A Travelogue of Food: San Francisco

Author's Note: After finishing this Blog, the author feels she must beg your forgiveness for the length. Its epic. Blogs really should not be this long, and won't be in the future if it can be helped. But as food was the main topic, the author had difficulty in avoiding longwindedness.

I recently visited San Francisco. I'd never been there before, and I was not disappointed! The trip was fantastic. Why so fantastic? I think its because food played such a key role in the vacation. Any retelling of the San Francisco adventures would have to include food, but I've decided to retell it focusing on food. After all, as anyone in our vacation group can attest, that's how it felt.

The first meal of the trip consisted of airplane snacks--100 calorie packs of Lorna Doones, Jetblue potato chips and small bottles of water. And no, we weren't on the airplane. Rather, we were waiting in the Salt Lake Airport for our flight to leave. We were delayed 3 hours due to poor weather conditions in SF*. We finally left at midnight. Our late departure meant a late arrival. We were supposed to catch the airport shuttle but it had ceased running by 1:00 am. Instead, the Intrepid Travelers ventured out to the waiting line of taxis. We grabbed a Taxi Van (after much arguing with a wide variety of cab drivers who insisted we needed to take 2 cabs to fit all six of us) and got to the La Quinta airport inn really quick. Nice, right? Except that our hotel rooms were in The Annex of the La Quinta inn--around a fence and across the railroad tracks. WHAT?! I know...I know...

A Fiber One bar was breakfast on Thursday because the next leg of vacation was journeying back to the airport (via the hotel's shuttle), to catch the subway (BART), to get to the Powell St. Station where we bought our bus passes and then took another cab to get to our hotel on Lombard Street. Thank goodness for the filling-nature of those little bars! But really, we were all starving by the time we checked into the Best Value Inn by Vantage. STARVING. So the Intrepid Travelers sat down the first real meal of the day...

Thai food. YUM! We ate a place called Gatip Thai--across the street from where we were staying. Andrea had eaten there before, and a random man on the street heard us discussing it and chimed in with his recommendation as well. So off we went! I had the pad thai--delicious. Really. I love pad thai...

A cup of chowder was my next meal, 2 or 3 hours later. We wandered down toward Fisherman's Wharf to see what we could see (via the 30 bus. Love that bus!), and eventually made our way to a number of seafood counters. My mom insisted I eat some seafood in SF, and I love chowder...and I was cold. Perfect. The chowder was insanely hot--totally burned my tongue!--and so very yummy. Trina also let me have one of her shrimp which was, of course, tasty tasty.

I had a Mint Bliss sundae at Ghiradelli Square an hour or so later. It was incredible. And I ate the whole thing. I also bought some chocolates for my family. Sure you can buy Ghiradelli chocolate anywhere in the US, but its just more "special" when you buy it in SF, I guess.

Spaghetti and Meatballs in Little Italy**. How great is that for dinner?! Dinner at MangaRosa was one of the highlights of the trip because hilarity ensued, and the spaghetti and meatballs was incredible. Andrea's friend, Jason, joined us for dinner and we wandered Little Italy for a while before settling on this Brazilian Italian joint because they could seat 7 people right then and there. The host and at least two waiters warned us right from the beginning that they were "famous" for their "Brazilian dancers" who came out and danced every hour. That's great, right? A little cultural experience could do us all good! WELL. The Brazilian dancers did indeed appear...and they were very, um...EXOTIC. All we could do was laugh. And laugh. And laugh some more. WOW.

The Best French Toast EVER graced my plate Friday morning at Sears Fine Food near Union Square. The restaurant has been around since the 1930's, and they're famous for their breakfasts. The french toast was seriously incredible. The others' meals looked equally as delicious. We wandered the Union Square area for another hour or so and then headed back toward the Golden Gate Bridge. Our breakfast (plus the donuts from the donut shop down the road that Andrea, Mindy, and I couldn't resist) would have to strengthen us enough to make it across the bridge by foot in cold, foggy, windy, rather miserable conditions. We made it. It was cool (literally and figuratively)! But the trek didn't end there. The Intrepid Travelers then walked another mile or so through the canyon, via the shoulder of the road, to make it to Sausalito. The Road to Sausalito (also the name of the group's forthcoming album...) was long and windy and tiring. BUT we finally made it to this little seaside community, just in time for...

Chicken Enchiladas with Mole (add an accent to mole so its like "mo-lay"...not the underground rodent) at a little Mexican place in town. The food was delicious but we were all rather tired and quiet. Not much to say about that meal. We wandered back to the center of town afterward and wandered the little shops. They were your typical touristy places with lots of art and souvenir T-shirts for sale. But it was fun to wander nonetheless.

