San Francisco

 My blogs have really been suffering ever since I traded in my MacBook Air for a MacBook Pro and then spilt rum and coke on it.  The MacBook Pro was supposedly fixed by Apple but when Apple started storing everything on the iCloud, they must have stored the startup disc there to since from then on, the laptop wouldn't start up.  I have an iPad but, without the keyboard. it is not the same, not as handy at the breakfast table because I have to peck instead of typing.  Hence ever since 2019 there's been a dearth of blog posts.  My next iPad is going to have a smart keyboard even if it costs me $300.

That's an introduction to this post on San Francisco, where we're going next, this time with Camila and the boys instead of Penny, who is completely tied up these days with her grandson Kairo and, I imagine, enjoying every minute of it.  When we last went to San Francisco with Penny after Juliana's wedding in June of 2018, we stayed at an AirBnB in the Outer Sunset, which was a nice place but so far out that we couldn't go back to the room to take a postprandial nap.  The AirBnB on Green Street on Russian Hill that we stayed at in 2014 was ideal, a really perfect location next to the Cable Car line.  Unfortunately it hasn't been on the AirBnB market for years, which is why we ended up in the Outer Sunset the last time.  This time it looks like we'll be doing a Fisherman's Wharf hotel, which, although not ideal, will let us easily take the bus or cable car downtown and is also pretty close to Susan and Rich's apartment.  Alas, we won't be able to cook although we still will be hitting the Ferry Building's Farmers' Market:  we can always pick up fruit and bread, things for snacks.

There's a Trader Joe's and a Safeway a few blocks away from these Fisherman's Wharf hotels so we can make ourselves sandwiches for dinner along with cherub tomatoes and mini-cucumbers.  Or we can stop at one of the Italian delicatessens and pick up a capicola and cheese, although I bet it won't have French fries and coleslaw on it, much less a fried egg.  Or we could take the boys to In-N-Out Burger at Fisherman's Wharf, if the line isn't too long, or maybe we go there for a late breakfast when it opens at 10:30.  I love how they say their buns use "old-fashioned, slow-rising sponge dough" and their "American cheese is the real thing".  We need to go there just to see if they are any different from Burger King.

We won't be wanting for dessert:   there's a Ben and Jerry's in the neighborhood as well as Italian gelato and pastry down Columbus near Washington Square:  Lush Gelato and Stella Pastry.  Or we can walk down Stockton to Little Swan Bakery Café and pick up some Asian sweet buns and bubble tea.  In 2014 there was a good bakery/pastry shop on Columbus near Green Street that I mentioned in a post as La Boulange.  It was owned by Pascal Rigo a Frenchman who also created the chain of La Boulangerie.  For those of you interested, here is a little history from SF Gate:

"La Boulangerie de San Francisco was founded by Pascal Rigo, the restaurateur who sold his popular La Boulange Bakery to Starbucks in 2012 for $100 million. Starbucks ended up closing all of its La Boulange cafes by the end of 2015, so Rigo reopened six of his locations under a new name: La Boulangerie de San Francisco."

 Darn that Starbucks!!  Now the closest La Boulangerie location is at Pine Street and Fillmore west of Van Ness.  What's the matter with San Francisco?  They got rid of a great gelato place too that we visited on one of our trips but I can't remember the name.

The Castro, Mission District and Noe Valley

Camila responded to Penny's post but it doesn't seem to have been posted:

You should go check out the neighborhoods you never go to. Or maybe it’s just me that feels that I always go to the same places each time (union square, Chinatown, north beach, fisherman’s wharf). When i first wandered through the marina and the mission, I was like, oh, there’s so much more to see! Ha ha. I’d plan my day around where to eat...Tartine. Oh and that kenji Lopez alt guy has a “wursthaus” that he just opened but i think it’s in San Mateo...but right by BART it looks like.

http://www.wursthall.com/

Exploring the neighborhoods is fine with me, since we'll be staying in one: the Outer Sunset.  I've already suggested walking to the beach but I've also been intrigued by "Noe Valley", which is on the other side of Twin Peaks.  Unfortunately it takes about 50 minutes to get there by public transportation because you have to take 2 or 3 buses.  But we could combine it with the Mission District and The Castro, taking the Judah Streetcar (N) and walking down Noe Street and then left on Market to Castro Street.  On Noe Street we'll stumble across L'Ardoise, a French bistro, but it doesn't open until 5 or 5:30 pm.  There aren't many commercial establishments along the route but once we hit Market, there's Super Duper Burgers and across the street is Tacorgasmico.  It's hard to ignore the latter's name but the food and interior sound interesting.  Back on the other side is a seafood restaurant Catch but it seems somewhat pricey.

Turning down Castro Street at Harvey Milk Plaza, there's a Castro Ice Cream & Dessert that's really a tiny Turkish bakery with baked goods, tea, coffee, baklava, etc.  Looks good but no website, only yelp.

Quite a few clothing stores for men (underpants) but also Cliff's Variety Store.  Their website says they maintain a stock of hard-to-find hardware items so it definitely sounds like a place to browse or you can browse online at Pointy.  After this on Castro Street there really doesn't seem to be much more so we can walk east on 18th Street until we get to the Mission District.

About half a mile along 18th is Bi-Rite Creamery.  I wouldn't mind trying a few of their ice creams (black sesame and tcho chocolate?) or maybe one of their signature sundaes like Dainty Gentleman with honey lavender ice cream, hot fudge, blood orange olive oil & Maldon sea salt (which is from England, by the way).  Or we could make our own sundae for $8.50.

Then we'll roll out of the creamery and march on to Tartine Bakery on Guerrero Street where Fernando can inhale the sourdough aroma.   It opens early (7:30 am) so we can at least pick up some croissants but they say their bread doesn't come out until 4:30 pm and expect the loaves to cost $9-11.  Camila should be happy with this posting; it's all about food.

