Bastard" on tap, the pie - meh

Boulange de Polk (San Francisco) - a bit of France in San Francisco

Arcangeli Grocery (Pescadero) - two words .... artichoke bread

Ciao Bella (lots o places) - the lychee moscato gelato was excellent, but others not so great, so taste before you buy

Tartine (San Francisco) - not as good this time as in past, probably because we hit it at the end of the day and things had been sitting around for a while

Good, worth a stop if you're nearby and in the mood:

Ti Couze (San Francisco) - fun place, good savory crepes, nice hard ciders to drink

Flying Fish Grill (Half Moon Bay) - good fish tacos and fish and chips, always a nice stop on the way to the beach

Taqueria San Jose (San Francisco) - decent al pastor, carne asada not so great

Ton Kiang (San Francisco) - good dim sum, not quite as good as I remember it though

Noodle Shop (San Mateo) - good xiao long bao, very rich, the opposite of delicate

Boudin (San Francisco) - chowder in the sourdough bread bowl is always good

Good, but wouldn't recommend it:

Quince (San Francisco) - the food was good to very good, but the service had serious issues - too snooty yet awkward at the same time

Taqueria La Corneta (Burlingame) - doesn't compare to others

Ferry Plaza bits and pieces:

Blue Bottle Coffee - awesome "gibraltar" AKA "cortado", but the drip coffee wasn't my cup o tea

Fatted Calf - others had highly recommended the fegatelli, I wasn't impressed (everything else looked good though)

Cowgirl Creamery - simply excellent cheese shop, as always

Lulu - great house made potato chips

Acme - excellent bread, as always

at the farmers market, so many amazing wonderful local things, this is what makes eating in california great

Now the detailed report... (photo embedded version linked to above)

Day 1: We arrived into SFO around 11am, and of course had to go straight for burritos first thing. Pancho Villa in San Mateo used to be my local taco and burrito spot. They use good fresh ingredients, have an outstanding salsa bar, and very good carnitas (my favorite). A trip without Pancho Villa just doesn't seem right, and we got there for lunch on our very first day before hanging out with friends in Central Park in San Mateo. Always a good time.

Day 2: The next morning, we were headed up to Mt Tam for a hike, and decided to drop in to Ton Kiang for dim sum on the way up. It was still early, so there was no wait. We ate a LOT of food, mostly seafood dim sum - shrimp, calamari, oysters, softshell crab. All good, but didn't wow me as it had in the past.

We hiked most of the day around Mt Tam, starting at Stinson Beach, taking the Dipsea Trail to Steep Ravine, up, and then back down on Matt Davis Trail. Gorgeous views, amazing wildflowers, probably my favorite hike in the Bay Area.

Post hike, we hit another of my favorites, meeting up with friends at Sushi Ran in Sausalito. Our last trip there wasn't quite as good as other meals before it, but this one blew them all away. Excellent sushi, cooked dishes, exquisitely prepared vegetables for our non-fish eating friend, awesome meal.

Day 3: A take it easy day, enjoying the local parks, then hitting another local favorite which was not so great last time but had recently moved to a new (much larger and nicer) location - Santa Ramen. Better than ever - if you like soup (who doesn't?) you need to visit Santa some day.

I made a quick solo trip out for some dumplings later that day when my kids were on a "playdate" - Noodle House in San Mateo makes some very good XLB, hearty, lots of soup inside which is my first criteria for good XLB. The dumpling itself may have been a bit too thick, but these were very enjoyable - better than what I've had in Atlanta at Chef Liu and Frank Ma's.

Day 4: Out to the coast, via Half Moon Bay. An early lunch at another old standy, the Flying Fish Grill. Good seafood shack on the side of the road always hits the spot.

Had a great time at the beach at Pillar Point with the kids, then headed on down towards Pescadero, home to Arcangeli grocery, Los Amigos taqueria, Duarte's tavern, Harley Farms goats, Phipps Country Store for beans, and not very much else. Very high quality to quantity ratio!!! We hit Harley, Phipps, and Arcangeli before heading further down the coast to Costanoa, and came back by on the way up the next day for Duarte's and Los Amigos. Harley and Phipps are both great stops with kids (or without), and the bread at Arcangeli is always great, especially if you are lucky enough to get it warm out of the oven (or buy the half-baked and take it home with you).

Explored and spent the night in a cabin at Costanoa, which is a lovely spot, especially with kids. Tons of hummingbirds buzzing the flowers, great views, nice outdoor hot tub, fires for roasting s'mores. Really great. We were lucky in that it was not crowded at all, we nearly had all that to ourselves.

Day 5: Quick breakfast at Costanoa (surprisingly good) then down the road to Ano Nuevo for a hike out to see the elephant seals. Another lovely walk, lots of interesting animal discoveries along the way, and then the "weaners" - the young seals that stay behind for a while after the adults have left.

Drove back up to Pescadero afterwards for some grub. Duarte's was very good, great green pepper and artichoke soup (half and half), nice bread and crab melt sandwich, VERY good Arrogant Bastard beer on tap! I was pretty full, but had to hit Los Amigos across the street since I had heard good things. The carnitas taco there is probably the best I've ever had.