We got Lappert's Ice Cream--which I'd only had in Hawaii before--as a treat before hopping on the ferry back to San Francisco. The ice cream was, of course, delicious. I even got mine in a waffle cone because, hey, its vacation! Riding the ferry back across the bay, and noticing how far we'd actually trekked that morning, I couldn't believe it! Now I think we're crazy. I'm glad I did it, but I'd never do it again. It should go without saying that by this time we were TIRED. All I really wanted to do was sleep, but the day was not over and sleep could not be had. Besides, if we'd headed right back to the hotel, I would have missed the crazy man hurrying through the Farmer's Market warning everyone to leave because Adolf would be back in 15 minutes to blow us all up. Ah, memories...

Ethiopian food in the Haight-Ashbury district of SF was definitely an adventure, and so Friday's dinner proved to be. The bus trip was long, and the neighborhood was a little creepy to me but we met up with Mindy's cousin who introduced us to this little Ethiopian place. At the very least, I can now say I've had Ethiopian! But I also must admit it wasn't my favorite. They brought the various meats and vegetables out on a HUGE platter for the table to share. We each got a big piece of this spongy, crepe-like bread (but not sweet like a crepe) to eat with. You just ripped off a piece and scooped up some of the veggies or meat. Cool...weird...but not my fave.

Oatmeal, or Go Power, as Andrea's family calls it, was a fantastic start to my day on Saturday. For the record, this was my first time EVER ordering oatmeal at a restaurant. But it was really fantastic and I've discovered anew my love for this breakfast staple. We had breakfast at a small diner called Homeplate--right down the road from our hotel. The place was hoppin'! Each breakfast came with a homemade scone and OH MY...so delicious. Breakfast was the only thing we did as an entire group. Afterward, we split up--Andrea and I headed toward Civic Center to visit the Asian Art Museum. We had quite a time even finding the Asian Art Museum--wandering through some of the more unsavory parts of town and then wandering right into the San Francisco Pride Festival--but find it we did. I don't think I can emphasize enough how truly awesome this museum is. I loved it! Three floors, and 3 1/2 hours later, we were finally done and totally enriched in the process. So cool...But by that time it was well past lunchtime! We were hungry! Really, for two women who've been eating round the clock, four hours without a meal was quite the sacrifice. Good thing I had my Go Power that morning!

We hurried out of the museum and stopped at the second restaurant we saw--Vietnamese goodness! I don't remember the name of the place, but it was delicious! I had Pho with beef steak and it hit the spot. Warm and so very tasty. I love that stuff! Andrea ordered the "best thing on the menu" according to our server, and it looked delish as well. That meal warmed us and filled us enough to brave SF's Tenderloin District...though we didn't realize it at the time. I'd like to think that if we had realized that's where we were, we would have walked another way but who knows? But with courage in our hearts and Vietnamese food in our bellies, we soldiered on to Chinatown, where I was introduced to...

Coconut Rolls. Andrea served her mission in Hong Kong, speaks Chinese, and was the absolute perfect Chinatown companion. She went in search of the coconut rolls, purchased one for each of us, handed me one and said, "Now, are you ready? Be prepared for the greatest thing you have ever tasted." I prepared myself...and was not disappointed. OH. MY. GOSH. So good. So very very very good. Can I add enough superlatives? I doubt it. After one coconut roll I wanted another one...immediately. But we held off long enough to wander through most of Chinatown, making a few purchases here or there (though Erin's fake Prada was not procured. I tried!!) and generally impressing the population with Andrea's ability to speak their language. Andrea also purchased a number of lychees; I ate one, but I've never been a big fan. We bought more coconut rolls for later (we should have bought a dozen!), and then stopped at a restaurant that looked quite promising. After a delicious meal that really puts Panda Express to shame, the two weary travelers headed back to the hotel.

Sunday's highlight was not food--surprising, I know! We ate at Homeplate again and I stuck with the same breakfast as Saturday. GO POWER! The highlight was in our cab ride to church. Our driver was from Brazil and when he found out we were going to church he was highly intrigued. Figuring out we were Mormons, he had more questions. "So, you do not have sex before marriage?" We agreed with the statement. "So...you are all three virgins?" That one was more awkward, but we readily assented to the fact. More questions followed, the door was open, so after he dropped us at the church, we gave him a pass-along card and encouraged him to check it out. I hope something good comes of that! 3 Cheers for a Missionary Moment!

The rest of the trip was simply the traveling back to Utah--via the bus, BART, and a Jetblue Airliner. I didn't leave anything behind in San Francisco--my heart it still with me despite what the famous song may suggest. But I can't wait to go visit again. There's so much still to do...and eat, of course.

*The first announcement said we were being delayed because of haze at the SF airport. A couple of us thought they said "gays." If gays at the airport were keeping us from landing that would be an entirely different problem, you know? Ah, so funny...

**Little Italy was sight of one of my favorite exchanges of the trip. Jason: "You think every thing's a front for the mob." Andrea: "That's because it IS!"