We are a couple of blocks southeast of Mission Dolores at 16th Street & Dolores.  I don't remember ever having visited it and how can we say we've been to the Mission District if we haven't been in the Mission?  There is both the old Mission Dolores and the new basilica (1918).  San Francisco Travel says:
"Most visitors head to Mission Dolores to get a glimpse of the oldest building in San Francisco, while those in the know go there to view rare art, listen to an acclaimed choir and see one of the most stunning rose gardens in San Francisco."
Unfortunately the choir sings on Sunday when we're in Berkeley but we can visit the cemetery and gardens and get a view of the city from Dolores Park, but that's back on 18th.

There is a Heath Ceramics tile factory several blocks east on 18th Street beyond Alabama which might be interesting because it has a retail store and a Tartine Manufactory for food.  I'm not sure how we fit this detour into our walk but at least we know it is there.

Now we must hurry to Mission Street or we'll never get to Noe Valley!  It appears that California foodies have taken over the food scene on Mission Street.  It used to be Mexican when we lived in Albany in the 70s but now it is "Gracias Madre" whose "mission is love" with "plant-based Mexican food" and which starts their lunch menu with a $9 Madre Green Smoothie (spinach, cilantro, mint, avocado, pineapple and sea salt), followed by a $15 Bowl Uno of tempeh chorizo, black beans, guacamole, brown rice and pico de gallo served on a bed of romaine and topped with nacho cashew cheese and pepitas.  You can't get more nutty Californian that that!  Where's the huitlacoche I'd like to know.

More famous is Mission Chinese Food,  offering dishes like Sichuan Carbonara, smashed cucumbers with tahini instead of garlic and chili oil, Kung Pao Pastrami and Chinese Giardianiera.  California is all into fusion food but I can borrow the Mission Chinese cookbook from the library.  There are lots of restaurants in the Mission District and we only have one meal to eat.  Perhaps we should save our appetite for Californios.  You can't get more cutting-edge Californian cuisine than that.  And then there's Foreign Cinema, specializing in oysters and Californian/Mediterranean dishes and located in a bright airy space where some amateur photos on Yelp have enough light to look good.

We already saw the Mission District murals the last time we were in San Francisco and there don't seem to be many museums in this area, except for the David Ireland House.  David Ireland was a "conceptual" artist.  (Is that the same as "installation art"?)  Hoodline has an article on the house: "Inside The David Ireland House, The Mission's Secret Art Museum."  I'm always looking for new decorating ideas, although I understand that his furnishings are rather sparse.

As you near 24th Street on Mission, establishments appear to be a bit more Mexican but there is also a Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen on 24th Street where Papi may be able to find that pastrami sandwich he's been looking for.  He can also get a spicy horseradish michelada, a breakfast burrito with pastrami, a pickle plate of vinegar and salt fermented vegetables, and a Chinese chicken salad.

We need to pick up our pace now or we'll never get to Noe Valley, which we should reach if we proceed West on 24th Street for about half a mile from Mission to Church Street (we can take the #48 Quintara/24th St. bus if it passes by).  There's the Mission Branch Library along the way on Bartlett Street, in case we need to make a pit stop, and half a block north on Valencia Street there is the Arizmendi Workers CoOp Bakery, if Fernando wants another inhalation.  Finally at Church Street, we begin to encounter the upscale restaurants, home-decor boutiques, and chic clothing shops that characterize Noe Valley.  They also say to watch out for aggressive strollers and packs of golden retrievers.    If we take another detour and walk 5 blocks south on Church Street we'll run into the Omnivore Book Shop on César Chavez whose new titles page features food magazines I haven't even heard of.   I'd be up for one of their events on Thursday, June 7.  Elizabeth Minchilli, the author of Eating My Way Through Italy: Heading Off the Main Roads to Discover the Hidden Treasures of the Italian Table  is talking from 6:30-7:30 p.m.  She has a blog on Rome.

And if we keep going south to 30th Street, we'll run into that Sardinian restaurant, La Ciccia.  It's not cheap, especially if you order a primo, secondo and contorno.  But it is well recommended and Zagat says to order the Octopus Stew and the Spaghetti with spicy oil & bottarga.  Like many upscale restaurants it is only open from Tuesday to Saturday from 5:30pm to 10.  If we're lucky we can take the J Church streetcar down Church Street from 24th and back up again.   Or by then we might be ready for an Uber Lyft.

Another recommended restaurant is Firefly on 24th Street for locally sourced food.  But I have troubles with a restaurant that serves "bits" with "yummy spread", "apps" with "nut alerts!", and "GF cornbread for the intolerant".  There's also Peasant Pies on 24th: "Inspired by a favorite meal of 19th century French villagers, Peasant Pies® are filled with fresh vegetables, poultry, beef or seafood and baked in a crisp bread crust."  Now here is something we could take home for dinner.  There's another location on Irving Street in the Inner Sunset.  And I forgot to mention Mission Pie on Mission south of 24th that specializes in sweet pies.  But how would we carry all these pies home?

This is enough for this district.  What neighborhoods should we visit next?

Where to Eat in San Francisco #1

Despite my desires to revisit old restaurants like Schroeder's, Grotto Number 9, Spenger's, and Yamato Sukiyaki, it doesn't work.  Most of them are not there anymore and the others aren't worth visiting.  Remember Foster's Cafeteria?  But go look at the menu at Schroeder's and you will see what I mean: smothered tots, schwings and fried pickles!  As in every other establishment that serves beer, they have to have hamburgers (I suppose they ARE German).  The old waiters we knew at Schroeder's must be turning in their graves when they see the rowdy young whipper snappers there these days.

So we have to start from square one:  browsing the neighborhood or searching on Yelp and Google Maps, hoping to find restaurants for old people.  I actually thought I had gotten farther in this post that I started weeks ago but evidently most of my restaurants are on my Google map of San Francisco.  I have browsed a bit along the Irving Street Corridor in the Inner Sunset and along Noriega Street near the apartment and so have added some restaurants there, in case we are hungry at night.  On Clement Street, there is a French restaurant, Chapeau! which has an early bird prix fixe menu from $40.00, available on Wednesday, Thursday & Sunday, from 5:00pm to 6:00pm but otherwise it looks a bit expensive, which is what appears to be the norm in San Francisco.  Perhaps I'm trying to relive the Hotel de France that we went to as kids when Daddy paid...

