Bakery Days

October 2011 . Half Moon Bay

“You came into my life at a difficult time…”

I spent a beautiful 3-day trip to Half Moon Bay this past weekend for a dear friend’s wedding. As you can see by the picturesque scenery above of Venice Beach (no, not famous THE Venice Beach of Southern California ), the weather was perfect, the beach peaceful and perfect for enjoying fromage and a baguette, and the weekend–absolutely marvelous. I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend!

July 2011 . Tartine To-Go

“I hope you don’t mind that we’re eating so late.”

Of course we didn’t mind. This past weekend with the ladies was filled with food and trips down memory lane (and boutique shopping!) It started off with Cotogna, then pizza at Pizziaolo, then Tartine Bakery, then a home cooked meal, then Cafe Gratitude, then coffee at Remedy, then dinner at my favorite Oakland Chinatown hole-in-the-wall, and THEN ice cream from Bi-Rite Creamery. It was a weekend of pure heavenly goodness–and I hope ya’ll had a lovely one as well!

October 2011 . Umami Burger

“Have you ever eaten at a restaurant that served bad food?”

We were on a stroll to dinner. I thought about Mr. T’s question, and the answer is not in San Francisco. In this city, it’s tough for a restaurant to survive if they serve mediocre food. Which is why I’m pretty blessed to live in a city and neighborhood with so many excellent restaurants within walking distance. Tonight Mr. T and I were on our way to Umami Burger Union. We had been to the ones in Southern California (I went to Umami Los Feliz), and really enjoyed the burgers there, so we thought we’d do a little taste test comparison.

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July 2011 . Leopold's Gasthaus

“Those are bitters and they are great after eating a large, heavy meal.”

Happy oktoberfest! I wanted to celebrate this weekend, but things came up, and then tickets were sold out. So instead I headed over to my neighborhood German restaurant, Leopold’s Gasthaus where it was full of merriment. Upon entering, we were greeted warmly by the host and hostess–so warmly that it almost seemed that they actually knew me, which felt nice. The wait was about 20 minutes so we moseyed over to the bar where we both ordered Spaten’s Oktoberfest–0.3L for myself and 0.5L for M. I tried to convince M into getting das boot, but he didn’t and countered with a suggestion that I get one. But I was happy with my 0.3L “das baby boot.” We then were seated and ordered an starter dish of Crisp Flatbread (with caramelized onion, speck, Gruyère cheese and arugula) and rounded out our meal with Wiener Schnitzel (and warm potato-escarole salad and lingonberry sauce) for myself and Paprika Beef Goulash with butter spätzle and green salad for M. Everything was so delicious and so worthy of a repeat visit.

Leopold’s Gasthaus
2400 Polk Street
San Francisco, California 94109
www.leopoldssf.com

November 2010 . Roasted Cauliflower

Delfina is one of my favorite pizza restaurants in San Francisco. Their standard pizzas never disapoint and their nightly specials have always made my taste buds delight. I always have a dilemma deciding what pizza to order–so I end up ordering multiples! But as divine as their pizzas are, I’m not here to write about that. No, tonight I’m writing about their appetizer special–roasted red pepper cauliflower. » Read the rest of this entry «