Other than running the marathon, my recent visit to San Francisco was filled up as these visits usually are - catching up with as many of my favorite people as possible, walking all over the city, and eating as many of my favorite foods as possible. Eating is usually a big and important part of my travels and on San Francisco visits I'm always trying to find a balance of enjoying some of my old favorites while also being open to new discoveries.
I love food and I like to optimize my experiences. While I enjoy the occasional over-the-top meal (a la French Laundry), in general, I'm a bit more basic in my food preferences and tend to appreciate perfect executions of somewhat common/straight-forward, unfussy foods. I'm blessed with a husband and friends who are willing to tag along for the ride as I seek out the perfect meal, even if that occasionally means having each course at a different venue. I'm definitely a believer in the "life's too short to eat bad food" approach to things - and I've certainly been known to leave a bad meal in search of a better restaurant rather than waste a meal with bad food. While Boulder has some good food options, there is really no comparison with San Francisco and so I've usually got a long list of food I want to eat on each visit to the Bay Area.
So, while I wasn't able to eat all of my favorite foods on my recent SF trip (I'm back again in a week though so will have another bite at the apple, so to speak), and I had a few horrible food moments (desperation raisinettes and a wonder-bread like soft pretzel at the double-feature movie we saw), I did get a chance to re-visit some of my favorites as well as experience a few new good options.
Old Favorites:
Chocolate sable cookies (from Miette) and Billecart-Salmon rose at Ferry Building Wine Merchant
Almond croissant and raisin walnut roll from Boulangerie (Bay Bread)
Ham and warm sheep's milk Cheese terrine (with champs) at Piperade
Yank Sing for dim sum
Chocolate chip cookies at the Grove
Valdeon toasts and Billecart-Salmon rose (notice a theme?) at Terzo
Margherita pizza and chocolate budino tart at A16
Green Papaya salad at Slanted Door
Cinnamon hot chocolate cake at Bittersweet Cafe
Peaches from Frog Hollow Farm
New (for me) and worth repeating
Christopher Elbow chocolate bars from CocoaBella
Bombolone (Raspberry and Chocolate) at I Preferiti di Boriana at the Ferry Building
Dinner at Plumpjack (Fabulous app of pain perdue with burrata and amazing black forest cake with chocolate pudding and cherry soup for dessert)
Pasta-load dinner at Bacco - solid Italian restaurant in Noe Valley
On the list for upcoming San Francisco visit (again trying for the blend of the old favorites (OF) and new discoveries..)
Tacubaya (OF - love their pork tacos)
Sketch (OF)
ici (have been wanting to try this relatively new Berkeley ice cream spot for quite some time)
Picco (OF - love their pizza and soft-serve ice cream)
Tartine (OF)
Bong Su (OF- Actually have preferred this place over Slanted Door for Vietnamese food of late -- still holding out for their Boulder location....)
Charles Chocolates factory tour and retail store
Hamburgers at the Village Pub and Peninsula Creamery (OF)
Dinner at Scott Howard and Nopa
If anyone has any suggestions for must-eat foods in San Francisco (particularly the new and fabulous), please send me an email or leave a comment!