Perhaps we would be interested in visiting neighborhoods like Noe Valley.  There's a Sardinian restaurant there called La Ciccia which is "intimate" so there shouldn't be rowdy diners but will probably be expensive.  It was reviewed in the NY Times article,  My Go-To Places for Regional Italian Food in San Francisco in 2011.  In that same article they mention Perbacco, next to the Tadich Grill on California in the Financial District.  Both sound good if we are interested in Italian.   So does the Tadich Grill, but no prices on their menu.

But perhaps we are interested in something more foreign to us, although Penny can eat absolutely anything in New York City, unless we go with the totally weird fruits and nuts of California.

Should we find a replacement for Grotto #9 on Fisherman's Wharf?  The last time Fernando and I went to Grotto #9 we were the only diners there and we eventually walked out because no one was waiting on us.  There's Pacific Catch on 9th St near Irving below Golden Gate Park which advertises "sustainable salmon from the pristine shores of Chilean Patagonia".  Isn't that where farmed salmon is polluting the coasts?   It's very Californian with sushi, poke, rice bowls and tacos and not too expensive.

There's also Hog Island Oyster Co. whose special is oysters but they also have bowls of chowders and seafood stews.  However it is in the Ferry Building so is probably touristy and overpriced.  The same with Fog Harbor Fish House which is near the ferries on Pier 39.  Going inland there is the Woodhouse Fish Company with two locations, one on Fillmore Street and one on Market.  Woodhouse offers the classic dishes like clam chowder, iceberg Louie salad, steamed clams or mussels, fish and chips and cioppino.

So here's a start on food.  I've got to go plant some shrubs now but will be back when inclement weather strikes!

What should we do in San Francisco?

We can't just visit the old haunts like Union Square, Fisherman's Wharf and Chinatown.  Those sites aren't at all what they used to be and we're always disappointed, plus we aren't children anymore and no longer delight in feeding the pigeons.  I should visit some of the museums I haven't seen.

Asian Art Museum

Asian Art Museum
This art museum is located near the Civic Center in the former San Francisco Main Library and takes  around 35 minutes to get there from the Outer Sunset on the Judah (N) Streetcar.  Admission is $10 for seniors.  Hours are 10 to 5 except on Thursday when it is open until 9 and on Monday when it is closed.  San Francisco Travel mentions a couple of apps for iPhone that will guide you through the museum's collections.

San Francisco Public Library

San Francisco Public Library
When we visit the Asian Art Museum we can go across the street to the new Main Library which was built in the same Beaux Arts style as the old one but is twice as large.  It opened in 1996 and I can't remember if I've been in it but I'm assuming it was open when I attended an ALA convention in San Francisco.  And in case we're worried about the next big earthquake while we are there:

"Its innovative seismic design is engineered to provide resistance to earthquakes up to a magnitude of 8.3. The entire structure rests on 142 base isolators, made with rubber layers laminated between stainless steel and stiffened with an internal lead core to dampen vibrations. In the event of a shock, an 18-inch space around the circumference of the building allows the structure to move independently from the ground."

Whitechapel

Whitechapel
 This bar, located a few blocks north of the Civic Center, specializes in GIN and offers loads of cocktails made with the stuff.  Its food menu is limited but they do offer a cheese plate and a charcuterie board.  We could go there for a snack and a taste of London.  Unfortunately it doesn't open until 5 pm!  What a waste of space during the day.

Ocean Beach
Running along the west coast of San Francisco, we can take the Judah streetcar from our AirBnB in the Outer Sunset and in 10 minutes it should drop us off a couple of blocks from the beach, or we could walk it in about 1/2 hour.  Then we could amble up the coast 1.6 miles to the Cliff House and Sutro Baths and then hike up to Land's End to take a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge, unless there is some June Gloom hanging around.  They say fog is common in May, June and July and I remember a lot rolling into Albany on August afternoons.

Golden Gate Park
The AirBnB on 29th Avenue is located about 4 blocks south of Golden Gate Park and we can take the #7 bus that runs on Noriega Street to Lincoln Way and 9th Avenue, right next to the San Francisco Botanical Garden.  We visited it the last time we were there but I'm always up for a garden, plus it's not overly expensive: $8 for adults and free if you belong to the American Horticultural Society or one of the 320 Botanical Gardens in their Reciprocal Admissions Program.  On the other hand, the California Academy of Sciences is overly expensive: $30.95 for seniors and they don't belong to the reciprocal membership program of the Association of Science - Technology Centers.  Neither does the Exploratorium ($24.95 for seniors and closed on Monday).  Too bad San Francisco isn't like Washington DC or London with all their free museums.  Do you remember all the bellowing alligators at Steinhart Aquarium?  Looks like they only have one albino alligator now.

Aquarium of the Bay
Located at Pier 39 near Fisherman's Wharf, the "Bay Ecotarium" costs $21.95 for seniors but is part of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums reciprocal program in case you belong to your local zoo.  (The Pittsburgh Zoo is an outcast and doesn't belong but the National Aviary does and offers a 50% discount.) . Unfortunately the reviews say it is touristy and small and not worth the admission price.  I enjoyed the Monterey Bay Aquarium many years ago for its emphasis on local sea life and was hoping for something similar here.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
I remember visiting SFMOMA when it first opened but haven't been back since.  This summer they have a special exhibition on the Surrealist René Magritte and that might be worth seeing.  The price of general admission plus the René Magritte is $30 for seniors.  If we were under 18 we'd be free...  Or we could invest in the San Francisco CityPass for $89 which includes 1) a 3-Day Cable Car and Muni Bus Passport; 2) California Academy of Sciences; 3) Blue & Gold Fleet Bay Cruise Adventure; 4) Aquarium of the Bay; and 5) Exploratorium OR San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.  But I'm not sure I want to be a tourist.

