San Francisco Treats

Kai and I were very excited to get away this weekend to San Francisco. After working so much we really needed a change of scenery together.
We checked in at The Opal on Geary street in the heart of the Tenderloin district. Not much to write home about so I will move on to something more exciting. We took public transportaion to 2 spots that were on my list: Humphry Slocombe's Ice creamery and Dynamo Donuts on 24th street in the Mission District. We were really hungry so we decided to get some real food first and just walked around until we found something that caught our eye. and that was a Thai place called Chili Cha Cha. No one was in there except for one person which usually concerns me, but the food was surprisingly good.
I had the Crispy Chicken  Potstickers and Fried Chicken with sticky rice (my favorite). We both had a  salad and Kai had a curry dish with rice. I loved the chicken so much I am going to try to recreated that crispy crust with Panko bread crumbs.

At Humphry Sclocombe's we both had the Buttered Rum with Cornflakes. We were hoping to have some of the more different flavors like Sweet Corn.
Dynamo Donuts was exciting however I did not get to taste the Maple with Bacon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They said they sell out early everyday with that one. No doubt! We wanted four and got 5 since it was at the end of the day: Lemon Pistachio, Peanut Butter, Chocolate Star Anise, Caramel Apple, and Coconut.
They were good but subtle in flavor. We preferred that they slapped us in the face with the flavors though. However their menu is an inspiration for a Sunday donut experimentation.

Here is a beautiful picture I took of one of the produce stands lining 24th street. It looks like we were in a far away tropical place. Havana and Dominican Republic here we come!

The next day we let the Yelp App  decide where we should eat breakfast. We wanted to eat somewhere where we couldn't find something similar in LA or at least different enough. We chose Brenda's French Soul Food. The food was great. Very homey, but modern at the same time. I had the Bacon Tartine with grits and a cream biscuit and fresh squeezed OJ. The tartine wasn't what I expected as you can see in the photo so I just ended up eating the eggs of the bread. The Peach cobblers preserves were THE BOMB!!! and I want to have that on my table everyday! We HAD to have the Beinegts and we tried the Apple Cinnamon filled ones. Very good. I only ate half so I could eat my entire biscuit right then. Love the cane syrup can that held the utensils too! Another great idea to steal for a picnic or every day use. I also don't think I have ever had grits with so much butter in them so watch out for that. I hope to go back to try the Fried Sweet Potato Pies and the Watermelon Iced Tea.

Now it was off to Market street to visit Anthropologie and Sacramento Street (read all about it in my other blog giselleraymond.blogspot.com). Before we got to those destinations we stumbled upon an artisan chocolate store called Schoggi's. Good chocolate, not so great service. The guy never talked about the chocolates or described what we even ordered!!! Very off putting since the small  chocolates were at least $2 each!!! This is not good business when you are trying to set yourself apart from regular mass market chocolate and are catering to a customer who WANT to know more about the ingredients and the process.The selection was beautiful though.

After a day of what seemed like not-stop walking, our day ended with a movie (Lincoln Lawyer) and a good nights rest.


We decided to eat breakfast  on 4th street instead of Shattuck and finally got there after a missed bus stop and had to walk back over the freeway, but walking seemed to be the thing to do this trip.
We had breakfast at Cafe M. There was no particular reason why we chose it except that it had the shortest line at the time.
I started off with the hot chocolate with wasn't very chocolaty, but there was fresh whipped cream on top. For breakfast I had the brioche french toast and apple chicken sausage. The french toast was very good and it was a nice portion. The apple sausage could have used a little more seasoning; perhaps more fennel or celery seed.

Kai also had the french toast, but with scrambled eggs and the potatoes which were very good. They were sliced very thin and seasoned with rosemary and pepper ad had the perfect amount of crispiness!
We had a great time in the bay and will be back soon I hope.

Kai waits patiently for his food.

We strutted over to my 2 other stops I had to see before we left; Anthropologie and The Pasta Shop.
Anthropologie was not as inspiring as some of the other locations I've been in, but still a nice store.
The Pasta Shop was fabulous! I wanted one of everything. Gourmet stores have always been a week spot for me. So many yummy things to try like their Raspberry Bush Honey or Candied Marigold flowers! They even had a charcuterie there. And their cheese selection.... I WILL be back! Check it out.