The SF Scene

Went to my favorite City by the Bay last weekend and for some reason, I just wasn't as excited about the food as I have been in the past.

The one place I really wanted to check out was the new farmer's market in the Ferry Building on Embarcadero. Three chears for the farmers' market!!! One of my friends has the fortune of working in the building...lucky bastard. I hadn't been there since the building was renovated and all the vendors moved in so I was dying to see it. I was also hunting for this vendor with some pretty damn cool flavored olive oil that my dear Les purchased a while back. After walking around for a few minutes and being distracted by all the yummy vegies, wines, snacks and things, I remembered to call Les to get the name of the vendor - Stonehouse Olive Oil. The majority of their olive oil is made by crushing citrus fruits along with the olives to get them nice and flavorful and full of color. I love all of their flavored olive oils - Lisbon Lemon, Persian Lime and Blood Orange. If you've never had Persian Lime, it's like biting into a honey-flavored lemon. It's not super sweet but does have a hint of sweetness mixed with the semi-lime tartness. It's one of those things that really messes with your senses. Your mind tells you that you should expect a tart taste when you bite into a Persian Lime but when that taste never comes, you're at a loss of words. The only time I've seen them have been at the weekly Thursday Farmer's Market in Westwood. It's an experience everyone must try, I have to insist! Both the Lisbon Lemon and Blood Orange varieties taste just as good as they smell. You can order their products online but if you're ever in the area, I highly recommend dropping by and grabbing a couple bottles after you've tasted all of them.

Another great find from the Farmer's Market was lemon and garlic quark cheese from the Spring Hill Cheese Company in Petaluma, CA. It was probably not the best idea to go to the market with an empty stomach. The cheese was the first thing we tasted when we arrived. The minute the lemon quark hit my taste buds, I was sold! I also managed to talk The Joe into getting the garlic quark since he loves that strong herb so much. Quark cheese has the same consistency as cream cheese but is not as creamy as the latter. The fact that the lemon quark is a dessert cheese made me want even more of it. If this isn't carried at Whole Foods, I'm going to start a petition for it. So yes, this is my fav cheese for the moment. For those whose bodies have started to reject dairy, fear not. This is one of those cheeses you can eat as much as you want and will not feel the consequences of your dairy intolerance. At least, in my case, fresh or goat cheese doesn't bother my system as much as heavy, creamy, processed cheeses.

After scoping all other vendors in the facility, it was definitely time to eat. Being used to a number of ethnic enclaves in Southern California, we weren't very excited over the prices for Vietnamese sandwiches ($7!!) and $12 bento boxes. It was time to keep looking or eat elsewhere. I was so turned off by this and actually started to miss LA's ethnic enclaves where one can get authentic cuisine for a fraction of the prices at the SF Farmer's Market. It was also a sign that the vendors have started to cater to non-residents...damn them! Who the hell is going to shell out hella money for food that can easily be obtained in San Francisco's authentic ethnic restaurants and shops for much cheaper - a tourist trap, of course!

The other cuisine I was craving was Spanish tapas. I haven't been to a good tapas restaurant since I moved to sunny Southern Cali. I think there's a larger Spanish (as in Hispanola, the true Hispanics) population in San Francisco than in Southern California, at least based on the food selection. I decided to return to the scene of my 21st bday celebration so we tried going to Cafe Picaro on Friday night after we arrived but the wait was freakin' close to an hour and I was ready to eat a cow! I don't remember it being that packed before...ever! I can't classify Picaro as THE BEST place to have tapas and other Spanish dishes but it's definitely good for your tummy and on the pocket book. It's located in The Mission and parking sucks big knockers there so expect to either take public transit, hail a cab or make a sacrifice to the parking gods hoping to get a parking spot at least 3 blocks away from the 16th Ave. restaurant strip. I was hanging out near the area again on Saturday with my girls so we decided to give it another try. Here's the tip - go early, before 8pm, at the very least! The paellas are excellent, as well as all their tapas. My favorite tapas that we ordered was the grilled calamari...yummers! I'm salivating just thinking about it. It was somewhat chewey but not to the point where I felt like I was chewing gum. I've never had grilled calamari that perfectly cooked before.

Before leaving on Monday, I had brunch with a few other gal pals in Burlingame. We went to Stacks. Who knew there was an exciting eating scene that's just as buzz worthy as that in The City?! There's no way one can miss this restaurant! It's located right on the corner of California and Lorton. It sits in the midst of a bunch of shi-shi boutiques that have just opened in the past five years. Burlingame is also another affluent neighborhood in the Bay Area so of course there'd be an Apple Store, J. Crew, Pottery Barn and a few other boutiques with countless attire and accessories that sell for much higher prices than ones that are found at Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdales! Parking was abound so I was very happy to see that.

Stacks is very much a breakfast and lunch restaurant. The wait was 30 min., despite the fact that it was a national holiday. The service was stupendous, from the moment we put our names on the waiting list to the time we got up to leave! Love that! Our food was scrumptious, nice and light but very much full of flavor. My gal, Mezghan and I had ordered from the lunch menu the pesto, portabello mushroom and chicken crepe with mozzarella for me and none for her. The hearty portion came with a salad, nice and fresh. Kristel had one of the frittatas...can't remember which one now, but I do remember it was just as good as what we had. My apologies for no pictures...have to get used to carrying a camera with me more often. Just trust that my taste buds will not dissapoint you. Besides, if you check out Stacks' menu, you will find anything and everything for breakfast. We also shared a plate of the french toast that was oh so good! I hadn't had french toast as good as that in a very long time - batter wasn't too heavy, the bread had a distinct taste and you were able to savor and cinnamon. It's sweetness was further emphasized by the accompanying apple compote. That pretty much fulfilled my sugar intake for the day.

Overall, the new places we went to this time around in San Francisco were definitely worth trying and travelling to. Maybe I'll have a little more excitement about other restaurants that have opened since I've moved down to LA. For now, it's really good to be home. I was starting to miss Thai Town, Chinatown (Downtown LA & Monterey Park!), Koreatown, East LA and countless other neighborhoods with the yummiest authentic eateries that can be just as good as actually travelling to those foreign lands.

How do you like your brew?

Ever since I discovered my tummy can no longer take the strenght of coffee, I've been a major tea consumer and advocate. Who knew they could be as complex as making wine?! How can one possibly deny all the health benefits from teas? I haven't heard one negative health news about drinking various brews.

Yesterday, there was an article in the LA Times about various tea kettles in the market - Tempest in Tea Kettles. Although I'm pretty picky about my teas, boiling water cannot possibly be that difficult! However, I was enamored by the utiliTEA kettle pictured here.



Happy brewing!