Thursday on Clement Street with Susan & Rich

Penny skipped one of our days in San Francisco.  The weather here in Pittsburgh is a balmy 49 degrees so it warmed me up enough that I could look back on our trip without weeping over our current temperatures.

Susan and Rich drove in from St. Helena, over the Golden Gate Bridge, and she has a wonderful photo to prove it.  It's different from our photos because she was able to take a shot from the middle of the bridge.  I thought about that when we were crossing the bridge but I wasn't sure that Penny and Fernando would want to stop the traffic for me...

Since they drove in with their Honda CRV and parking is tight on Russian Hill, we decided to drive out to the Richmond District, to Clement Street, which is supposed to be the new Chinatown.  I remember going there in the early 1990s with Mother and Daddy and finding fresh soy milk.  And I remember the Asian supermarkets as being new and clean but 20 years have certainly taken their toll.  Give me the Wheaton H-Mart any day -- although in 20 years it might not look so inviting either.

Our first stop was B-Star, the sister of the popular Burma Superstar restaurant.  Susan and Rich were already familiar with the one in Oakland so we looked to them for guidance on what to eat.   We ordered 3 salads and two hot dishes but the salads were the most popular, maybe because it was lunch and salads are always more refreshing.

Then we wandered the neighborhood, picking up some new books at a used book store (how weird is that...) and ending up at Kamei Restaurant Supply which had all sorts of Japanese bowls and clay pots and stone bowls.  If only we had been driving back to Pittsburgh...  Susan was quite taken with it all and does she know that the Japanese don't use settings for 10 but instead have a different design for each dish?  Unfortunately I only trust plastic in my carryon and so only picked up a set of chopsticks and a small white plastic condiment dish for the black ink in my oriental painting course (how boring is that?).  Below you can see a photo of Susan's new acquisition that she posted on Facebook (I left my camera in the apartment on this trip).

View of Mt. Sutro

UCSF Medical Campus

University of San Francisco

Then Susan and Rich took us to the de Young Museum tower which is 9 stories tall and offers wonderful views of the city, including Moffitt Hospital at UCSF on Mount Sutro where Will and Camila were born (and where I had a lot of dental work done...).  Towards the downtown area you can also see the University of San Francisco and its Lone Mountain campus along with St. Ignatius cathedral (or is it a church??).

Eventually we made it back to our apartment and found a place for Rich to park nearby for a couple of hours.  We had to take them up the Green Street Steps and along Macondray Lane before they went home.  I had had visions of doing a lot of stairway walks while we were in San Francisco but my knees haven't been cooperating.  I'll have to save the walks for the next visit (I have the book in my Kindle account) and hopefully the knees and legs will have recovered (cross your fingers) and not deteriorated further!  Although I'm sure that some other part of my body will be moaning and groaning by then...

Wednesday: The Golden Gate Bridge

Wednesday was our day for trekking across the Golden Gate, although the first challenge was finding a bus that would take us as far as the toll plaza.  The #76 only runs on weekends and holidays and the #1 that Fernando's AARP app gave us must have been a Golden Gate Transit bus, not an SF MUNI, but the #28 goes up around the Presidio to the Golden Gate Bridge Toll Plaza on its way to Daly City from Fort Mason.  Of course we had to catch a #45 first and then connect with #28 at Chestnut but we didn't have to wait long for either.  And on the way to the #45 at Columbus and Union we stopped at La Boulange bakery to pick up a couple of fruit and nut rolls to sustain us during the bus ride.  And we had to pick up our lunch at Molinari's Italian delicatessen: two hefty sandwiches.  Fernando's was the Milanese with a lot of pastrami and Penny and I split a goodfella, with prosciutto, salami and roast beef - plus a lot of fixings and dressings slathered on top.

Wednesday was a very windy day but it was sunny and surprisingly warm.  I took my heavier fleece and my windbreaker but never had to break out my windbreaker.  Unfortunately it was too windy to wear a had so I had to resort to sunscreen and sunglasses.  Nobody was using parasols that day.  Lots of walkers, runners and pedestrians on the bridge for a weekday.  Cyclists were to stay on the west side of the sidewalk and walkers on the east (only the sidewalk on the east side of the bridge was open) and you had to watch out for the Blazing Saddle rental bike riders who hadn't been on a bike for years and rode in groups. 

But we made it all the way across despite all the dangers, took lots of photos (which I'll add someday) and ate our sandwiches at the other end.  Unfortunately there were no picnic benches and we had to sit on the ground (it's a real challenge for us to get up now) but it still was a lovely picnic, you just had to make sure that the wind didn't carry off your napkins.  Of course we still had to make it back over the bridge and my right knee and leg were beginning to complain so I was bringing up the rear.   We saw a wonderfully loaded container ship that was carrying so much that it was a wonder it didn't sink.

Miracle of miracles, I made it back across (I didn't worry a bit about walking all over San Francisco last July) and we found that the #28 bus also stopped at the bridge on its way in from Daly City to Fort Mason.  So we jumped on that, then transferred to the 30 and got off to make a grocery stop at Trader Joe's.  And then we waited hours for the Powell-mason cable car because the operators only go when they feel like it.

For dinner we had to reward ourselves with a Persian meal at Maykadeh on Green Street across Columbus.  Fernando had Rocky Mountain Oysters, I had chicken in a walnut/pomegranate sauce and Penny had lamb shank.  It was good but of course couldn't compare with Raffi's Place in Glendale.  I think that Los Angeles has a larger ethnic population to draw from, whether it is Persian/Armenian, Mexican or Jewish.  San Francisco has lots of Chinese and lots and lots of Italian restaurants.

Monday: The Japanese Tea Garden; Tuesday: the Mission

We had hoped to keep you abreast of our activities while in San Francisco but we are three days behind.  On Monday we rode the cable car down to Market and then took the #5 bus out to Golden Gate Park, hoping to get there before 9:30 am when the San Francisco City Guides tour of the Japanese Tea Garden began.  We were a little late but the group was still at the entrance when we arrived.  The Japanese Tea Garden is free from 9-10 am on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  The azaleas were out and everything was beautifully green and a real incentive for creating one's own Japanese garden, but I will have to change our walks from straight to winding.  Japanese gardens are also an incentive for pruning and training trees and bushes instead of letting them run natural and rampant.  I loved this place as a kid, probably because there was moss and ferns and water, something sorely lacking in Southern California.  We took lots of photos and they will eventually be added.

