Going solo.

After my trip to Sonoma, I worked from San Francisco for a few days. I had one day where I worked from the office, but without my friend YaeRi. Left to my own devices, I decided I'd give Super Duper's veggie burger a whirl. I got it with everything, plus avocado, and it was wonderful.

Equally delightful - if a bit overwhelming - were the garlic fries, tossed with parsley and a bit of parmesan cheese. Make sure to get the dipping sauces, too. Split these, though, if you're not on a solo expedition like I was - you don't want to be the only one with the garlic fries breath, you know?

Super Duper
721 Market Street (Between 3rd and 4th)
San Francisco
415.538.3437

Off - or, rather, on - the wall.

On my last day in San Francisco, Faith and I took a drive out to Flora Grubb Gardens, a florist-cum-design shop deep in the Mission District. Loyal New York Times Weddings & Celebrations readers might recognize the name; Flora hosted her brother's wedding reception at the store, and the union was featured in the Vows column.

It's a pretty nifty place; Faith termed it the Anthropologie of flowers, and that's about right. The store sells plants, pots, stationery, cut flowers, garden furniture, Ritual coffee, brownies and assorted decorative objects.

Among its coolest items, though, are the walls of tightly-packed succulents. You can buy a small version, as small as 11 inches by 14 inches, but why would you do that when you could cover a whole wall of your apartment in such an amazing, gravity-defying mix of texture and color? It's living art, and I love it.

Flora Grubb
1634 Jerrold Avenue
San Francisco, California
415.626.7256

Best. Chicken. Ever.

On the Thursday night I spent in San Francisco, Mom, Faith and I paid a visit - a pilgrimage, really - to the legendary Zuni Café on Market Street. Zuni opened in 1979, and Judy Rodgers became the chef there in in 1987. She's the one who installed the brick oven that sits in the heart of the space, and she's the one who created what turned out to be the best roast chicken I have ever eaten.

Seriously.

This chicken was insane. Moist, rich, full of flavor, and served with a warm bread salad that put every single helping of stuffing I've ever enjoyed into an entirely subpar category.

I can't wait to recreate this one myself; I'll be following Smitten Kitchen's slightly simplified version of Rodgers' recipe. Join me, won't you?

Zuni Café
1658 Market Street (Between Franklin and Gough)
415.552.2522

Photo courtesy of Ann&Ming on Flickr.

Flour, water and a pinch of alchemy.

On the Sunday night I spent in San Francisco, Faith, her friend Chrysanthe and I headed over to the Mission to pay a visit to one of the hottest restaurants in town, Flour and Water. Seriously. This place was hopping. We called early in the week to try for a reservation, but no luck. We lined up at 5:15 with about twenty other people, and the place was full from opening till, I assume, closing time at midnight. (Which is pretty late for San Francisco.)

Once we'd eaten our dinner, though, it was easy to see why everyone else wanted to eat there, too. It was one of the best meals I've had in a while, and I cannot wait to make a return trip. We started off with a pizza to share. Flour and Water is Italian, mostly, and heavily focused on pizza and pasta (hence the name). Faith had been the week before and couldn't stop thinking about the ramp and black trumpet pizza, so, naturally, we couldn't help but order it.

It was awesome. The crust was chewy, slightly crispy perfection. The pizza was topped with a pecorino, black trumpet mushrooms, chopped ramps (green and white parts) and a bright green ramp pesto. It was suitably stinky, the cheese was gooey, and the whole thing made me very, very happy.

We then moved on to appetizers. Faith ordered a side dish instead of a salad: roasted carrots with lemon, capers and very finely chopped chives. These were carrots taken to another level. They were roasted in butter, and were sweet without being cloying, tender but not mushy. The capers added a salty, briny note, and the chives freshened things up. All in all, a major hit.

My starter was a "salad" - Flour and Water likes to use the term loosely - of crispy lamb sweetbreads, arugula and artichokes. Artichokes aren't normally my favorite thing, but these were perfect with the sweetbreads. Lamb sweetbreads tend to be a bit creamier than their veal counterparts, and these were no exception. The bitterness of the arugula paired with the astringent flavor of the artichokes helped cut through the fat. Fantastic.

