little black journal

I had a lovely last couple of days in San Francisco.  I cafe-hopped while Shane attended his conference, I caught up with a few more old friends, and I took in the sights, smells, and tastes of this city that I am loving more and more with each new visit.  The highlights:

A stroll through Chinatown, in all its vibrancy:

Happy hour at ‘B’ in Yerba Buena.  So good to sit in the sunshine, sip Persecco, and slurp up dollar oysters.  Heaven:

Morning coffee at Four Barrell in the Mission.  The best latte I had all week:

And a quick whirl through the SF MOMA, to take in Dubuffet, Motherwell, and Giacometti:

Again, Lovely.

When Shane told me last month that he’d been given the opportunity to spend a few days in San Francisco for a work-related conference, I jumped at the chance to tag along, to spend some quality time with my husband, but also snag a little time to myself in one of my most favorite cities.  We flew in on Saturday morning, got settled at our hotel room, and then met up with a couple of old friends who had come into the city for the day to hang out and catch up with us.  Marco is known for making every little outing an ‘adventure’, and indeed, our 8-hour whirlwind tour of 5 different San Francisco bars and restaurants turned out to be an afternoon/evening/night to remember.  We started with drinks at the Gold Dust Lounge – a little saloon-type bar right near Union Square.  It happened to be unusually hot in San Francisco that day, and the bar was pretty toasty inside, so as the beads of sweat began to drip down our foreheads, we decided to call it a day at that place and head out in search of someplace with outdoor seating.  We ended up at Delfina pizzeria in the Mission District and snagged a nice little sidewalk table.  We ordered a couple of pizzas and some wine, and settled into our chairs to enjoy a perfect city evening with perfect food and great friends.  The crostini with fresh mozzarella and arugula was a-mazing, and the pizzas were perfectly light, crispy, and fresh tasting.  I could have sat on that sidewalk terrace all night, but we had a 6 pm reservation at Bourbon and Branch, so we polished off our dinner and hopped in a cab back toward downtown.  I’m still not sure how Marco found out about this place, but Bourbon and Branch has recreated the true ‘speak-easy’ experience.  When you call to make a reservation, they give you the address and a password, and the bar’s entrance is just an old wooden door in an otherwise totally non-descript gray stucco building front.

When you knock on the door, a man in a Dick Tracy-like hat opens the door just a couple of inches, peers outside, and whispers ‘What’s the password?’.  Quite the production, but totally amusing.  Luckily, we had that magic word and were led into a dimly lit bar, replete with dark wood paneling and furniture, deep red velvet-embossed wallpaper, and a drink menu that would impress any cocktail connoisseur.  Since cocktail connoisseur I am not, and since the first page of their menu clearly states, “Do not even think of ordering a Cosmopolitan!”, I nervously flipped through the menu in search of something that looked like it would fit my tastes.  My first choice was a White Lady, which is a mixture of Cointreau, gin, lemon, and egg whites.  The egg whites give the drink an interesting foamy texture, and the lemon cut through some of the really ‘alcoholic’ flavors.  Shane ordered an Old Fashioned (an homage to Donald Draper, for you Mad Men fans), and claims it was the best cocktail he’s ever tasted.  We stayed for one more round, and then headed back out into 21^st-century San Francisco in search another venue to continue our adventure.  We ended up at Lori’s diner and munched on French fries to soak up some of the alcohol that was resting in our stomachs from those uber-strong cocktails.  One more stop after that for a night cap, and we were ready to call it a night.  We said good-bye to Marco and Lisa as they hopped on the Bart, returned to our hotel, and slept like a couple of babies that night, thankful that we’d had the foresight to fill up on food and water before we went to bed.

Yesterday we woke to a fog-blanketed city, but didn’t mind the gray weather, as we had time to get a slow start to the day.