After the Tea Garden we walked over to the San Francisco Botanic Garden but we had to pay there, although I had thought it was free.  I guess they put up a fence in the meantime.  They have a fair number of interesting plantings although their "fragrance" garden was a disappointment, especially considering the number of fragrant trees we have encountered on city streets and the pink jasmine that is now in bloom here.  Unfortunately I cannot identify the trees but they are evergreens.  We only saw part of the Botanic Garden before we got hungry and went over to the Inner Sunset on 9th Avenue to eat at a Japanese restaurant called Kiki's.  We had the bento lunches:  Fernando had an unagi roll and fried dumplings, Penny had a California roll and tempura, I had teriyaki salmon and a California roll.  The California roll wasn't the greatest since they mixed the artificial crab with mayonnaise (I've never seen that before) and didn't sprinkle on any tiny red fish roe (I love those crunchy jewels).   Penny fell in love with the house tea since it was Gen Maicha, the Japanese green tea with roasted brown rice.

We had thought about going back to the Botanic Garden but the Beach Chalet was calling us so we took the Judah Streetcar, the N line, out to the beach.  At the Botanic Garden store I had splurged and bought a $3 SF Muni transit map which has been very helpful at identifying the routes and where they go.  Unfortunately when you get out that far in the Sunset the buses don't come very often and they don't stop at all on the Great Highway that runs along the beach.  I had to hobble all the way over to the Beach Chalet where we refreshed ourselves with a flight of their own brews, which I never find to be as good as my regular favorites.  But the murals of San Francisco were very pretty and always interesting.   Then we walked over to La Playa to wait for a #18 bus that would take us up towards the Palace of the Legion of Honor where we caught the #1 bus that runs into town along California Street.  Then we waited for the Powell-Mason cable car that took us home.

Taking all these buses really uses up time, and the cable cars don't come very frequently,  so we were tired by the time we arrived home and we took our nap even though it was late in the afternoon.  We'd had a huge lunch and so had a simple dinner of bread and cheese and a salad, and of course some wine, or was it beer?  Oh wait! maybe we had our second slice of pizza at Tony's, which wasn't as good as the first day.  On Monday and Tuesday nights, many of the North Beach restaurants are closed so there aren't many customers in the area and not much turnover in the pizzas.

On Tuesday we decided to do the Mission District murals so again took the cable car down to Market, walked over to Mission Street and took the #14 bus down to 16th Street.  First stop was the Redstone Building to see the murals inside but first Fernando had to buy a Chilean empanada at a little hole in the wall.  I'm afraid I only like the fried cheese empanadas and they don't do those decadent things here in the States.  The murals in Clarion Alley were interesting but more informal than the WPA murals of Coit Tower and not as nice as the Beach Chalet murals.   The ones on the Women's Building were more finished but it's always hard to take photos of things of the wall, especially when they are in the shade.  The Mission is interesting in the juxtaposition of very low class stores on Mission Street and gentrified housing a street over.  There was a community garden that I had to browse through, just to see what I could be growing here while my garden in Pittsburgh is frozen solid....

We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant, La Quinta, where all of the patrons were Hispanic.  Penny and I had a standard plate of beans, rice, salad and chiles rellenos.  Fernando had the daily special of pork ribs.  I think we should not have full meals but just a taco here and there because we were ready for a siesta when we finished.  We're only able to do a half day of activity at our age and then we are pooped, and we still had to navigate the bus system back to the apartment:  #49 north along Mission and Van Ness and the #45 up Union to Mason, and then walking the block and a half up the hill to our apartment.  We have a new appreciation for hills...

However, after our refreshing nap, we had to go out and hike the Green Street steps which are at the top of our block, and then down Jones to Macondray Lane, of "Tales of the City" fame.  That was really nice.  A lovely leafy walkway that we must take Susan and Rich to see.

From there we went down to Chinatown but these days, after having been to Hong Kong,  I'm always disappointed.  Plus the stores look a bit messy and perhaps in my old age Fernando's perpetual harping to get organized is having its effect.  Of course, since everything these days is from China, it doesn't have the allure that it once had.

While we were there we noticed billows of smoke coming up over the skyline from the direction of downtown.  My first thought was of the1906 fire that quickly engulfed the rest of the city and I wondered if we shouldn't evacuate.  But we couldn't find anything on our iPhones about the fire and we didn't hear any sirens and nobody else seemed to notice it so we went about our business.  No big purchases and we soon struggled back up the hill (one of many) to the cable car, which we took back home.  At $6 a pop, we have certainly recouped the cost of the 7-day MUNI passport.

After the Mexican lunch, we were only ready for a simple salad, bread and cheese at home.  And of course a bottle of wine.

Sunday: The Embarcadero

We all arrived safe and sound at the apartment on Russian Hill on Saturday.  Fernando and I chickened out of taking the BART from the airport and followed Penny's good example of taking the Super Shuttle that would leave us right at the door.  This was a wise idea because the apartment is definitely on a hill.

Since it was around 8 o'clock when we arrived and we were starving, we tumbled down the hill a couple of blocks to Columbus to check out the restaurants.  It was Saturday night and North Beach was hopping with a lot of baby boomers like us.  Most restaurants were full with waiting lines so we were checking them all out for later.  Capp's Corner, closest to us, has a prix fixe dinner with a soup and salad served family-style.  That looked quaint but it is closed on Monday and Tuesday in the winter.  On the corner is Molinari's delicatessen and Fernando keeps wanting to stop in for a sandwich but so far we have restrained him.  Maybe we can pack up sandwiches for our walk across the Golden Gate Bridge one of these days.