Kept on driving up the coast, all the way to San Francisco. Checked in to the Argonaut hotel down by Ghirardelli Square (cool place!), then headed out to meet friends for dinner at Ti Couz and a walk around the neighborhood there with its crazy blend of cultures (Indian ice cream, trendy shops, taco shops, etc.). Ti Couz hit the spot. It's not the best place ever, but they serve really good crepes, have a nice cider selection, and make surprisingly good and unique salads.

Then the debate - dessert crepes at Ti Couz? Rose ice cream down the street?? Pastries at Tartine??? We opted for Tartine, and I must say it was probably not the best time of day to go there - everything was delicious, but I could tell the banana cream pie had been sitting around a bit too long. Still loved it of course.

Day 6: Lots of fun today... Ferry Plaza to pick up food for a picnic, over the Golden Gate Bridge to the Bay Area Discovery Museum (GREAT place for kids 7 and under), out to the Tennessee Valley for a hike to the beach, then a fabulous dinner at Fish in Sausalito. Fish is everything right about Northern California, amazing quality ingredients, simple but excellent preparation, very nice beer and wine selection, beautiful view and casual feel. Everything we had was delicious and photo-worthy.

Our friends took us up the road to Ciao Bella in Corte Madera for some gelato. I must say that the lychee moscato was outstanding, a few others I tasted were just so-so.

Day 7: Vacation in Northern California is tough! So much to see, do, eat... Took the kids for breakfast at La Boulange de Polk for a bit of France in San Francisco. It was great. Then we did the cablecar ride up Hyde Street over to Chinatown, which is almost as good as a ride at Disney, certainly with better views. Explored Chinatown and North Beach, then headed over to A16 for an awesome Italian lunch before hitting the beach at Crissy Field on a gorgeous day. Finally, headed out down to Hillsborough to stay with friends again. Our friend Tim treated us to a very nice bottle of Turley Zinfandel. Another great day.

Day 8: Saturday again. Since we were up early anyway, we headed back in to the city for the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. One of my favorite places in the whole world. Amazing local stuff. Spring is a nice season to be there as well - no tomatos or pluots yet, but great greens, flowers, and the year-round staples. A "gibraltar" at Blue Bottle lived up to the hype, and their drip coffee was certainly photogenic if not my taste exactly. So many other amazing things to taste, buy, gawk at. Had a nice tamale at Primavera among other delights.

After the Ferry Plaza, we scooted across town to meet some other friends at the playground at Golden Gate Park. What a great place, kids going wild and having a blast. We even got to watch a few minutes of lawn bowling across the street. Hit Taqueria San Jose for lunch in the Mission - apparently Batali called this his favorite spot, and while it was very good, and wouldn't say it was the best by any means. Al Pastor was the highlight.

Back to Hillsborough to clean up before heading back in to the city for dinner at Quince. I had high expectations, that is always my downfall. We had a good meal, but there were lots of service letdowns, and the meal overall simply didn't measure up to meals I've had at Delfina or Chez Panisse Cafe or Zuni (or Fish or A16 earlier in the trip). No photos of this one, just as well I guess. The evening started with us arriving early and letting them know we'd be walking around the neighborhood if something opened up. There is a lovely park with good views just up the street, and Japantown is a few blocks away - we hit an art gallery (pop Japanime art). Our reservation time came and went with us waiting on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. They don't have a bar or even an entry way for that matter. The hostess did ask if she could get us anything as the minutes ticked away - we weren't sure if she was actually offering to comp us a drink - and we ordered some nice glasses of wine. I noticed that they had a bottle of the Poire Authentique we had at Ti Couz at more than double the price!

Finally seated, our waiter finally came over to talk, then rushed off in the middle of walking through the menu to see to someone else more important than us. He had some confusion also on some of the changes to the menu (vs one that was posted outside) as they had run out of a few dishes as the night progressed (we had an 8:30 reservation and were seated shortly after 9pm). We ordered, and got a nice amuse of lobster over a green garlic puree (or was it green onion?). When the waiters brought out course one, there was much confusion and deliberation over setting down plates in front of the right person at the exact right time, with one poor guy looking desperately at another as he lowered and raised and lowered and raised the dish a few times before finally setting it down. Humorous, and a bit sad! The overall air of the restaurant managed to be both snooty and awkward, which is a hard combination to achieve. Even the sommelier wasn't much help as I asked about a few wines - we ended up with a Qupe Syrah and nice gruner veltliner that tasted a lot like a de-fizzed champagne. And fortunately, I did think the food was pretty good. I had a very nice tagliatelle with veal and mushroom ragu. And I loved the desserts actually, though my wife didn't care for them. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. Still a nice evening out with friends to wrap up our trip.

Day 9: Simply packing, a quick trip down Burlingame Avenue for a sub-par lunch at La Corneta, then off to the airport. All in all, a fabulous, amazing, wonderful time back in the Bay Area.

Edited April 15, 2008 by biskuit (log)

[syrah girl]

Sounds like a wonderful time, thanks for the report!

[pingy]

yes thanks!

I'll be headed there in 3 weeks. Looking forward to eating till I end up rolling down one of those crazy SF hills.