Weekend in San Francisco

Thanks to Susan and everyone else for the nice comments.

WJ-
And I love cioppino and usually aren't a big fish guy.  But, I think I did okay.

This isn't about food but there is a "Vertigo" inspired driving tour of the bay are. it goes past Fort Point where Stewart rescued Kim Novak from drowning, Muir woods where they saw the Rerdwoods and the San Juan Bautista Mission where the film's conclusion takes place.Also Union Square is where the outdoor scenes at the beginning of "The Birds" was filmed.

buffetbuster


The one waiter, with a distinct accent greeted me and told me to choose whichever seat I want.

 
Do San Franciscans have a regional accent like people from other parts of the country?
 
The menu looks outstanding but definitely comes with a case of sticker shock.  Were prices at other places you visited similarly higher than what might be expected in other cities?
 
Brad

http://sanfranciscohistory.tribe.net/thread/fa6eab1f-484e-4209-882a-f0a00318585dhttp://www.examiner.com/x-14251-SF-Architecture--Design-Examiner~y2009m6d21-Mission-District-architecture-and-art-overview
  http://bastardofaandc.blogspot.com/2008/09/listening-to-san-francisco.html

Now I'm jealous.

I ALWAYS eat at the Tadich Grill when in SF.

Cioppino was invented in SF and you can't go wrong ordering it there.  It's one of my most favorite food memories.

I've also had shrimp curry and halibut florentine at the Tadich.

Incredible food.  Thanks for the tasty reminder.

Now I'm hoping that you went to

http://mamas-sf.com/

for a breakfast omelet.

 Mar, your link to Mama's is mouth watering!!! I MUST get back out to San Francisco!!

Nice trip report. I think flying to SF for the weekend is very sensible. Do you need a girlfriend? LOL

Brad, SF is supposed to be one of the more expensive places to eat in the US--there is a lot of attention to quality of the food in most places, but still kinda pricey especially compared to where 95 percent of us live.  After eating in London/the UK for three weeks, that doesn't look so bad.

Tourist trap??? Tadich?!?!?! Did I not say to go there? Would I - a 6th generation Northern Californian - send you to a tourist trap?!?! My family has been frequenting Tadich since at least the 19-teens... so, no, not a tourist trap!

Vertigo is my dad's favorite film, and we always associate it with Mission San Juan Baptista... My parents' house used to look out over Mission Dolores though.

I'm so glad you had a good time. And staying on Union Square was best for the things you did. FWIW I grew up going to Sears but we don't any more - now over-rated and over-priced. There is WAY too much great food in the Bay Area to have an average meal.

By Tuesday I'll be home having Fenton's, my favorite dim sum, my favorite sourdough, coffee, and more... mmmmmmmmm. Can't wait! :o)

Excellent report! Those pancakes look fantastic.

I just caught Dottie's on Diners, Drive-In's & Dives. Man that cornbread with the house made pepper jelly sure did look good!

BB The first time we went to Sears back in the late 1990's, I raved about the place.  There were lines just like you showed in your pictures.  I thought the little pancakes were great.

The place was sold by the Sears family to the same owner of a breakfast spot up the block several years ago.  If you do some research, you can read the articles about what happened; they are negative articles.

Two years ago last May, we went back to SF and Sear's was on my list of go to places.  I did not know the place had been sold.  I was surprised at how unremarkable the breakfast was this time and how expensive it was, too.  We stayed at a hotel two doors down from Sear's..I forget the name..It was a terrific bargain though.  The room price also included two tickets to the Giant's game!  Box seats! 