Really, we had only one item on the agenda:  meet up with a couple of other friends to watch the Giants WIN against the Rockies.  It turned out to be a good afternoon for a baseball game, sunny and clear, and as we put on our Giants gear, we silently said a little prayer that our team would come through with a victory (we’ve watched them lose twice this year already, in San Francisco and Seattle, and I was worried that Shane just couldn’t bear a third defeat).  The Rockies started off strong, and we were nervous when they went into the bottom of the 7^th inning with a 5-2 lead.  But then the Giants’ Renteria stepped up to the plate and knocked a pitch right out of the park, bringing in four runs and giving the Giants the lead.  It was one of those all-consuming, totally joyous, game-going moments when everyone jumps up and down and grins stupidly and hugs and high-fives each other.  Very cool.  The Rockies just weren’t the same after that Grand Slam and so our team came through with a 9-5 win.  YESSS!  Games like that make me rethink my only lukewarm feelings about baseball.

We turned in early last night after a relaxing swim in the hotel pool, and I am now beginning my first day to myself at Café Centro, trying to decided what kinds of adventures today will hold.  I’m suddenly feeling like the opportunities are endless…

In honor of our upcoming third anniversary, Shane and I treated ourselves last weekend to a great little getaway to San Francisco.  It was a whirlwind couple of days, filled with amazing food, lots of sunshine (I’ve got the pink shoulders to prove it), a good dose of baseball, plenty of sight-seeing, and good times with old friends.  The highlights:

We arrived on Friday morning, checked into our cute little room at the Mosser, and headed straight back out the door toward Golden Gate Park.  We were both eager to check out two of SF’s newest museums – the de Young by Herzog and de Meuron, and the recently remodeled California Academy of Sciences by Renzo Piano.  Both buildings were stunning.  The copper panels of the de Young were sleek and gorgeous; the glassy lobby and hilly roof of the Academy of Sciences were simple but incredibly thoughtful.  We grabbed lunch at The Moss Room in the Academy of Sciences and then spent a couple of hours wandering through the museum, taking in the lushness of the miniature rainforest and the wonderful colors and shapes of the sea-life in the aquarium.  I felt like an awe-struck little kid, excitedly grabbing Shane by the arm every few minutes to point out some cool little butterfly or crazy swimming seadragon.  Awesome.

We spent the evening enjoying a decadent dinner at Perbacco, and then headed to District wine bar to meet up with some of my old friends from college for a drink.  It was good to catch up – B and I lived together for two years in college and were both in Paris for our fourth year abroad.  So many memories together, and so many details to share about our post-college lives!  I would have loved to stay up all night chatting, but the wine, the heavy pasta dinner, and the rich chocolate dessert were all beginning to put me under, and so we headed back to our hotel, tired but satisfied with a perfect day in the city.

Saturday we had just two main missions:  enjoy a fantastic brunch at Citizen Cake and take in a Giants game at AT&T Park.  Mission number one was accomplished as I polished off an amazing egg/avacado/gruyere breakfast sandwich at our nice little corner table by the window.  And a couple of hours later, we were well into mission number two, as we grabbed our seats at the ballpark, bought an ice-cold lemonade, and sat back to cheer on our favorite team.  The Giants, unfortunately, were no match for the Mets that day, but nonetheless, it was a well-spent afternoon.

Saturday night we headed to the Marina to get dinner at A16, then bussed south to grab drinks at Bix – a small bar that came highly recommended to us by a good friend.  Bix was awesome, from the perfectly prepared cocktails, to the uber-cool jazz band mellowly jamming out in the corner, to the friendly guy that sat next us and bought Shane and I each a shot of good tequila in honor of our anniversary.  This place has been added to the list of must-hits for our next return to San Francisco.

Sunday began with a visit to the Mission district.  We picked up a couple of tarts at Tartine and walked over to Dolores Park to munch on our treasures and enjoy the view of the city.  Lovely.

Our weekend of gluttony continued as we headed to the Ferry Building to try out the notorious oysters at Hog Island.  Being near the water was wonderful – the breeze that blew in from the bay gave us a welcome break from the heat.  Our final sight-see of the day was to visit the sea lions at Fisherman’s Wharf.  I love these animals – I could watch them bark and flop and laze for hours.

One final bar stop to enjoy a beer with some good friends that were in San Francisco for the day, and our time in the city had come to a close.  And so the planning begins for our next trip back!  I had somehow forgotten or just never realized what an incredible place San Francisco can be.  So much to see, so much to eat, and so little time…