A Weekend in San Francisco

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*PHOTOS TO COME*

In May, I took a quick weekend trip to San Francisco with my brother and sister. My sister had landed an internship at Google so we decided to drop her off and make a short weekend trip out of it.

With only ~2 days in San Francisco, I tried to make the most of it by mapping out a general idea of what to do.

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I started off with listing off the things we absolutely had to get done like moving my sister into her new apartment and feeding my friend's cat. Next, I listed off all the eateries I wanted to hit up.

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On Friday, we landed at 11:00PM due to flight delays. We decided to go to In-n-Out Burgers, because we were hungry, we knew it was still open, and we really just wanted In-n-Out. We ended up at the In-n-Out Burgers in Daly City, because it is situated between SFO Airport and San Francisco. 

In-n-Out Daly City: 260 Washington St, Daly City, CA 94015

 

Since we were coming from New York we had a 3 hour jet lag, and ended up waking up fairly early both days. Luckily this ended up working out in our favor, because most places in San Francisco open fairly early.

On Saturday, after feeding my friend's cat, I walked over to Mr. Holmes' Bakehouse.

Mr. Holmes' Bakehouse: 1042 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA 94109

 

I saw a line starting to form outside and figured it was just because the bakery was popular. After 10 minutes, I realized the line wasn't moving and a large queue started to form up behind me and began to wrap around the corner. At that moment, someone from inside the Bakehouse came out and announced that there were 2 lines. The line on the left was for people who wanted "cruffins". The line on the right was for everyone else. I immediately whipped out my phone and Googled "cruffins". Turns out cruffins were San Francisco's latest food craze. Cruffins are croissant muffins. It was San Francisco's answer to the cronut. I realized I was fairly close to the front of the line already so I decided to continue waiting in line.  

In order to get the box you needed to order 6 pastries. I already had my maximum allowed 2 cruffins, so in addition I also purchased the Matcha Croissant, the California Croissant (sushi roll in a croissant), the Apple Pie Pull-Apart, and the Raspberry Hibiscus Kouign Amann.

When I returned to the hotel, my siblings and I decided to dive into the cruffin. Conceptually, it wasn't the most original idea, but the bake and taste was flawless. The texture was flaky and crunchy and not too sweet. The flavor this time around was salted caramel, topped with a shortbread cookie. 

After our healthy breakfast, my siblings and I embarked on a journey to grab brunch. My friend Garrick had recommended a Hawaiian spot called 'aina. SF is his home city and I generally just trust all his food recommendations.

a'ina: 900 22nd St, San Francisco, CA 94107

 

'aina is a Hawaiian eatery located in Dogpatch, known for its brunch. The restaurant opens at 9:00AM, but I heard that it was popular and had long queues. We decided to head over early in hopes of not having to wait too long. When we got there I put our name down with the hostess and she informed us that the wait was going to be 1 hr and 30 mins. Luckily we had planned it out in advance and had time to spare. The hostess advised us to stay nearby in case we were called earlier. Thankfully we took her advice, because we were called up within 30 minutes for bar seating. I would actually recommend the bar seating, because you get a great view of the whole restaurant and you get to peek into the kitchen and watch as the chefs prep the food. 

Here is what we ate: *The ingredients are locally sourced so the menu is constantly changing based on local and seasonal produce.

  • Hibiscus Lemonade: Do Not Recommend - It didn't have much taste to it, tasted diluted. I'm not sure if it had anything to do with getting the last serving from the pitcher though. 
  • Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice: Recommend - It was definitely freshly squeezed and delicious.
  • Malasadas: Recommend - Delicious. The guava custard was the perfect flavor and amount of sweetness.
  • Spam Musubi "Ssam Style": Recommend - This might disappoint you if you're expecting the typical sort of spam musubi. 
  • Smoked Honshimeji & King Oyster Mushrooms: Recommend - My siblings all agreed this was the best dish. 
  • Kalua Pork Belly: Recommend - My sister loved the pork belly, which surprised me because she is not typically one to enjoy fatty meats. 
  • Kiawe Smoked MacFarland Spring Trout: Recommend - My brother enjoyed this dish, but he said it was more of a salad than anything else. The best part was the Taro Sweet Bread that came with the dish. 

