Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Castro’

Exploring San Francisco: Dolores Park

Posted in Dog Friendly, Eating Out, Parks, San Francisco, tagged , , , , , , , on March 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »

On a beautiful day like today, one of the top San Franciscan things to do is pack a picnic and head over to Dolores Park to soak in some rays and enjoy great people watching.  Located between the Mission District and the Castro, there’s no shortage of good eats.  Some of my favorite places to pick up food are below:

Image Source

Ike’s Place is known for some pretty epic sandwiches.  They a huge selection of sandwiches with a variety of options for meats, bread, and toppings, but all of them are served with Ike’s dirty sauce, which is what makes the sandwiches so delicious.  The place is well known and is always packed though so be prepared for a wait.

  Image Source

Bi-Rite Market is a local gourmet market that is a must for any serious foodie.  There’s a deli counter where you can order sandwiches which change seasonally.  The market is small but carries a well curated selection of artisanal products and is full of local Northern California treats like Acme bread and Cowgirl Creamery cheeses.  There’s a great selection of cured meats, fresh baked breads, cheeses, and many other ready-to-eat products, and of course wine, making for a great spot to pack a picnic basket!

 Image Source

And let’s not forget Bi-Rite Creamery, the sister store to the market serving ice-cream and baked goods.  No matter the time of day or the weather, there’s always a line for the delicious ice-cream.  But with flavors like the famous salted caramel, honey lavender, and earl grey, who can resist? And it doesn’t help that they are constantly coming up with new flavors so you have to keep coming back!

 Image Source

And finally my absolute favorite weekend treat are the pastries at Tartine Bakery.  I’ve tried nearly all the pastries and brunch items here and they are all delicious.  My favorites are definitely the morning bun (pic above), which is similar to a cinnamon roll but with an orange zest to it, the frangipane croissant, essentially an almond croissant, and the croque monsieur.  But they also have butter, chocolate, and ham & cheese croissants, quiches, scones, and bread pudding, all yummy.  A word of warning though, there’s always a line, even at 9am on a Sunday (who wakes up that early on a Sunday???), and if you get there past 10:30am, there’s a good chance they’ll be out of the popular items, namely the morning bun and many of the croissants.  But they also have mouthwatering desserts, sandwiches, and fresh baked bread, so you can still get something delicious if you happen to be there later in the day.

And here’s a picture of Dolores Park from today.  See the throngs of people down there?  So yeah, just know that when it’s an absolute gorgeous and warm day like today, the park will be crowded and there will be very interesting people watching going on but that’s all part of the local San Francisco experience 😀

Read Full Post »

L’Ardoise, a little bit of Paris in SF

Posted in Eating Out, San Francisco, tagged , , , on September 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »

L'Ardoise

Image Source

Last Friday the hubs and I went out to dinner to celebrate my first full week of work and my first paycheck!  It was difficult narrowing down a restaurant since San Francisco has an abundance of great food, but I had heard of a charming neighborhood French restaurant that was near my place.  A quick check on Yelp and a look at their menu and 2 seconds later I was making a reservation at L’Ardoise.  And let me tell you, it lived up to and exceeded my expectations!

L’Ardoise is the kind of intimate neighborhood bistro I’d expect to find in Paris.  It’s a quaint restaurant located in a lovely residential area.  Upon entering we were greeted by a host with a French accent, assuring the hubs and I of the authenticity of the restaurant (ha!).  The restaurant was dimly lit with a soft glow made by candles and table lamps.  There were baskets of baguettes hanging around and the specials were written on a chalkboard.  It was really the perfect setting for a nice and relaxing evening of good food and good conversation.

Unfortunately I’m terrible at taking pictures of my food since I always end up devouring half of it before I remember to whip out my camera, so you’ll have to believe me when I say that the food was delicious!  We ordered the charcuterie plate as an appetizer, which consisted of a variety of salami and pates.  The hubs had the filet mignon for his entree, which he claimed was really good, and that’s saying alot coming from a Korean man who grew up in Argentina (that man knows his meats!).  But what was truly outstanding from his dish was the pommes landaises, which are lightly fried potato slices.  They were so good that I couldn’t stop taking them from his plate!  I ended up with the cog au vin, which was delicious, albeit slightly dry.  I wish we had tried the desserts but we decided early on that  it’d be nice to walk around the neighborhood to digest and then go for some ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery.

As someone who loves all things French, this restaurant truly brought me back to when I was vacationing in Paris.  In fact, during our walk after dinner, the hubs and I talked about traveling to Paris as our next vacation to try all the great food we couldn’t afford and didn’t know about when we were last there 7 years ago.  I think what truly made our evening so great was that for the first time since we moved out West, we just enjoyed going out and not having to worry about our finances.  We were free to dream and plan our future.  And isn’t that what being in Paris is all about?

Wow, I wasn’t anticipating that this be such a long post! Anyway, I know that San Francisco is chock full of French restaurants, but if you’re looking for the one that will transport you to Paris, definitely try L’Ardoise!

Read Full Post »