We decided on Tony's Pizza Napoletana but the line was out the door.  Fortunately he has a "slice house" next door that is a quicker take-out so we got in line there.  Not quite the same as your own pizza hot out of the oven but we were hungry.  Then we picked up a bottle of Chimay for Fernando at a nearby grocery, went home, fixed a salad, ate dinner and thought it was the best pizza we'd ever had... We helped Fernando with the Chimay.

Next morning we hopped on the Powell - Mason cable car, which stops half a block down the hill from the apartment, and rode down to Trader Joe's and Safeway on Bay.  We were able to do our shopping and ride the cable car back up to the apartment before Erika came around 10:30. 



Sunday Streets took place last Sunday on the Embarcadero so half of the street was closed to vehicular traffic, which meant that it was full of bicycles -- the pedestrians stayed on the sidewalk.  It was here that my knee began acting up and I went limping along to the Ferry Building where we had Vietnamese sandwiches and fresh spring rolls for lunch at Out the Door.  The Ferry Building was hopping -- I don't know if it is like this every Sunday or if Sunday Streets drew so many people out -- and is lined with small shops with very interesting items that we couldn't afford -- lots of eye candy.

Then Penny and Erika walked, and I hobbled, down Market to catch a bus to take us to Gough Street (Gough as in "go", not "cough" says Erika).  Then up to Octavia Street to another area hopping with 20-30 somethings instead of baby boomers.  They had a biergarten within a chain link fence with train/ship container box cars for the buildings.  Erika took us to Smitten, an ice cream shack with four made-to-order ice creams: classic vanilla, Tchoc chocolate, blood orange and mint chocolate chop.  We waited in another line and finally got smooth rich almost pudding-like ice cream, frozen with liquid nitrogen.  Erika's mint chocolate chip was the best because it tasted like fresh mint.

We are making good use of our MUNI 7-day passport, taking two buses back to the apartment: the first one down Van Ness to Union and the second up Union to Mason.  We did have to hike up Mason that last block to Green but otherwise my knee was able to take a break.  Then we sent Erika off, after a short rest on our "balcony", and fixed ourselves a simple dinner of bread, cheese and a salad made from lettuce and other odds and ends (mango, almonds from our caramel popcorn, little tomatoes).

Fernando hit the hay around 8:30 but Penny and I had to stay up and watch a Pink Panther movie with Roberto Benigno.  We had to get our laughs in before retiring.  Next day: The Japanese Tea Garden.

San Francisco in 1955, 1930s and 1963

I stumbled across this YouTube Video of a travel promotional film from 1955, although I would have thought it was earlier since I don't see any examples of our 1955 Ford Station Wagon!  It is quite interesting and I think Mother would appreciate it.  I figure that the first time I went to San Francisco was the year that Susan was born, in 1953, when we stayed at the Oxford Hotel with Nana.  I remember that Mother said we could each pick out a toy to buy.  Penny got a dolly but I remember wanting a space helmet and ending up with a yellow plastic squirt gun that we used to squirt at passerbys out the window of the hotel.  We were quite a ways up so the water would have evaporated by the time it hit the ground.  No, parents didn't worry about their children falling out the windows.  We were too smart for that.

To get back to the video.  The narrator says that Van Ness Avenue (pronounced vanice as in Venice) stopped the 1906 fire.  Whatever happened to the Skyway at the Cliff House that went out over Seal Rock?  What ever happened to the amusement park Playland??  If I had known they existed in 1955 I would have made sure that we got there instead of Tommy's Joynt!!

If you watch closely, you can see that one of the cable cars has an ad on the side for Yamato Sukiyaki!!

And then at the end, I can see that there is also a video of 1930s San Francisco.  And even in the 1930s they were calling the cable cars "quaint"!  Mother should like this since she was there in the 1930s. 

And then there is the 1963 Story of a City.  "Sweeping views of clean, white homes..."  San Franciscans "dress well and walk briskly..."  And they highlight the pigeons of Union Square with the Hotel Plaza in the background.   These documentaries are so interesting to watch and we still haven't gotten to the Transamerica Pyramid!  They talk of the "old houses standing in timid contrast to the new apartment buildings, as if wondering when they too must give way to progress". 

And of course, I had to watch the video of the Sutro Baths.  They must have been quite spectacular.

Quick! Quick! What's Happening Next Week in SF??

Dang! We missed the Free Shoe Shine Night at Elixir Bar in the Mission:  buy a Boot Black Stout and a shot (or cocktail) of Black Grouse Whisky and get a free shoe shine the first Monday of the month.  The first Tuesday of the month is free museum day so we'll miss that too, not to mention all the Mardi Gras goings on today.  And, oh gosh!, we'll miss out on free pancakes at IHOP during National Pancake Day as well!

But on Sunday, March 9th, Sunday Streets begins with a Kick-Off Party at the Embarcadero. They close 3 miles of the street for walking and biking and set up family-friendly activities along the way.  It runs from 11 am to 4 pm.  Do we want to switch our destination from the Mission District to the Embarcadero?  Or do we want to make sure we avoid it??

We could do a free tour of the Pirates of the Caribbean Ship over in Sausalito on March 9, 11 or 12th.
And then we'll just squeak out of San Francisco before the St. Patrick's Day Parade on March 15th.  Fortunately we'll be there for Pi Day and also for the Georgia O'Keefe exhibit at the de Young Museum, but that isn't a free event but $23 for seniors and tickets are timed every 15 minutes.  Ouch!  I wonder if it will be like that Van Gogh exhibit in LA. that I took Mother and Daddy to many years ago.

La Nebbia, Nebby and Neblina

Ah, these nebby words.

Another San Francisco restaurant review on La Nebbia, a prosciutto bar way out in Noe Valley run by a Sardinian couple that also run La Ciccia around the corner  Immediately I asked myself "Is this where Pittsburgh gets its word nebby,  since it has so many Italians?"  But la nebbia is the same as the Spanish neblina, meaning fog or mist.  Nebby in Pittsburghese means nosey so I am hard put to find how it could have been derived from nebbia, but it is also hard for a Pittsburgher to see the word La Nebbia and not think of being nebby.  Prosciutto isn't my favorite meat but I do remember eating a serrano ham in Toulon, France that was particularly good.