Anyway, there were no lines in the morning when we were at Sears.
That other place Dottie's gets rave reviews and was featured on DD&D..It looked fantastic.  I loved that segment on DD&D   

I recognize so many of your pictures...We took a bus tour this last time.
My favorite was the ride up to the top of what I think was Golden Gate Park?  You can see the entire city. Terrific! The bus tour takes all the trouble out of seeing the city.  Once you get an overview, you can then go back and see the areas you liked.  I think we paid $30 a person.  It was "on/off" and well worth the $.  You get it down at Fisherman's Pier.
Forgot to mention we ate at the Tadich Grill, too.  Very, very basic food.  Great bread..Bread is pretty good everywhere in SF though.  Good seafood.  The place is not cheap.  And, as you see in the pictures, not much on atmosphere.  Been there a long, long time.  Took friends who live in SF.  They said they rarely go there, but we wanted to try it.  Since I paid, they went.  
 
I think you really got to hunt out the unique and reasonably priced places in this town.  They are around..
We didn't go to Alcatraz this time, but I highly recommend that.  They also have a night trip out there that my friend went on and he said it was great.

Loved Chinatown!  SF is a very old town.  The hotels are very old and the rooms downtown are very small and $$$!  Many do not have a/c.  Got to do your homework when booking a room.  Weather is important because if you hit a heat wave (they have them!) and are in a reasonably priced hotel without a/c, you're not going to be happy. 

Tripadvisor.com is terrific for researching SF.   Lots of good and helpful comments to help save you some $$.

Twin peaks.

Thanks Bill...Yeah, it's pretty impressive.  

Great photo!!

mr chips-
Thanks for the info on the Vertigo tour and that sounds like it would be very fun to do.
 
mar52-
Sorry, no Mama's.  Would have loved to have eaten there, but it was just too far of a walk.  Especially with Dottie's right around the corner.  Strangely, our waitress this Saturday(I was dining with wanderingjew and Travelin Man at the time) in Marguerite's in Westport, Massachusetts, brought up Mama's to us, because she loved it so much.
 
Brad-
When I said the guy had an accent, I should have been more specific.  He sounded like he was Greek.  There were other waiters at Tadich Grill who sounded Russian.
 
cecif-
I'm sure you know I was just having some fun with WJ when I brought up Tadich Grill and tourist trap.  It is, IMHO, far from it.  Vertigo is your dad's favorite movie?  Obviously, a very smart man!  Have a great time back home.
 
bill voss-
Thank you so much for the links.  The one with the murals of the Mission District was especially beautiful!

When my niece graduated from Brandeis in Boston she moved to SF.  

She majored in marketing and got some high paying jobs for some large companies.

Then she decided she didn't want to work in an office and got a job as a waitress at Mama's.  (We'd been eating there for years)

She made more money as a waitress than she did in the high profile jobs.

I am a pretty close locally, and when we want some very good upscale food, it is Tadichs grill in the S.F. financial district.  Always fresh and top of the line.  The Seafood is really excellent.

Okay, trying to get this thing finished up.....
 
On Saturday, I took some time and explored the Ferry Building and their marketplace.  Beautiful building, with an impressive clock tower,

that contains upscale food stalls.  The first place I saw when I walked in was this

and I knew this would be fun.  After all, who doesn't enjoy salted pig parts?  Another place sold nothing but mushrooms.


"FUNGI, GET YOUR FUNGI HERE!"
 
The first place I grabbed some food was at the Acme Bread Company. 

Lots of great looking bread here and I went for a cheese sandwich.  In a place like this,

it isn't going to be an ordinary cheese sandwich.

Nothing but top notch ingredients on here, especially the fresh, crusty bread.  I loved it!  You don't know how close you came to being subjected to a trip report entitled, I Left My Cheese Sandwich in San Francisco.  Sitting on a park bench, overlooking the water and listening to this guy

play Rhapsody in Blue, it doesn't get much better than that!
 
Needing dessert, I found Frog Hollow Farm,


which is reviewed on this site.  They sell great looking fruit and even better pastries, although the line for their coffee was also extremely long.  Here is what I bought.

A Linzer cookie, which is almond flavored and I think that was raisin conserve.  An excellent chocolate chip cookie.

