San Francisco Trip

A few weeks back, I took a quick trip to San Francisco to help a friend apartment hunt. While we didn't find a winning apartment we did find lots of good food and drink! And, really, what's more important here- shelter or wine? Think carefully now.

Our first day, we explored a bit and came across Cowgirl Creamery. I love this place! Whole Foods carries a few of their cheeses, but it was great to have access to such a huge variety. We had the cheese platter and the grilled cheese (so freakin' good) and sat by the water happily munching away.

For dinner, Sara found a great place called The Slanted Door. It's a modern Vietnamese place down at Pier 1/2 (away from the tourist action at Fisherman's Wharf) that focuses on ecologically farmed game meat and locally sourced produce. It's actually been around since 1995 but in the past few years moved to this location on the water. Since it moved it has been hopping! It nearly impossible to get a reservation and when we showed up at 5:30 (opening) there was already a line! But we got in quickly and enjoyed some crazy good food. Highly recommend the place. Amazing food, very helpful service (he basically told us what to order and he was spot on), excellent ambiance, on the water (picture right of Sara is taken right outside the restaurant).

I would say the following are must orders, all recommended by our server:

--grass-fed estancia shaking beef, cubed filet mignon, sausalito springs' watercress, red onions
and lime sauce
--cellophane noodles with green onion and fresh dungeness crab meat
--crispy imperial rolls with shrimp, pork, glass noodles and peanuts

So good. If you are in San Fran, make an effort to go here.

The next morning we headed out for a run in Golden Gate Park. What an amazing urban green space. It's multiple miles across with everything- an auditorium, a botanical garden, soccer fields, running paths, even a herd of bison. So, of course, that's where we headed. To the bison!

Then we finally started the apartment hunting. We looked high, we looked low. There were a lot of hills that wore me out:

I know it doesn't look impressive in this picture but it was a BIG hill. The apartment was at the top and the nearest laundry facility was at the bottom. No can do, crossed it off the list!

After viewing 5 unacceptable places (though one had a cute Australian guy, guess he doesn't come with the lease), we thought, heck maybe she should just buy a place:

How much can they be? Couldn't be more than million or so, right? Perfect for a fellow's salary....

After a tough day of apartment hunting, we had an early happy hour in the hotel (hey, it was 4pm in the Midwest) then headed out for dinner at La Mar, also at Pier 1/2. La Mar's cuisine is Peruvian seafood. Awesome! The place was very cute w/ an outdoor patio (though it was too cold of us to partake in that.) As usual, we asked our server for ordering recs and ended up with:

causa sureña:

Purple potato causa with panko breaded shrimp, red onion,
olives, lima beans, queso fresco and ocopa sauce

the empanada sampler

Arroz Jugosa:
Prawns, clams, mussels, calamari, octopus, white fish and
vegetables in a juicy arborio rice with a blend of Peruvian ajis -
served with rocoto aioli and toasted bread


And, of course, the national drink of Peru, the pisco sour.

The food was good and interesting but the only must order from the above La Mar offerings would be the pisco sour. Very well made. Go to Slanted Door first, but if you have two nights, La Mar would be a good pick.

Sara and I at the end of a whirlwind weekend:)

(Please note: a few of the above La Mar pics borrowed from a great San Fran food blog: http://www.nosaladasameal.com/2009/07/la-mar-san-francisco.html. If you live in the San Fran area, check it out!)