Whew, two and a half days in San Francisco and a whole lot of eating! After a lazy start to the day we finally arrived at Metro Crepes at 11:45am or so, just beating the office crowd that quickly formed a line behind us. I enjoyed the Paris crepe (ham and Jarlsberg cheese, although I’m still questioning Jarlsberg cheese in a 'Paris' crepe) while KC ordered the Rome (chicken, romaine, parmesan, and Caesar dressing). The crepes were decent and service fast, but nothing remarkable either. Seating was in the general indoor courtyard for the building with marbled floors and dramatic high marbled walls with ivy growing from floor to ceiling.
Fog City News:
After a quick lunch we walked down to the bus stop and stumbled across a newsstand / store called Fog City News that carried chocolates from around the world. I kind of felt like Charlie stumbling into a Wonka store, but instead of Wonka bars, it was exquisite chocolates from Scharffen Berger and Valrhona. I picked out a Vosges Red Fire bar (ancho and chipotle chili peppers, ceylon cinnamon and dark chocolate), plus a Valrhona chocolate bar which our sales person pointed out was a limited addition chocolate and therefore carried a higher price tag. KC chose a Hachez strawberry and pepper. We’re still waiting like Charlie to get home before we open our treats.
Boudin:
The next stop was Boudin bakery at Fisherman’s wharf, origin of San Francisco sourdough. Bakers stand at the window shaping and kneading pillowy dough balls enticing tourists with their displays of turtle and lobster shaped breads. KC and I paid for the $3 Boudin museum tour, which starts off with a brief history of San Francisco and bread making, continuing onto a platform where you can look down on the bread making process and the mother vault containing the sour starter, that has been maintained daily since the start of Boudin’s 150 year history, that goes into their bread and finally a tasting room. The tasting included their asiago cheese, sourdough, and raisin bread. There was also Californian olive oil, blackberry balsamic vinegar and strawberry jam for tasting as well. KC liked the blackberry balsamic vinegar, but I think it was a little too sweet and not quite vinegary enough for my taste.
Ghirardelli:
Fisherman’s wharf is really the tourist area of SF. Souvenir shops line the street and there are Ghirardelli chocolates to be found in every single one of them. KC and I walked along Fisherman’s wharf and up to Ghirardelli square where he recalls having to wait an hour and a half to get into Ghirardelli for a sundae on a previous visit. There wasn’t a wait this time (it was a wet Friday afternoon) and we were able to order a specialty sundae right away; vanilla ice cream with hot fudge and caramel syrup, sweet and sinfully good.
Ozumo:
After a hard day of eating we met up with a few friends for dinner at Ozumo, adjacent to the Harbor Court Hotel where NG and L were staying. Ozumo has a large bar and lounge area in front with the restaurant extending back into a quieter formal dining area. I read somewhere that they designed the restaurant to resemble a Japanese tea garden. I love the understated simplicity of Japanese design, natural wood, simple elegant floral arrangements, harmonious greens and whites. Ozumo has the most extensive sake menu I have seen anywhere, comparable to many restaurant’s wine lists. We had to wait for about 30 minutes after our reservation time, but management was kind enough to send us drinks on the house. Once seated, our server arrived with a little too much attitude for our liking. I understand trying to be helpful, and the possibility that there are people out there with a fear of Japanese cuisine, but she basically told us what we should order and how we should order and the recommendation was that once we had ordered she would order more for us to fill in the gaps. She emphasized that everything was ‘family style’ meant for sharing. Well, the food was great but 3 small chicken skewers for $17 isn’t exactly divisible amongst a family. I think what she meant was that the food was izakaya style with family style portion prices. (Note: For good izakaya at reasonable prices I like Guu in Vancouver or Kenka in NYC). I ordered one of my favorite items black cod in a miso sauce. The cod was perfectly cooked, buttery soft interior with slightly crunchy caramelized exterior, but once again pricey for the portion size. We didn’t really eat a full meal since we had been munching all day, but I would expect a regular dinner would run about $100 per person.
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