Next up, our pastas. The pastas were all made in-house, and were incredibly fresh. Mine was a tagliolini (a lighter fettucine, essentially) with chopped parsley rolled into the pasta itself. Tossed with the noodles (and with a copious amount of butter) were razor thin slices of asparagus and hand-pulled pieces of braised hen. I loved this. The pasta was impossibly light and delicate, but the sauce, despite its springy flavors, was rich and hearty. Rich flavors, light texture, pure deliciousness.

Faith ordered pici in a brothy pork ragu, which was also delicious. It was one of the lightest ragus I've tasted, free of cream or milk, and swimming in its own juices. Little bits of carrot and onion floated in the sauce, too, and meat itself was tender and deeply porky.

Finally, dessert. Oh, dessert. First up was a rhubarb tart, served with crème fraiche ice cream and fresh strawberries. It was fantastic, right down to the swirl of grassy olive oil on the plate. The pastry was rich with butter, and shattered a bit when cut with a fork. It paired beautifully with the tart rhubarb and sweet berries; rhubarb season has ended in California now, I think - it was great to be there while it was still on every menu.

Last, we had a chocolate budino, which is an Italian-style pudding. It was topped with coffee-flavored cream and a crucial, generous sprinkling of crunchy sea salt. I don't always go for the chocolate dessert, but I couldn't get enough of this one. The salt and coffee made it interesting - and it was pretty good with some of the crème fraiche ice cream from the tart plate. Yum.

Guys, I can't speak highly enough of this restaurant. It was a delicious meal. The service was great - attentive but not fawning, and very, very friendly. The room is warm and welcoming, with just the right amount of buzz. If you can get in, go. If you can't, go early and wait, like we did. It's worth it.

Flour and Water
2401 Harrison Street (at 20th Street)
San Francisco, California
415.826.7000

Just visiting.

When I planned my trip to California, I had to make sure to leave time to spend a full day with my amazing friend Faith. She's one of the coolest people I know, and so I'd never confessed to her my burning desire to visit Alcatraz Island, a.k.a The Rock, a.k.a. the most touristy destination in all of San Francisco. Imagine my surprise, then, when Faith herself suggested we take the ferry out to Alcatraz on Monday afternoon! Turns out she'd never been, either, and we decided it was just the thing to do.

We booked on Sunday night (though, if you're going during the summer or on a weekend, I recommend booking at least a couple of weeks in advance) and boarded the 1:10 ferry on Monday afternoon. It was a gray, drizzly day - very atmospheric, and very bad for the hair.

Very few of the buildings on the island have been fully restored, which gives the place a crumbling, slowly-returning-to-nature feel. Lots of rust, crumbling masonry and creeping, misty greenery gives it a slightly abandoned air. The island has been continuously occupied since the mid-nineteenth century, first as a fort, then as a military prison, and finally as the infamous federal penitentiary, home to Robert Stroud and Al Capone, among others.

Everyone I talked to about Alcatraz had the same recommendation: take the audio tour. They were absolutely right. While audio tours can sometimes be a cheesy undertaking, Alcatraz's is narrated by a group of former guards and inmates, and is seriously interesting. In fact, it's almost too academic - I was kind of hoping for ghost stories and general creepiness, but got mostly hard-boiled narrations. It was like Raymond Chandler wrote the script himself.

One of my favorite bits of trivia came at the end of the audio tour, in the dining hall. The knives were hung on a board painted with their silhouettes, which reminded me of Julia Child's iconic pegboard. Of course, in this case, the utility of the silhouette was a bit different; ease of access wasn't the issue. Being able to quickly spot a missing knife - potentially stolen by an inmate - was.

The most unexpected thing about Alcatraz, for me, was the beauty of the island itself. I absolutely loved the different textures and states of decay to be found all over the place, and couldn't get enough of the succulent gardens (originally planted by the families of the guards who lived on-island in the 1950s and 1960s). (To see all of my photos from the day, click on over to my Flickr account.)

The weather was a bit spotty, but we were lucky enough to have a few fog-free moments to view the beautiful San Francisco skyline through the mist. If there's a city that does more to marry architecture with its unique geography, I've yet to visit it.


Sigh.

Pie, pie, pie!

On my first afternoon in San Francisco, Faith and I dropped off my rental car at the airport and took the BART back into town. Our first stop? Mission Pie.

