Late Thursday night two of my favorite fellas and I arrived in San Francisco. We were super hungry because everyone knows that flights always start before you’re hungry and end at just about the time you think you might have to eat 6 bags of mini pretzels in a row just to survive. My BFF Katie and her husband, Mark, picked us up and took us straight to In-N-Out. We got our burgers animal-style and now I know I should’ve gotten my root beer and fries animal-style too. Next time.
Friday morning we got up and walked to Rick and Ann’s for an assortment of goodness. I have a hard time passing up a mushroom and goat cheese omelette, so I went that route. I like any restaurant that doesn’t skimp on goat cheese, ya know?
Vacation calls for dessert after breakfast so we headed over to Elmwood Cafe for mochas in bowls and a chocolate croissant. I saw a sandwich pass by with a hard-boiled egg and mushrooms on it. I’ve been thinking about concocting something like it soon!
After shopping around town (I bought my dream hat!) we hopped on the bus for pizza. We didn’t realize that The Cheese Board makes one kind of pizza a day and that when you order it they hand it to you right then! Pretty cool! This pizza was zucchini, corn, feta, and cilantro pesto. The crust was perfectly crispy and I loved having those little sample slices on top! It makes it easy to try it secretly before your friends join you!
Later on that night we hit up The Trappist Provisions for some fancy brews before dinner. I chose the cutest beer, of course. If you like it, put a heart on it.
And then came ramen. Katie and I sipped Hitachino beers and chit-chatted until it was noodle o’clock. There were three options at The Ramen Shop and most of us opted for the salmon and pork bowl. We talked about the art of teasing the noodles just right and made sure to not let our eggs sink and be lost for good in the giant bowl! I really loved it! It was my first ramen experience!
After dinner I got to meet my boy, Billy and his boo, Steve! Totally made my day! We talked about our gentleman dogs, ya know?
Saturday we went to the ferry building and headed straight to Pepple’s Donuts. I might’ve bought 5: pumpkin, chocolate cookie, vanilla cookie, earl gray with bergamot, and salted caramel. But let’s be honest, the blueberry donut steals the show by being a major hottie, right?
We walked our legs off, shopped at Zara, and ended up at Zuni Cafe for a late lunch where we all ordered Cindy’s favorite burger, beers, and a mountain of shoe string fries. Those zucchini pickles and hot pink onions are as tasty as they are pretty. Now I wish I would’ve tried the caesar salad too though!
Later on that night we went to Bar Tartine, but we weren’t hungry since we late-lunched it. We tried a few small pickled items, but honestly, the menu seemed like it was out of a Portlandia episode. Rye porridge for dessert? Steamed celery root cake? Am I missing something? I bet their bread is good though! Sorry, hip and cool bearded waitstaff!
Sunday’s was all about hanging in the parks and eating everything we pass. After a quick breakfast of fresh herb and jack cheese scrambled eggs at Claremont Diner we popped on the Bart and headed into the city. We got breakfast dessert at Bi-Rite Creamery and then bought brews for sipping. This yuzu beer was super good. I loved it!
On our way to the painted ladies we might’ve picked up a snack at Hot Cookie and them immediately gotten creme brûlée from The Creme Brûlée Cart.They had so many flavors! Even s’mores! My lovely friend, Lauren, brought some Hell or High Watermelon beer for me to try. I’ve been wanting to taste it for years! I kinda loved it. I want to drink it on the hottest days in my backyard, for real.
Basically, we couldn’t decide what to have for dinner so we decided to have 3 dinners. Katie, Mark, and I shared that beautiful lobster roll at Woodhouse Fish Co. I could’ve eaten 4 though! It was SO good. Then we walked to Beretta in the Mission for second dinner that consisted of honey crisp hard cider, margarita burrata pizza, and hot salami pizza. There were so many kinds that looked good though! There was even a potato rosemary one! For third dinner we taco-ed it up at El Farolito Taqueria. By this point I was getting full so I had one taco, but I kinda wanted enchiladas, and quesadillas too. Anything with an avocado on top, ya know?
Monday morning, the party was over. My dude friends and I packed our bags, hugged Katie, Mark, and Penelope, and walked to Southie on the way to the airport train. I drank most of a giant latte and ate an awesome breakfast burrito with chorizo, eggs, avocado, and love.
I miss you already, San Francisco! Thanks for having the best parks, avocados, and hat shops!
P.S. Check out my other travel posts for New York and Pittsburgh, if you want!
What a city of fooooood.
Food for days!
Oh MAN, so many things! I want to eat all of this food! I’m so keen to get to LA now (slightly far away from my home town in Australia, but that’s fine). And I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. That is one sweet hat.
And I need to make it to Australia!
Now I’m more sad we didn’t make it to SF in September! You ate the best things! Marc loves everything animal style at In-N-Out, but I realized on this last trip that I prefer the regular cheeseburger which has the spread and raw onions, not the caramelized onions (I think they’re a bit too sweet combined with the spread, despite my undying love for caramelized onions). Have you tried the mushroom frittata at Pizzeria Biga for brunch? There were SO MANY delicious mushrooms! Right Brain in Traverse City has a watermelon beer, too, and I wonder how it compares. You definitely found the cutest brews!
I’ll have to try that frittata! Sounds really good. And thanks for the tip about the Traverse City watermelon beer. I had the hardest time finding any!
Girl, I like the way you travel. And now I need an IN-N-Out burger big time 🙂
Double double!
Impressed with how much food you fit into a short weekend! and you MUST come back to Zuni for the caesar (& and a balsamic bloody mary;)!
Thanks, Kaylan! And yeah, I already need to come back.
I don’t know where to begin. In n Out, the doughnuts, and that lobster roll. No wonder why I want to move to California!
Yeah! It’s a magical place.
I’m so happy we both eat our way through traveling.
You just understand.
My mom said that it looks like I just ate the whole time… I was like uh, what else is there to do?
We get each other, Nik!
Moms, right?! Always pointing out the obvious. 😉
We do, Megs!
good golly miss molly – this post is AWESOME!! Watermelon beer?! Insane. The world has gone insane. In awe of this post I created a folder in my email to store it to look back on. San Fran is on the list of “places to go and eat myself silly” and I want to refer back to this post for all the good ideas. Kudos!
Thanks, Jenna! So sweet! I’m glad you like it. 🙂
Yayyyyy! San Francisco is sooo fun to walk around as it reminds me of Argentina where I grew up, and the best part of all is that SF is food-nation. Almost everything is yummy, the cafes are amazingly adorable, and everywhere you turn there’s an eatery. And In n out animal style is one of my favorite things ever! May not be the healthiest, but ya gotta live a little, right? 😉
True that. An IN-N-OUT burger every now and then is just necessary. 🙂
I love this idea of a San Francisco food tour. So fun, and endless options! Can’t wait to get back to SF!
Erin
http://www.francoisetmoi.com
I am SO GLAD you got to have two of my favorite burgers in all the lands…and that it wasn’t a disappointment after all the hype I threw at ya.
Eat-cation is the best way to travel!
Daaaaaang girl, you lived it up in SF! Way more food magic than I had there, for sure. I need to go back for a re-do!
thanks for sharing all this lady bird! excited to bookmark this post and refer to it when planning my next left-coast trip. 🙂
So good to hang gurrl!! Also I had no idea about those doughnuts so guess who’s going to all of them the next time he goes to sf? This guy.
I fully respect your number-of-meals to number-of-days ratio. You really did this city up right! 😉
Looks like you spent quite a bit of time in Berkeley too! Cheeseboard’s corn pizza is the best one! 🙂