melair

We stayed at the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental in Knob Hill.  There isn’t a whole lot going on in Knob Hill, but it is pretty central to more happenin’ areas like North Beach, SOMA, Union Square, etc.  The best part about our hotel was the hotel bar, called Top of the Mark that has a fantastic martini menu, a great view and live music.  We were also on the cable car line which was pretty touristy, but fun, and trust me, after walking up and down those hills a few times you come to rely on the cable cars as more of a necessity than a cutesy little tourist experience.

Our first night, we walked to Rogue Ales Public House and got to try a few Rogue beers among others that we’d never tasted.  The beer was great and the atmosphere fun, but the food was definitely nothing to write home about.

We got mixed reviews about Fisherman’s Wharf.  Alot of people told us it was super touristy and boring.  Well, I can agree with that.  But, it’s neat to see the boats and the best part for me really was going to Ghirardelli Square and getting a hot chocolate.  Yum!  Plus, we actually went on Thanksgiving Day, so I don’t think it was nearly as crowded as it could have been.

The Ferry Building was definitely a neat sight to behold, however, we went the day after Thanksgiving and it was kind of a mad house.  We eventually figured out how to use public transportation and went to the Haight-Ashbury.  I really didn’t want to like the Haight-Ashbury because I figured it was going to be kinda cheesy like Little 5 Points in Atlanta — full of trust-fund hippies and soccer moms trying to find slutty tee-shirts for their teenage daughters.  It was much darker and more authentic however.  And our favorite part was a little brewpub called Magnolia.  Great beer, great food.

The best breakfast we had, and heaviest for sure was at Brenda’s French Soul Food.  So, so good.  We started with chocolate beniegts (Jim’s idea), then I had spicy shrimp and grits and Jim had French toast covered in a praline sauce.  Admittedly, it slowed us down a bit.

Our worst experience and really the only disappointment the whole trip was Luce Restaurant.  Never, ever eat here.  It was a complete waste of money and sadly, this is where we spent our Thanksgiving.  The whole story leading up to it started out great…  We weren’t too far outside of Orange County when we tuned in to NPR and a woman with a heavy European accent was talking about the dishes she makes for Thanksgiving.  I told Jim that I wondered if she lived in San Francisco and joked that we should go to her house for Thanksgiving.  About that time, the interviewer announced that she was the chef at Luce in San Francisco.  We couldn’t believe our luck!  So, I Googled the phone number and called for a reservation.  I was told that they were filling up fast and that they would need my credit card number because there were no cancellations at this point.  I figured, “what the hell,”  we didn’t have any other leads on restaurants that might be opened for Thanksgiving.

When we arrived at the restaurant, it was my first realization that this was a hotel restaurant and I was immediately disappointed, because in my experience, hotel restaurants are almost always over priced and not very good.  As for “filling up fast,” that was a blatant lie, as there were about 6 tables sat in a restaurant full of about 50 tables.  Each course was more bland than the last.  The wine was good!  That’s only highlight.  And it made me sad to think that in a city with so many great chefs and restaurants we were wasting quite a bit of money at a place that was so disappointing.

I got over it, but I want to make sure that if you ever in SF, you avoid that restaurant and go somewhere else.  Like, right down the street to Thirsty Bear Brewing Company.  It was about a third of the cost and the food was much better.  The beer and sangria were good too and since they serve Spanish tapas, you could have as big or as small of a meal as you like.

We ended our trip with meal to make up for the first one that bombed.  This restaurant came with several recommendations and was much better than our Thanksgiving experience.  A very well established, well revered Greek restaurant in the Financial district called Kokkari.  Yum!

Man we like to eat and drink.  Wish I could get paid to do that and travel.  I guess some people do.  Anyway, in summary:  I love San Francisco.  Not the same way I love New Orleans, which is still my favorite city to visit.  I would never live in NO, but SF?  I can see myself living there any day.  We even fantasize about how great it would be to have a time share or something and spend summers there while I work, and Jim works on research.  We could go to the market and eat dinner on our rooftop patio while drinking some wine we just brought back from Napa or Sonoma… we could have rock star bodies from jogging up and down those crazy hills… we could see great musical performances without driving 45 minutes-1.5 hours to do so… become regulars at art bars and hobnob with writers and musicians…anyway…I digress.  In short: San Francisco good, very good.