Mission Pie is well-named; this pie restaurant & bakery has been selling quiche and tarts in the Mission District since 2007. Created by the founders of Pie Ranch, a sustainable, educational farm in Davenport, Mission Pie started as part of an outreach program and has become a neighborhood gathering place. (You can work at Pie Ranch and live in a yurt while you do so, by the way. Check it out.)

The store's space on Mission Street is adorable and airy, with high ceilings, salvaged fixtures, and an assortment of colors and shapes. (I especially liked the salvaged medallions made into light fixtures.) The staff are sweet and helpful, and after a bit of hemming and hawing from me over what to order, we asked for a slice of quiche (with cauliflower and capers), a slice of pie (mixed berry crumb with whipped cream) and an iceberg wedge salad.

The wedge was delicious - cold and crisp, served with a creamy bleu cheese dressing, crispy bacon, and perfect, sweet California tomatoes. Honestly, coming back to this season's lackluster Eastern tomato crops was a crushing disappointment after the bounty we saw out west. Sigh.

The quiche was similarly good. Creamy, but not too rich, and filled with large chunks of cauliflower, it was filling and managed to seem healthy, despite its flaky crust. The capers studded throughout added both flavor (Yum, salt!) and texture (Oooh, slightly odd popping sensation!). A win.

Finally, the pie. Oh, the pie. The crumb crust was great - tons of brown sugar flavor, and plenty of textural contract, thanks to oats and just enough butter. The filling was full of berry flavor, with pieces of strawberry and raspberry milling around. Despite a healthy dose of citrus juice, though, the filling was a bit too sweet for me - the whipped cream brought everything back into balance, though, so I managed to power through.

Party hearty.

My friend Faith was an incredible hostess during my week in San Francisco, so I had to do something to thank her. That something turned out to be dinner at The Slanted Door, a legendary Vietnamese restaurant that moved from Valencia Street to the Ferry Building a few years back.

Loyal readers and friends know that I have a weakness for Asian food, and that Vietnamese is my favorite of the bunch. I love the combination of Asian and Western flavors, and, in particular, the melding of French and Vietnamese techniques. The banhi mi is a classic example, with its French baguette and charcuterie paired with Asian herbs, pickles and sauces. I haven't eaten a lot of haute Vietnamese in my day, so I was very excited to try The Slanted Door.

You enter the restaurant through a door on the pier, just down the dock from where commuters flow onto ferries to Tiburon, Sausalito and other parts North, East and South. We arrived fairly early, just as sunset was kicking in, and the view across the bay was crystal clear and painted with golden light. The restaurant was fully-booked, so we decided to order a cocktail and wait for two stools to free up at the bar. I went for a Pimm's Cup, which turned out to be delicious and not at all lacking in cucumber.

Once we'd snagged seats, we ordered a load of food and sat back to enjoy the parade. First up, crispy imperial rolls, strongly recommended by my friend YaeRi. Filled with shrimp, pork, peanuts and noodles, they were rich and a bit heavy, but served with steamed noodles, lettuce leaves and the omnipresent nuoc cham sauce (fish sauce, sugar, and pickled vegetables), all of which lent a contrast in texture and lightened the rolls considerably.

Next up, the salt and pepper quail. I have to confess, I ordered these mostly to get at the pickled cucumbers with which they were served - never a good move. The quail was tasty enough, but nothing to write home (or to the internets) about. I didn't dislike it, but I wouldn't order it again.

Next, the jicama, cabbage and grapefruit salad. We LOVED this. Or, I should say - Faith LOVED this, and I would have LOVED it if it hadn't been quite so chockful of cilantro. I am one of those genetic unfortunates for whom the flavor of large amounts of cilantro is closer to dirty dishwater than it is to anything herbal, and there was a lot of cilantro in this salad. The cilantro-free bites I managed to concoct were absolutely delicious, though. I especially liked the combination of the tart grapefruit with the candied pecans - heavenly.

For our main course, we ordered a Slanted Door classic, the shaking beef. Made with filet, it rises far above the (still delicious) shaking beefs I've had. The beef is cooked in the wok with red onions and watercress and served with a citrus sauce on the side (you're meant to pore the sauce over the beef - or dip, if you like). Citrus and beef are an unsual combination in most Western food, but I find that I really enjoy them together. The acid in the fruit cuts right through the fattiness of the meat, brightening the flavor and creating a bit of a part in your mouth.

And I do like a party.

