29 Mar 2012

San Francisco: Food + Places + Things

So I just realized that my first post about San Francisco was a little bit weak. It was all sorts of reflective-ness and such, but I didn’t even go into detail about the things that matter the most: the food and the sights and everything we did in between. San Francisco is a beautiful city. It has so much character and color. People are full of energy almost all of the time and being there for four days was an adventure like I’ve never experienced before. Many friends told me before leaving on my trip that San Francisco is a lot like Seattle. I disagree. It’s in a city, sure, and it’s near water, but other than those two things, nothing else stood out to me that would support the cities being similar. If you’re making a visit soon, just stop – and look up at the buildings and the structure of it all. There’s also way more things to do there than in Seattle. In fact, I’m probably going to need to plan another trip again soon to complete it all.

On our first day, we picked up lunch at a popular deli called Arguello. We took our sandwiches up to the old army barracks overlooking Golden Gate and battled the intense winds as I tried to nom my sandwich desperately needing a hair tie. Afterwards, we just decided to embrace the wind. The photograph above is just a still of my girlfriends running with it for five minutes.

In the evening, Samantha told us that she had wanted to take us to dinner at an event called “Off the Grid,” which is basically a gathering of street food vendors. It only happens once a week, but the locals love it so much that they can’t get enough of it. The space was packed and I felt like a little kid in a street vendor super store…outdoors. Seattle has street carts and trucks as well, but I’m not even sure if Capitol Hill’s night market is still running so I usually just stick to my standard cream cheese hot dog.

Wanting to venture out of my comfort zone a bit and try something I couldn’t get in Seattle, I decided to try the Baked Tender Pork Belly Bao from The Chairman. I would’ve eaten a couple more of those had I not been full after the first one. It was simply amazing, juicy, and flavorful. Seattle needs The Chairman truck here, stat!

Pretty Haight St.

USF St. Ignatius > Seattle U St. Ignatius

This is massive!

It isn’t a trip to California unless you grab some In-N-Out.

We watched a real amateur act at Fisherman’s Wharf. He nearly caught his pants on fire and he dropped one of his flaming batons. It’s okay, he’ll get it next time?

Hi Liliana!

This was probably one of my favorite meals throughout the entire trip. After a strenuous day of sight seeing at the Wharf and hours of shopping downtown, we retreated to dinner at a restaurant called B*Star known for their Asian fusion dishes. I ordered the Miso Cod, which was everything I dreamed of and more. The cod practically melted in my mouth and the garlic egg noodles complimented the fish nicely. Part of our group also ordered their specialty sangria, which was just wonderful. If I ever go back to San Francisco again (which let’s be real, I will,) I will be returning to B*Star.

We were lucky to have gone to Twin Peaks on the clearest night ever! Being there reminded me a lot of Kerry Park here in Seattle, but I actually think this view is much prettier! It was breathtaking.

The morning of my birthday had us starting at Luna Park for brunch. What I quickly came to realize was that bottomless mimosas are totally a thing in San Francisco and bottomless bellini’s? That exists too! This photo doesn’t do my meal any justice, but I ordered the Fried Egg Sandwich with Cheddar, Bacon, Avocado, Tomato, and Arugula on Sourdough bread w/ fries. Basically, it’s a sandwich that has all of the fixings of a BLT and a fried egg included. Fact: I never turn down a BLT.

Shortly after brunch, we headed over to Japantown where we purchased the mochi that would later serve as my “birthday cake.”

Sponge Bob Cheese Nips not included.

Notable nightlife:

  • Sudachi
  • Mayes

Notable food places:

  • Escape from New York Pizza
  • Cafe Yumm! in Corvalis, OR