San Francisco/Bay Area Eats

Just offering my overview of places we had the pleasure of trying while on my recent trip to San Fran. Pictures and more details are also reflected in my blog (link below).

Boudin's Bakery & Cafe (Fisherman's Wharf) - we had the bay shrimp salad sandwich & clam chowder. Both were good and although the chowder is traditionally served in their famous sourdough bread bowl, we chose to hold our carbs and pass on the extra sourdough. The bay shrimp salad sandwich was a tad bland and could have used some heat, citrus, spice or something...

Tadich Grill - we had 2 house specials: cioppino and crab & prawn a al monzo. The cioppino was wonderful - chock full of clams, scallops, shrimp, fish, etc all swimming in a rich, spicy tomato soup. I would suggest ordering extra garlic toast to soak up the soup with. The crab/prawn a la monzo was also good but a bit heavier since it was a casserole with rice.

Citizen Cake - they had some wonderful desserts but we chose the Mocha Misu (a play on tiramisu) and Love Letter (a heavenly dessert with berries and mousse).

Ciao Bella Gelato (Ferry Market Building) - definitely stop here for a few scoops. Gelato is usually a more intensely flavored than your traditional ice cream so a little goes a long way. We treated ourselves to Scharfenberger Chocolate, Triple Espresso, Carrot Ginger, Cookies & Cream and Zambogne(?) - a chardonnay infused gelato.

Acme Bread Company (Ferry Market Building) - this bakery has an assortment of great breads. We chose a cheese wheel ($2) which was a flat sourdough disk filled with gruyere and asiago cheeses.

Koi Palace (Daly City) - after doing some research, we got our dim sum fix here. There was a bit of a wait but so well worth it. It seemed like the place to be for Sunday brunch. Great food, staff and overall a place not to be missed for dimsum!

Thanks for the report, Foodie 1. It appears that San Francisco has been mentioned tangentially, but not addressed directly (unless my search skills are lacking)...

I'm heading to San Francisco, (including points north) as well as Los Angeles and San Diego in a few weeks, and have highlighted these spots near or in San Francisco:

Bars:

Silver Peso Bar in Larkspur, CA
Whiskey Thieves - good bourbon selection (duh)

Restaurants:

Ajanta in Berkeley - well reputed Indian
Sushi Ran - much ballyhooed sushi

Other:

Ferry Building Marketplace - incredible foodie's market (Foodie1 notes specific locales within)

That's all I've researched for now - any and all comments on places to visit in San Fran are welcome, especially Chinatown restaurants...


Silver Peso Bar
450 Magnolia Ave
Larkspur, CA 94939
(415) 924-3448

Ajanta
1888 Solano Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94707
(510) 526-4373
http://www.ajantarestaurant.com/index.html

Sushi Ran
107 Caledonia Street
Sausalito, CA 94965
http://www.sushiran.com/

Ferry Building Marketplace
1 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 693-0996
http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/

Whiskey Thieves
839 Geary St
(at Larkin St)
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 409-2063

I've gone to a few restaurants in San Francisco over the past few years, with a couple of my favorites being Via Veneto in the Fillmore District (excellent old-school Italian) and a restaurant in Chinatown that featured cuisine from Singapore (the name escapes me--would anyone know the name of the place?).

For a lot of fun, visit Steps of Rome Caffe.
I grew up in the Bay Area and frequented this small cafe many times. If you're Italian or not, you will appreciate the energy this place has at night. Also, the cream sauce in their dishes is absolutely decadent. If you're there for dessert, you must have the tiramisu with a shot of espresso.
There is also a sister restaurant adjacent to the caffe, but for lively waiters (and occasional singing in Italian), head to Steps of Rome Caffe.

348 Columbus Ave
San Francisco, CA
94133

Phone: (415) 397-0435

I second the Steps of Rome recommendation. I lived in the Bay Area for 6 years and was turned on to this place by a number of Italian friends in the area. Excellent desserts. We used to joke that the Italian staff paid much more attention to female guests than the male ones (so that makes it authentic, right?!)

I wanted to add that while this is not the best Italian food (nor does it come close), it is a great people-watching spot. It is also a pretty darned good place for dessert.
It is really a great place to come after hours. They're open quite late and their kitchen stays open (at least from my experience) until just about an hour before they close.

Hours:

* Sun-Thu 10am-2am
* Fri-Sat 9:30am-3am

You may also notice that North Beach is smack dab in the middle of the "strip club haven." So, if that is your destination... you'll have a nice place to stop afterward.

Boudin's Bakery & Cafe (Fisherman's Wharf) - we had the bay shrimp salad sandwich & clam chowder. Both were good and although the chowder is traditionally served in their famous sourdough bread bowl, we chose to hold our carbs and pass on the extra sourdough. The bay shrimp salad sandwich was a tad bland and could have used some heat, citrus, spice or something...

One of my fondest memories is walking down Fisherman's Wharf with my mother (as a child) and stopping into Boudin Bakery. Even though we were quite poor, my mother and I would buy a sourdough round to share. I would eat the entire inside and she would eat the crust. The smell of the bread mixed with the smell of freshly cooked crab in the air is something one cannot easily forget.

While in SF, definitely make a stop at Boudin. They use the same starter in their dough that they've used since 1849! That is a real feat... and makes the bread that much better.

Luckily for Chicagoland, Boudin is opening a bakery cafe in Lombard in the Shops on Butterfield at Yorktown Mall. The sourdough bread is hands-down better than Panera's or any other in this area, for that matter.

lauralemonade wrote:The sourdough bread is hands-down better than Panera's....

Faint praise...

Do you know if they are going to be shipping frozen bread from SF (like La Brea), or baking from scratch in Chicago?

dfawley wrote:It appears that San Francisco has been mentioned tangentially, but not addressed directly (unless my search skills are lacking)...

Umm...I'd suggest it's time for a search skills seminar

I found several things, including my own humble contribution here (discussing Scoma's, Yank Sing, Aziza, and Perbacco).

Gypsy Boy wrote:Umm...I'd suggest it's time for a search skills seminar

Fortunately, we've got one of those.

I'd suggest skipping directly to the "use Google" strategies with a search like this:

http://www.google.com/search?&q=site:lt ... +francisco