The Slanted Door
1 Ferry Building, #3
San Francisco, California
415.861.8032

Oh, the butter.

For my birthday, Faith bought tickets to Margaret Atwood's reading at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. Atwood is one of my absolute favorite writers, and I brought her latest novel (The Year Of The Flood) with me on my trip to Sonoma - and finished it just in time. She's used her considerable sway over her fan base to turn her latest book tour into a series of fundraisers for local charities, which I thought was pretty nifty indeed.

Before the reading, though, we needed sustenance, and decided to head to Bar Tartine (the restaurant outpost of the legendary Tartine bakery) for an early dinner. As the offspring of a bakery, it's only fitting that Bar Tartine serve superlative bread. This being San Francisco, it was, of course, a sourdough, with a chewy crumb dark - almost black - crust. Served alongside, some of the prettiest, freshest butter I've had in a long while.

We decided to order a couple of snacks, a couple appetizers, and - in order to sample the brioche bun - to split a hamburger. First up, a round of housemade cheddar crackers. The crackers were buttery and rich, full of the sharp, only slightly smoky flavor of sharp cheddar. I never knew crackers could be this sinful, or this satisfying.

Next, we tried the radishes with fig and walnut puree. This was delicious - but we didn't really enjoy the radishes with the fig spread. We slathered the spread on our bread, dipped the radishes in the butter and sprinkled them with salt, and ended up much happier for it all. Gorgeous as separate entities, but a pairing that didn't quite work.

It was dark by the time our burger made it to the table, so I wasn't able to snap a photo of it. But I'm sure that the images we managed to grab of our appetizers more than make up for what's missing. First up, a tomato salad with Point Reyes blue cheese, frisee and edible marigolds. The tomatoes were of the late-summer variety: impossibly sweet and soft, tasting of sunlight and dirt.

Last, but most certainly not least, we shared a pork charcuterie plate. Rillettes made from the shoulder, and terrine from, well, the rest of the pig. Alongside were a little more of that sourdough (toasted this time) and some lightly pickled baby carrots. The rillettes were good, but the fatty richness obscured any other flavors that might have been waiting to get out. The terrine, on the other hand, was amazing. It too was bursting with piggy flavor, but was drizzled with an herbed vinaigrette. The sauce lent enough tang to bring a much-needed contrast to the pork, and it absolutely made the dish.

Our burger was similarly tasty. The brioche bun was (unsurprisingly, after what I learned on this visit) huge, full of sweet butter, and soaked up the burger's juices quite splendidly. All in all, a high point in a week of many good burgers.

My general feeling about Bar Tartine is that I would go back in a heartbeat, and that I'd love to actually eat at the bar. We sat next to the window (I wanted to take some gorgeous photos for you all), but the energy and activity all seemed to emanate from the rear - I want to see what that's all about.

Bar Tartine
561 Valencia Street
San Francisco, California
415.487.1600

We looked, but we didn't touch.

If I learned one thing during my week in San Francisco, it's that San Franciscans are even more obsessed with their favorite haunts than New Yorkers are. The Saturday wait for Blue Bottle Coffee at the Ferry Building can top 40 minutes, and The Slanted Door books up weeks in advance. So I suppose it should have come as no surprise to me that the line at Tartine was out the door at 4:00 on a Sunday afternoon.

We'd already had pie, quiche and salad, so Faith and I just hung out in the line of clamoring customers, eliciting slightly dirty looks as we craned our decks to check out the display cases. The items on offer looked delicious, and ever-so-decadent.

Take, for example, those cream tarts. I thought they were the height of extravagance until I spied their mama, this insanely huge, over-the-top cream pie. Honestly - I wish I'd had something to show you the scale of this thing. It was immense.

Comfort through bounty is Tartine's guiding principle, something clearly reflected in their generous, casually sumptuous pastries. The heaping of cream in those tarts, the slightly overflowing lemon curd in the tartes au citron, and the just-a-bit-taller-than-technically-correct rochers: all of them create a feeling of off-handed luxury. They make me feel like I'm visiting the home of a most generous friend, luxuriating in her hospitality and talent.

So, yes, even though I tasted nothing, I do get what the fuss is about. Truly.

Tartine
600 Guerrero Street
San Francisco, CA
415.487.2600

Plus de miettes.

