As we were getting ready for our trip out here, we kept hearing that “the food sucked,” at least compared to New York, but that the “tacos were really good.” We both found this hard to believe. Isn’t the produce supposed to be fresher here? The Asian food more authentic? Plus SF is a big city – not ALL of the eats can suck, and in fact none of it does.
Crepes
Apparently crepes are a big thing in San Francisco. I received two separate recommendations for crepe places (none from the idiots above), and we’ve found one that is none of those recommendations but tasty all the same.
We had breakfast at Honey Honey on Post Street both yesterday and today. It’s about a 10 minute walk from our hotel and seems popular. Yesterday I had the breakfast crepe, ham, cheddar cheese, and tomatoes, which was tasty.
But today’s selection, the Half Moon Bay – crab cake, cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and mushrooms – was face-meltingly good.
The dishes come with a side of fruit (or potatoes if you prefer something carbier) and were less than $9 each, a pretty good deal for the amount of food.
Mexican in the Mission
As you New Yorkers know, it’s virtually impossible to get good Mexican food in the Big Apple. In fact, I can barely tell the difference. So getting authentic tacos and burritos in the Mission District was a must.
We traveled out to the Mission last night, an adventure in itself. Deciding to forego public transportation, we walked, which was fine till we got to a highway. Luckily that stretch didn’t last too long.
Our destination was 24th Street. At 12th Street, we thought, Just 12 more blocks, not so bad. Well 12 NYC blocks and 12 blocks in the Mission District are two very different things. By the time, we got to where we were going, we were both pooped and starving.
We had done our research beforehand, looking up places on Yelp, but couldn’t remember any of the names. So we randomly picked El Delfin.
Apparently it specializes in seafood, but we went with the enchilada/tamale combination.
Yum! I still don’t know “authentic” Mexican food from inauthentic – all I know it was good, not overly greasy/cheesy like in some other places I’ve been. Also the salsa for the nacho chips was amazing! Super spicy and tangy. And our waitress was super nice.
As for the Mission itself, we’ve heard people rave about how cool and hip it is, but I dunno. Maybe we missed the main stretch but it seemed a little scummy to me. It was strange because there’d be seedy areas, then suddenly a very chic restaurant or cafe.
And then we got on the wrong bus to go home. We ended up even farther out, at 26th Street. One lady on the bus very kindly told us the right bus to get on, and then warned us to be careful. “Lots of crazy people around here!” she called with concern from across the deserted street. Great.
We had toyed with the idea of living in the Mission, but we both agree: a big fat no. We’re too old to be hipsters.
Coffee
Another thing we noticed is that there seem to be a lot fewer Starbuck’s here. In New York they’re on every fucking block. Around our hotel there are zero.
So far we’ve tried coffee from a bunch of random places, and I haven’t had a bad cup so far. From the little place on Post with the mismatched chairs and tables, to Honey Honey, to this chi chi coffee kiosk in Union Square, everything I’ve had has been good.
I’ve realized: coffee in New York is terrible. When the best voted is McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts, you know the bar has to be set pretty low. I wonder why that is. Maybe there’s just not that tradition of gourmet coffee, aside from Starbuck’s, which I would not call gourmet. There’s the 50 cent deli coffee, which is pretty damned good; there’s fast food coffee; and then there’s Starbuck’s. There are rare instances of a cup of joe that’s in between.
More plusses to living in San Francisco. There are definitley minuses – like seemingly lots more homeless people – but I’ll get into those later.
Have you hit Crepevine (I think the only one in the city is on Castro)? It’s my favorite crepe place.
Also, for mexican Pancho Villa Taqueria (in the mission) was always good. There’s another place near it too but the name escapes me right now.
The mission is weird, it does have some cute spots, but mostly it’s too hipstery and cool for me. But look over by Dolores Park or Duboce Triangle – those are both great places to live and close to a ton of good stuff! There’s an area of Haight (I think it’s considered Upper Haight – Fillore Street runs through it) that has tons of great Indian food and has great places to live too!
no, we didn’t go to crepevine, though i think we saw one on fillmore st?
thanks for the recommendations! we weren’t sure what places in the mission to try. the fillmore street area is a definite possibility for long-term living. we both loved it around there.
Okay, I’m late to the show… but I hope someone has told you about Ti Couz in the Mission for crepes and Blue Bottle Coffee in Hayes Valley. And Delfina is a must for Italian and pizza.
hey pandax! good to “hear” from you. :) yes, ti couz and blue bottle coffee were both recommended to us. good to know about delfina!