Crab Tostadas

There's also a Jaliscan-Californian restaurant called Loló in the Mission District that offers dishes that Fernando might like: octopus tiradito, oxtail empanadas, squid in black ink, gambas bravas, lamb sliders, beef tongue mini tortas...  It has Fernando written all over it, even in the mezcal bar.  However it is a tapas place with loud Latin music and reservations are recommended well in advance, which makes me feel that it is too trendy for us.   Hm.  I wonder if AARP has a restaurant guide to San Francisco...

San Francisco Eater has a Heat Map that lets you know "what's new, what's hot, which favorite chef just launched a sophomore effort, where to sip the cocktail of the moment".  One of the hot new restaurants is Verbena (which I mentioned in my last post) that SF Eater calls "another nice addition to the suddenly hot restaurant scene in Russian Hill."  Isn't it exciting to be staying in the midst of a suddenly hot restaurant scene?  Maybe we should just eat close to home!  Although I think most of this hot restaurant scene is on the west side of Russian Hill so we'd have to hike up and over or take the bus.

We could splurge and go to La Folie which has one Michelin Star and hosted President Francois Hollande for lunch recently.  They have a Menu Jardiniere for $95 but the photos of their meat dishes will easily dissuade you from going vegetarian.  For dinner they offer a 3 course menu for $85, a four course for $95 and a 5 course for $105.  Obviously the 5-course menu is the best deal and we wouldn't have to eat at all the following day.  Let's see.  What would I order?

1. Dungeness Crab Salad, Green Apple and Fennel Panna Cotta, Blood Lime Vinaigrette
2. Goat Cheese Tatin, with Roasted Eggplant, Artichokes, Tomato Confit, Portobello Mushroom, and Sauce Vièrge
3. Lobster and Mushroom Risotto, with Leeks and Lobster Broth
4. Roasted Emigh Farm Lamb Chop with Butter Beans, Lamb Bacon, Curry Carrot-Date Puree
5. Fuji Apple Tart Tatin, Crunchy Puff Pastry, Kabocha Crème Caramel, Maker’s Mark Ice Cream,  Pomegranate

As you can see, there's lots of preparation that goes into these dishes so it is probably worth the $105.  However they probably expect us to dress up and we are on vacation...

Hard Water and Wooden Pickles

Here I thought they were talking about that calcium-rich Fillmore water and instead they mean Bourbon.   The San Francisco Chronicle was reviewing another restaurant from Charles Phan (of the Slanted Door, Out the Door, etc) -- although Charlie Phan is easier to say -- called Hard Water.  It specializes in Southern cuisine, like gumbo, fried chicken, and muffaletta.  Appropriately they offer collard greens, black eyed peas, macaroni and cheese, and grits as sides but I don't see any chitlins on their menus, although they do offer boiled peanuts.  These are all a foil for his American Whiskey, which is the point of the place -- you can order flights of different kinds.  After a few whiskeys I suppose you would eat anything, so maybe they will eventually try chitlins...  I must admit that those pieces of fried chicken look mighty tasty and the cocktails look intriguing but they are $11 apiece (like at La Mar) so perhaps that is the going price for cocktails in San Francisco, at least when they have a view.  They offer one called the "Presbyterian" with Wild Turkey 101 bourbon, lemon, ginger, and soda which is evidently a spicier version of a common cocktail.  Maybe I should frequent bars more often so I'd know.   Ooooh.  I wonder if they have happy hour with half-price drinks.  THAT would make it affordable.

Oh, oh, I just read that they share a public restroom outside...??

Instead maybe we should try another new restaurant that opened in December and that is located in our neighborhood on Russian Hill: Verbena.  According to the San Francisco Chronicle, they celebrate  vegetables (not necessarily vegetarian) and they have an "illuminated wooden pickle wall" -- sort of like Hard Water's bourbon wall, but wooden pickles?  what fun is that?  I wonder what other food walls we can find in San Francisco.  Oh my gosh they use Garum with their beef rib, and also pumpkin milk, lovage, beet sauerkraut, nettles and chickweed.  Are we ready for this??

What is this???  It looks like a dish didn't agree with a customer...

Google Maps and the Stairways of San Francisco

Google Maps is trying to get me to switch to their new map system.  But that means I can't search and add locations to my San Francisco Map.  Each time I have to go to "custom maps", choose San Francisco and then click on "open original map".  In the new Google map you can "save" (star) a location but it is not obvious how you retrieve saved items.  The street view is supposed to load faster than the old one but it doesn't and it's harder to get to.  I'm sure the new Google Map works better on your mobile device when you want to find something nearby but doesn't Google realize how much fun old people like us have exploring a location that we are not in?  Maybe what I can do is look up things on the new Google map and then duplicate the search on the old Google map and add it to San Francisco.  Or maybe I'll eventually learn how to use the new version.

Right now I'm trying to find interesting streets to explore.  USA Today listed Fillmore Street as one of the best shopping streets in the nation.  It runs from Pacific Heights to Japan Town on Geary and "appeals to those with varied interests; it has three quaint bookstores, three flower shops and even three hardware outlets".  And then in Japan Town, SanFrancisco.travel lists a Soko Hardware store which "hosts every Japanese cooking tool, décor item, or gadget you could ever possibly need. This is the place to get your paper lanterns, wooden floor mats, rice cookers, and chopsticks."  We can't miss that!

Maybe we should explore the Stairway Walks in San Francisco.  How are our knees?  Just around the apartment on Russian Hill there are the Green Street steps, the Vallejo steps which run through Ina Coolbrith Park, Macondray Lane, not to mention the Filbert and Greenwich steps that go up to (or down from) Telegraph Hill.  They should provide some nice photo opportunities which we can't preview in Google Map's Street View because the Google camera truck can't go there...