On the Wednesday I spent in San Francisco, my friend Faith and I took a day trip up to Point Reyes and Marshall via the Pacific Coast Highway. (Much more on that trip soon.) On our way to pick up the Zipcar, we stopped into Miette (in French, "miette" translates to "crumb"), a confectionery shop in Hayes Valley, just down the hill from Faith's place near Alamo Square.

Miette is flat-out adorable. Vintage and girly with an edge (candy-filled, incredibly lifelike skulls abounded), Miette stocks its own candies and pastry along with an array of chocolate and sweets from around the world. I spotted Mast Brothers chocolate (from Brooklyn), Haribo gummies (from Germany) and Cadbury Crunchies (from England).

The shop is one of three locations in San Francisco; they have two freestanding shops (one in Hayes Valley and one in the Marina area) along with an outpost in the Ferry Building. We stopped by the Ferry Building location, too, and spotted these adorable, portable pots de crèmes (bring the jar back to collect your $1 deposit) and some gorgeous, sun-yellow marigolds.

We didn't try them, but the cupcakes (back at the Hayes Valley spot) looked delicious and adorable. I personally think candy-coated peanuts might be the perfect cupcake garnish. And as much as I enjoyed the macarons we tried (most of all the hazelnut one), I fell in love with Miette as much for its aesthetic and personality as for its candy.

If I lived in San Francisco, I'd have an unreasonably hard time staying away. Who wouldn't want to eat sweets while looking at that wallpaper, or chatting with people who love candy as much as you do? Good thing it's 3,000 miles away, or I'd be my dentist's entire retirement plan.


Miette
449 Octavia Street
San Francisco, CA
415.626.6221

It's tradition.

My family has a few food-related traditions. We always have creamed onions at Thanksgiving. We observe cocktail hour, religiously. And, when we're in San Francisco, we visit Nanking.

We first stopped in at The House of Nanking about nine years ago, just before my mother moved to Fresno, California. Born and bred East Coasters that we are, Mom believed Jeremy and I needed to be convinced of the wisdom of a westward migration, and treated us to a whirlwind tour of California (With Fresno last, so as to soften the blow.).

The first stop on said migration was San Francisco, and one of our first meals (and Jeremy's favorite) was at Nanking. On a slightly dodgy block just south of most of Chinatown, it used to be a wildly popular hole-in-the-wall. Now it's a wildly popular double-storefront restaurant with souvenir t-shirts and nice paneling, and the food is still delicious.

My colleagues YaeRi and Mary were kind enough to indulge my Nanking craving (once I'd realized how close it was to our San Francisco office - you can see it from the window, just across from that copper-lined building), so we headed there for lunch on Tuesday afternoon.

It was as good as I'd remembered - the sesame chicken, unlike most, was just lightly breaded, and coated with a sauce as spicy as it was sweet. Served with sweet potatoes and a green melon, it was downright delicious. YaeRi's crispy noodles with vegetables cam with the same melon, and we were both taken with it. It was like cucumber crossed with honeydew, and all I know is I must have some.

Now.

House of Nanking
919 Kearny Street (at Jackson)
San Francisco
(415) 421-1429

Do not pass go.

Upon landing in California, it is simply imperative that you head to the nearest In-N-Out Burger for a fix. This is particularly true if you've been up since 1 AM California time and haven't eaten in thirteen hours.

After picking up my rental car at the San Francisco airport (I was given a snappy little mustard-yellow Ford Focus), I swung into the city to collect Jeremy and Miriam from their friend's place, and we headed across the Golden Gate bridge and up 101 toward Sonoma.

I thought I would have to wait till Petaluma for my fix, but Jeremy spied an outpost in Marin City, and we made quick work of pulling off the freeway and into a parking spot. We had excellent timing, too - the line was out the door by the time we put our order in: a double, no cheese, animal style for me, fries and a shake for Miriam, and a cheeseburger for Jeremy.

My burger was, of course, delicious. "Animal style" (one of In-N-Out's many secret menu options) means that your patties have been fried in mustard and onions, and that extra sauce has been added to your sandwich. (You can also order fries this way, in which case they come topped with special sauce and mustardy onions.) The shake was thick and creamy and delightfully pink (a good thing, as it was strawberry), and the fries were, as usual, ok - but not great.

Who cares? When they can make a burger this damn tasty, I don't need no stinkin' fries.