A peach tartlet

(actually they called it something else which sounded French, but I can't remember the name).
And the single best item was the cherry tartlet,

which was more tart than sweet and was incredibly delicious.  ChiTownDiner, you would have loved this!
 
I took these items back outside to find a different place to sit down.  It was extremely crowded

out on a dock, where lots more food kiosks were set up, including from Hayes Street Grill,

which appears in some older JMS books.  I wish I had extra appetite to try something from here.  I eventually did find an open bench and was forced to eat with this view. 

Don't you feel sorry for me?
 
Leaving the Ferry Terminal Building, I ran into a really cool industrial looking fountain,

which was very popular with the kids, who were climbing around it.  And how about a business that sells nothing but flattened bottles?

 
One small segment to go.....
 

buffetbuster -

You are right on with that cherry tart...WOW!  Ummm, I've got some airline credits....

Normally I am not a huge dessert fan( well, I am, but cant indulge too often!), but your choices at Frog Hollow Farm look simply marvelous.Especially the cherry tartlet-I prefer more tart than sweet...BB-you would love Wisconsins Door County cherries!As would Gregg, I imagine.

Ohhhh, that cheese sandwich looks so good!  What a lovely day out!

buffetbuster, you brought back some wonderful memories of our trip to SF a few years back. Although, we didn't go to all the same places, I have pretty much the same pics of the Mission and we also got down to markets in the Ferry Building.

Other higlights included Chow, in the Castro area, Grubsteak in Nob Hill, a couple dim sum places in Chinatown, some Italian in North Beach, some mexican in the Mission district, a jewish pastry shop near Union Square, and a nice touristy bread bowl of clam chowder at the pier. Oh! and excellent tapas at Cha-Cha-Cha  in Haight-Ashbury. Man, I could go on and on - we loved SF!

thanks for bringing back all those good memories.

Thanks for taking me back home. I left S.F. when Barry Bonds was shagging home runs from where home plate was supposed to be. I am now envious and contemplating taking advantage of low fares too.

mark

Some extra photos.....
 
Friday night, I landed at SFO airport aound 8:30PM.  By the time I gathered my luggage and rode BART into the city, it was now 10:00PM.  I remember thinking, I hope I can find someplace still open for a late dinner.  As soon as I emerged from the Powell Street station, I had to laugh.  There were thousands of people milling around and every kind of restaurant imaginable was still open.  In Pittsburgh, they roll the sidewalks up at night, so I'm not used to this.  After throwing the luggage in my room, I chose a Thai noodle parlor I had noticed.

The place was packed, so I had to share a table with three nice people from Australia.  Dinner was a very good order of Pad See Ew

along with a Thai Iced Tea.

Man, I wish we had places like this back home.
 
My hotel was right off of Union Square, which is crowded day or night. 

The statue?  I believe that is wanderingjew pointing people away from tourist traps!  When I was returning from the baseball game, there were at least 1,000 people sitting in the square,

watching a Woody Allen movie.  Very cool!
 
Gas prices made me very, very thankful that I didn't rent a car.

 
That's it!  Thanks for reading my report!

That's exactly what Julie gets at the Thai place here--I bet money yours was better.  I love those open-air movie deals.  Awesome trip sir!

oh! your Thai Iced Tea reminded me that it was SF when we came to know Bubble Tea. About a month after we returned to DC, a Ten-Ren opened up in College Park, MD. It was kismet.

Thai Iced tea rocks too! I've always liked regular brewed iced tea, but it was SF that opened our eyes to all these other teas! Thankfully, these SF Asian items are making their way East to metro area, like DC (which has a huge Asian population, especially in the burbs). Your pic made me thirsty!

Scorereader-
And San Francisco was the first place I had Thai food, including a Thai iced tea.

Nancy-
Thanks!  Julie has good taste!  If I wasn't so tired from the walking, I would have stayed and watched some of the movie.  But it was really impressive to see so many people out.  What a great idea!