San Francisco has always been a favorite day trip destination for my family but it's usually restricted to a visit to Chinatown. Sometimes we'd randomly find our way to Fisherman's Wharf. I remember when I was going through my Sanrio phase as a little girl, my parents would let me roam around the 2 story store in Union Square and let me pick out something for my birthday. So my scope of the City growing up was Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf and a sliver of Union Square. I got nothing against Chinatown. I love Chinatown but I always yearned to venture around a bit more through this culturally rich city. Even though EHK and I both grew up in the Bay Area, it never seemed like we got a chance to fully explore this gem by the Bay.
So we decided to take a day a few weeks ago when we both found ourselves at home and explore what was in our childhood backyard...
We began our journey during breakfast time so lets get some breakfast yea? We started the day at Tartine. It had always been on my to try list. Its just that I had never been in the City at an appropriate time to enjoy a morning pastry. We ordered a scone and frangipane croissant. Both were delightful. We tend to stay away from scones since we've had some bad experiences with hockey pucks. However, this was buttery and fall apart tender. The perfect mate to a hot beverage.
I had read that the frangipane croissant was just ok here but Mr. K had a soft spot for almond croissants and it was calling out to us from behind the display case so we had to order one. Airy, flakey and not too overpowering in almond flavor. I actually enjoyed it so I'm not sure what's with the mediocre reviews.
I thought that the hot beverages served in bowls were cute but hindered functionality. Delicious Chai but I did miss the cup handle.
We packed a little surprise to go. So much a surprise that we don't have a photo of the delectable. Well it was a fruit tart. So you'll just have to check out Tartine to see what it looks like ;)
Since Bi-Rite Creamery was around the corner, we went for a walk around the Mission and waited for the shop to open up. We were essentially the first to walk in and proceeded to taste a few flavors before we settled on coffee, mint chip and brown butter pecan. Silky smooth in texture and at the same time rich and bold in flavor... one could definitely taste the care and thought put into making this cool confection. My definite favorite of this trio was the brown butter pecan. I was so tickled with actually tasting browned butter in this creamy concoction.
After getting up to Coit Tower and taking in the lovely vista, we headed over to the Ferry Building Marketplace for lunch. We happened upon Boccalone and decided to give it a try since we had dinner plans at Incanto. I had been wanting to try Incanto for quite some time and I was hoping this would be a nice prelude to a tasty evening give the connection of both places to Chris Cosentino. I asked for a recommended sandwich and was given the La Cicciolina which contained porchetta di testa with pickled carrot, radish, chilli and mint. I should have known better when he said it was a take on the Vietnamese bahn mi. Don't mess with the bahn mi! I'm already particular with how I like my bahn mi so I wasn't sure what came over me when I agreed to give it a go. The pickled veggies seemed way too overpowering. It should complement the meat which was why I was here since its a salumeria, but all I could taste was pickled carrot and radish :(. I mean it wasn't a bad sandwich. Just not good enough to leave me with a feeling of wanting to come back to this shop for this sandwich.
EHK and I were still feeling in the munching mood so we grabbed some bread from Acme, a few shops down from Boccalone and some cheese from Cowgirl Creamery.
We ordered a dollop of the Fromage Blanc (photo above) and Montegrappa (photo below). I really like the cream cheese texture and semi tart, rich flavor of the Fromage Blanc. We were sitting on a bench overlooking the Bay Bridge so it was much easier to grab a spoonful of this cheese and spread it on some bread than to cut off a hunk of the Montegrappa. EHK was however a bigger fan of the semi firm nutty Montegrappa.
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Tartine Bakery & Cafe
600 Guerrero St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
415-487-2600
Bi-Rite Creamery
3692 18th St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
415-626-5600
Coit Tower
1 Telegraph Hill Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94133
Ferry Building Marketplace
One Ferry Building
San Francisco, CA 94111
415-983-8000
Boccalone Salumeria
Ferry Building Marketplace
Shop 21
San Francisco, CA 94111
415-433-6500
Acme Bread Company
Ferry Building Marketplace
Shop 15
San Francisco, CA 94111
415-288-2978
Cowgirl Creamery's Artisan Cheese Shop
Ferry Building Marketplace
Shop 17
San Francisco, CA 94111415-362-9354
Your story sounds a lot like mine. I grew up in the Bay Area (but more around San Jose area). And we always visited SF when we had people over. But it seems like we always visited the same stuff: Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's wharf, Chinatown. I feel like there is so much of SF I haven't explored. I'm going to be visiting my parents with the Boyfriend next month so I've been planning on trying all these food places in SF that I never had a chance to before.
ReplyDeleteYour story sounds a lot like mine. I grew up in the Bay Area (but more around San Jose area). And we always visited SF when we had people over. But it seems like we always visited the same stuff: Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's wharf, Chinatown. I feel like there is so much of SF I haven't explored. I'm going to be visiting my parents with the Boyfriend next month so I've been planning on trying all these food places in SF that I never had a chance to before.
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