After brunch, my siblings and I trekked out to drop my sister's luggage off at her apartment in San Carlos. After we returned to San Francisco, my brother really wanted to bring my sister to Musee Mecanique. On our way we picked up my friend Eric who was in town for Google I/O. 

Musee Mecanique: 45 Sausalito - San Francisco Pier 41, San Francisco, CA 94133

 

Musee Mecanique is one of the world's largest privately owned collection off coin-operated mechanical arcade machines. My favorite machine is called "Song of the Praire". I don't want to spoil anything, go check it out.

After running out of quarters, we decided to walk the pier and look at the sea lions and before we knew it, it was time for dinner! We had invited my sister's new roommates out to dinner and we were meeting them at Udon Mugizo in Japan Town.

Udon Mugizo: 1581 Webster Street #217, San Francisco, CA 94115

 

Last time I was in SF, one of my local friends had recommended Udon Mugizo to me. My friend sold me on it after telling me that the noodles were made in-store. The menu is extensive and the portions themselves are quite large. During our last visit, my boyfriend got a Carbonara Fried Chicken udon, which was surprisingly good. He still craves it. 

After the meal, I brought them to a kiosk in the same mall called Chocolate Chair. Chocolate Chair specializes in their "Dragon Breath", which is basically cereal infused with liquid nitrogen, so that when you bite into it, you let out a blast of smoke. I wish I saved the video we took. Definitely worth a try!

Afterwards, we needed a proper dessert. We then made our way downtown to Bi-Rite Creamery, which sits on the edge of Dolores Park.

Bi-Rite Creamery: 3692 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110

 

Unfortunately, we had already missed most of the sunset, but the delicious ice cream made up for it. I was already stuffed at this point, but I couldn't resist getting a scoop. The flavors are always changing, and at the time we went, they had a chamomile tea flavor. The chamomile taste was pretty strong, but it was actually very good. The more I had, the more I liked it. If you ever go to Bi-Rite, I would recommend stepping out of your comfort zone and trying a new flavor. Regardless you'll enjoy whatever flavor you pick. I would also recommend going earlier in the day so you can enjoy your ice cream in Dolores Park. 

Sunday was departure day. It also happen to be the day of the Bay to Breakers. As a New Yorker, the closest thing I can compare Bay to Breakers to is SantaCon. People dress up in costumes (or nothing at all) and go bar hopping starting at 8:00AM. It is actually a footrace, but it seemed like most participants were just in it for the alcohol. This caused a lot of traffic and barricades cut off a lot of the main roads. Consequently, we couldn't rely on Lyft to get around and instead opted for walking around. 

We started off our day early and walked over to Brenda's French Soul Food. This is a spot I have always hit up on my SF trips. 

Brenda's French Soul Food: 652 Polk St, San Francisco, CA 94102

 

We enjoyed their beignets and I got my usual order of Crispy Pork Belly which always comes on a bed of cheesy grits. Delicious.

After fueling up, we headed South to check out the Bay to Breakers. Unsure of what we could do in our remaining time, I suggested we go to check out the Painted Ladies. I was keeping track of our trek via Google Maps when I noticed that directly north of us was Japan Town. My brother had mentioned wanting to return to Japan Town to buy some snacks so I redirected us. 

It was an uphill struggle, but it felt good to walk off some of that food. We hit up Ninyja Market for some drinks and snacks for the flight and bought some Kit Kats at a specialty snack store for our friends. I wanted to stop by Benkyodo Co and try out some of the homemade mochi, but I didn't realize it was closed on Sundays. I would recommend people who end up in the area to grab some though. You should go early, because they sell out of certain ones and they also close at 5:00PM. 

After our detour, we resumed our original trek and set out to see the Painted Ladies. The trek alone was a worthwhile endeavor. The flowers and trees were all in bloom and it was sunny and the skies were clear. Everything seemed vibrant. Unfortunately, Alamo Square was under renovation so I didn't get to sit on the grassy hills and enjoy the view like I had pictured in my head, but it was still a worthwhile visit. After seeing the Painted Ladies and exploring the surrounding area, I concluded that all the architecture in the area was unique, different, and worth seeing; not just the Painted Ladies in particular.

However brief, the trip to San Francisco was action packed. I'm excited to head back in March 2018!