The Hotel: The Fairmont located in the Nob Hill section of the city.
A real dump. Actually, I would not be staying here if it weren't being paid for by a lovely small technology company, located outside of Philadelphia.
Chinatown: Said to be the largest one in the world, and located .3 miles from the hotel. Oh, the glory!
Bow Hon was our first stop. The words "Seafood" and "Clay Pot" on the sign looked promising, along with the number of Chinese people eating there. It's very small, fast, and authentic. Ian, who is from Hong Kong, kept commenting on how it was just like the restaurants in China.
The menu is huge, and everything the people around us were eating looked and smelled amazing. We decided on:
Combination Seafood & Bean Cake Soup- very typical Chinese soup, with tofu, seafood, and veggies. The broth is similar to an egg drop with a very slight gelatinous element.
Oysters W/ Roast Pig & Mushrooms Clay Pot- it came to the table still sizzling in typical brown sauce. The oysters were huge, and the fried tofu plentiful. The pork was the best part and tasted like the roast pork you get from a place with ducks hanging in the window.
Salt & Pepper Squid- the flavor was great, lots of salt and spice. Right when it was done cooking it was perfectly light and crispy. After a while thought, it did become a little soft and greasy.
Breakfast:
We came across this little spot, Fresh Brew Coffee near the hotel for a quick breakfast. They have various breakfast sandwiches and platters, and also make Vietnamese sandwiches. The Chinese couple that own the place were delightful.
I got the standard bacon, egg and cheese on a croissant- delicious bacon quite frankly. What's that on the side you ask? Their signature potatoes. I don't give a hoot about potatoes usually, but these were exceptional. They almost tasted like they were cooked in bouillon, and obviously topped with cheese.
Cheese Plus:
After a couple hours hunger strikes. We walked to this gem called Cheese Plus.
I did some extensive tasting and came up with two choices (this is a snack after all), Cazelle de Saint Affriqiue (very soft and earthy) and Gabietou (semi- soft, flavorful yet pleasant, described by most cheese monger as the "best cheese ever"). We also got some banquette and Serrano ham.
Fisherman's Wharf:
We next took a stroll down to Fisherman's Wharf to spend some time near the water.
After a meander through all the seafood vendors, we settled on a "Squid Cocktail," which was a new one for me.
Basically, squid in and Italian type dressing, with some cocktail sauce for dipping. Very interesting.
Tonga Room:
After a few hours resting up in the hotel, it was time to try out the hotel bar. We saw it featured on one of Anthony Bourdain's shows, and had to try it. It is themed like a tiki bar, with a "lagoon" in the middle. Every so often there is a "storm" where water comes down from the ceiling into the lagoon and they play thunder noises.
Limon Rotisserie:
We headed down to the Mission district to meet a friend for dinner at Limon Rotisserie, a Peruvian restaurant that specializes in rotisserie chicken. Here is what we went with:
Tuna Tartare, which was my first attempt at raw fish since the sushi debacle of 2011. This was some of the freshest tuna I've had, you would barely know it was fish. This had a great sesame taste, and some chips for eating it on.
"Lomito" Saltada, which is a traditional Peruvian dish- stir fried sirloin tips, with onion, tomatoes, soy sauce and french fries. Excellent!
We obviously had to try the rotisserie, so we got half a chicken. Definitely the best I've had, very moist and flavorful. The marinade reminded me of the chicken bbq from the fire hall back in the day.
Three dipping sauces to go with the chicken. We also dipped out sweet potato fried in them. The chicken comes with two sides, so along with the fries we got something called Tacu-Tacu.
This is made up of beans and rice, compiled into a cake like ball. I liked it, but it packed a salt punch.
Tacos:
San Francisco is known for great tacos. I heard from more than one local that Tacolicious is the way to go for tacos. I went to the Farmers Market at the Ferry Terminal downtown, and there was a Tacolicious stand staring right at me.
Along with every other type of food you could think of (ramen, meats, Indian, etc...). Tacos was most certainly the way to go.
The stand offers several types of tacos- carnitas, beef, short rib, chorizo, chicken, fish, and even a vegetarian version. I got (from left to right) carnitas, chorizo, and the beef special of the day. They were all delicious and very authentic. Thar carnitas was my favorite, very tender and juicy. They also had a great salsa verde! We sat outside and ate on a bench, since the weather is so great today.
Cheese (Day 2):
I walked around the market, which is extremely clean and airy. They have a bread shop, a meat shop, various seafood places to eat, and of course Cowgirl Creamery. For such a small spot, they have a wide variety of cheeses. They don't only sell their own cheeses (locally made organic artisan cheese), there are hand picked cheeses from around the world to sample and choose from. I went with the $20 cheese sampler bag.
In this pack there was Cameo, which is a Camembert, but with some peppercorns sprinkled on top.
In addition, a Nicasso Reserve, which was almost like a soft mild cheddar, and this beautiful wedge of Stilton.