OK.  I bit the bullet and bought the Kindle edition of Stairway Walks in San Francisco.  They have two walks for Russian Hill that we simply have to do because it is our neighborhood!  The author ferrets out all the little stairways in the neighborhood but warns against continuing on the cobblestones of Macondray Lane.  Unfortunately she doesn't cover the Inner and Outer Richmond because that area is flat, except for the Coastal Trail with the Cliff House and the Sutro Baths, which I wouldn't mind checking out.  She gives lots of history and points out every historical house.   So what day do we wander the neighborhood?  Maybe we should have scheduled a two week visit...

Hunting for that Deli

The weekend before Willy was born, Fernando and I drove into San Francisco and wandered around the Russian district out on Geary.  We stopped at a little delicatessen and Fernando swears that they had the best pastrami (or was it corned beef?) that he's ever eaten -- either before or since.  So naturally he has commanded me to find that place...

Will Wise Sons Delicatessen at the Contemporary Jewish Museum do?  They also have locations in the Ferry Building and in the Mission District.  The owners are from LA and offer pastrami and corned beef, matzoh ball soup and chopped liver.  But they also offer a Chinese Chicken Salad and a Country Club Cobb...  Not authentic Jewish?

A search on Yelp brings up 5 or 6 Russian Delis in the Richmond like the Russian Deli, the Gastronom Deli & Bakery and the Moscow & Tbilisi Bakery Store.  Most of them are along Geary in Little Russia and the food appears more Russian than Jewish but still worth a visit.  Remember M & I International Food in Brighton Beach?  I'm not a great fan of meringues or meat pirogies but there's bound to be something we can't resist.

A search on Yelp for Jewish delis in the Inner and Outer Richmonds only brings up the House of Bagels and A K Meats until it moves on to Shabu House and Thanh Thanh Cafe (??).  Maybe we better try LA for Jewish delis, not San Francisco.  Or we could go to Miller's East Coast Deli in the meantime, which has everything: hoagies and burgers as well as deli sandwiches.  Its website doesn't have prices on its menu but I can't imagine that it is out of our price range...  Or we could just go to Tommy's Joynt and have a pastrami sandwich or lamb shanks and a beer.  Except I'm looking through their 590 photos and can't find a pastrami on rye that I'd like to eat...   They do have some shots of the lamb shanks so you can see whether you'd like to eat it.

Ferry Building Marketplace and Farmers Markets

As Penny noted in the last post on the Exploratorium, there is no Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building on Fridays and we arrive too late on Saturday to make the big one.  There are Farmers Markets on Tuesday and Thursday from 10 am to 2 pm and every day the Ferry Building MarketPlace is open ("minimal hours": M-F 10-6; Sat 9-6; Sun 11-5).  The MarketPlace is within the Ferry Building and consists of a variety of shops and some restaurants, including the Acme Bread Company (the one that supplies Chez Panisse) and the Cowgirl Creamery.  The hours posted for the Acme Bread Company are 6:20 am to 7:30 pm.

One of the restaurants is The Slanted Door, a Vietnamese restaurant whose chef has a cookbook out on Vietnamese Home Cooking.  Somehow I feel that a chef who has written a cookbook can't be all that bad -- it must be a librarian's bias.  He also has other restaurants including an Out the Door kiosk at the Ferry Building and Heaven's Dog (modern Chinese cuisine and pre-Prohibition era cocktails) that sounded interesting but is closed for renovation.

There is also a Sur la Table and a Rancho Gordo bean shop.  A lot of the shops must be holes in the wall, like the one for Heath Ceramics and The Gardener, but that is OK since we won't be buying pots to take home.  Unless, that is, we are interested in some 5-piece place settings like the Olima Full Dinnerware Set.

How long do you suppose it will take us to browse through the MarketPlace?  Do we want to do it on a Tuesday when there is also a Farmers Market?  What do we do with what we buy?  Do we go to Yank Sing at Rincon Plaza for dim sum while we are there?  Juan thinks it is overpriced and suggested Lai Hong Lounge in Chinatown instead.  But I like the idea of the little carts so you can see what you order first, although their gallery of deem sum makes it easier.

Exploratorium and Pi Day on Friday?

Imagine that!  I thought the Exploratorium was still out by the Palace of Fine Arts, and I find that it's now "in a spectacular new location at Pier 15 on the Embarcadero at Green St."
Yes, Green Street!  So I'm thinking we can roll out of bed and down Green and end up at the Exploratorium just before we splash into the bay.  Wrong, when I hop into my Google maps car, I find I can't get there from here.  Part of Telegraph Hill is in the way, and Green doesn't appear to go through.  My Google takes me to Columbus where I jog right until I hit Broadway southeast (L) for two blocks and then north (L) on Sansome two blocks to pick up Green and continue east (R) to my destination.  It's about a mile.

On to the Exploratorium site where I discover:

Friday, March 14, is Pi Day and the museum is FREE.  It's a holiday founded by the museum.  Open 10 to 5, and we'd better get there early!  Senior admission is normally $19.
Also, that 1.5 acres of the Exploratorium's new 2 acres of outdoor exhibit space is free and open to the public.  I'm wondering where they got those 2 acres of outdoor space on a pier and whether we'll need snorkels.
Read about the "Metamophosis" of the museum at Funworld Magazine. 
IAAPA is dedicated to the preservation and prosperity of the amusement industry and we'll just miss their convention in SF the week before.  Did you know that?  Well, I sure didn't!

Fernando, your mission should you choose to accept it, is to scout out the best exhibits.  And there are apps for you that should help....maybe?
And lots of videos on such topics as Hack this Book, and the Science of Cocktails.  We'd better get lots of sleep the night before because this visit is really going to stretch our minds!

Now, we're on the Embarcadero....should we go to the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market first.  Opps!  only Tues, Thurs and Saturdays.

Well, there's always a streetcar ride along the Embarcadero!  Then Fort Mason?  The Presidio Trust at the Montgomery Street Barracks:  Building 103 has an exhibit "Crown Jewels:  5 Great National Parks Around the World and the Challenges They Face."