While staying near Chinatown, one must try Soup Dumplings (Juicy Buns/ Xiao Long Bao). We stopped in to Bund on Jackson street, which we'd heard good things about. Our order was as follows:
Pork soup dumplings- the pork was really light but flavored nicely, and the juice inside was great! Add the vinegar sauce on top, and it's like heaven in a spoon.
Shanghai Thick Chow Mein- this may have been my favorite of the meal. The noodles were clearly homemade, very springy and all different shapes and sizes. The sauce was better than the typical brown sauce, it was more soy flavored and almost more nutty. This also had greens, cabbage, and pieces of beef in it.
Carp Middle Braised in Soy Sauce- The sauce on this was really good, it was like a caramelized soy sauce. The fish was ok, but not the freshest. There were LOTS of little bones on it, so you have to proceed with caution.
Zeitgeist SF- we spend the evening with some friends in this beer garden located in The Mission. It's a great, relaxed place to catch up with friends and have some great beers!
Today we changed hotels and moved to the Hyatt Regency located downtown in the Financial District. It is located across the street from the Ferry Terminal, which holds several artisan shops and restaurants (meats, cheese, bread, seafood, raw bar, mushrooms, cookware, etc...).
Front entrance of the Ferry Terminal Building, home of the Ferry Building Marketplace.
The meats hanging up over a bucket of salt to cure, at a shop called Boccalone- Tasty Salted Pig Parts
Beautiful mushroom selection at Far West Fungi
We decided to get lunch at San Francisco Fish Company, where they have a deli case of fresh seafood to go, and they cook up food to order (lobster rolls, fish and chips, po boys, even a crab quesadilla).
Scallops and Chips- I didn't try a fry, but the scallops were great. I don't really care for fried food normally, but the breading was so light it did not take anything away from the scallop, which was very clean and fresh tasting.
Ian anxiously waiting for me to take a picture so he can dig in to his scallops and chips.
Seared Ahi Tuna Burger- I really liked that this was very basic and did not take away from the fresh tuna steak on the sandwich. There was lettuce and a light layer of a tartar sauce type mayo based sauce. Delicious!
Can't leave without some raw oysters! You can also stop at Hog Island Oyster which over looks the bay, there is often a very long line. This set up was perfect, because you could grab a few to try as you walk around. They only have a couple basic varieties, one from NJ and a local one from Marin.
We got a few of the local ones just to try. They were really fresh and had a slightly sweet flavor, but still with a salty sea taste.
Osha- We came across this Thai restaurant while strolling around the Embarcadero, and it turned out to be a great spot for happy hour. The Osha Lounge offers $3 beers, $5 classic cocktails and wines, and $6 signature cocktails and appetizers. The restaurant is located on the water near the Financial District, so the location and price are perfect.
Along with a few Thai beers, we had a couple appetizers, which were really good as well.
These were called pork bites- the bottom of these is made up of flower sticky rice inside a crisp egg roll wrapper. On top was a piece of slow braised Kurobuta (Black Hog) and a radish slice. There was also a sweet soy sauce (called five spice reduction) splashed on the plate. This was a first for me, but very good.
Tuna Poke-
Bocadillos- Tapas was the choice for dinner, so we headed up the street to Bocadillos. We had the padron peppers with sea salt and lemon. They were smaller than the last ones I had, but I liked the flavor better
24 month serrano ham bocadillo was to die for. The bread was perfectly crisp and the ham was hevenly, then they added pan con tomate and it was complete.
Pork Belly with Watermelon, scallions and mint- The pork belly was melt in your mouth, and perfectly paired with the watermelon.
Niman Ranch Bavette Steak with chimichurri and black pepper - solid flavored meat dish, and the chimichurri wasn't bad either!
Housemade Chorizo- two hefty pieces of chorizo sausage over a mix of cabbage and onions, and of course we added the egg. This chorizo was flavorful and had a nice snap on the outer casing. The only complaint was that it was not spicy. The onion and cabbage was delicious and the egg really added a creamy, rich flavor.
Dim Sum: Obviously, headed to Chinatown and chose Great Eastern for some dim sum. This place was packed by 10am, but got a table downstairs. They don't come around with carts, so you have a large menu when you sit down and check off what you will want. They bring trays down as the food is ready. In some cases, this did allow the dishes to be fresher!
BBQ Pork Puffs- I'm a big fan of the bbq pork buns, which are the very large fluffy dough stuffed with succulent bbq pork. These consist of the same pork, but the outside is a buttery, flaky pastry. These were perfect, the flakiest crust I've ever had, and the pork was cooked perfectly.
Sticky Rice- perfectly cooked sticky rice with little pieces of Chinese sausage, mini shrimps, and other meats
Shrimp and Mushroom Shu Mai type dumplings- one of my favorites of the meal. Also pictured, Beef Tripe, which I hear was very good.
We finished off the meal with some spare ribs (great flavor and sauce!), Shrimp Dumplings (lots of garlic flavor,), and some ham, meat and duck feet wrapped in a tofu based wrapper (also very authentic I hear). Over all, a great place for some authentic dim sum.
So, San Francisco proved to be a good town for food, with many different genres easily accessible. Chinatown was most impressive. Now, back to Philadelphia!
