I made my way up to San Francisco two weeks ago for a couple days armed with a list of places I’ve been wanting to try. Of course I wasn’t able to make my way to all of them, but I am happy with the one’s I was able to check out. I forgot what an awesome city SF is and how much I love walking up hills, well maybe not the hills part, but San Francisco is a beautiful city filled with lots of character , art and interesting people. Oh and lots of food….

So from my list I was able to try:

Pearls Deluxe Burgers

708 Post St

San Francisco, Ca 94109

Our first meal on Friday at 11pm was at Pearls, a small late night hamburger spot around the Nob Hill area. They have an assortment of huge burgers with loads of toppings. Benjie and I didn’t plan on gettng fancy, so we ordered the Pearls Deluxe w/ cheese and added bacon, avocado and mushrooms and an order of half onion rings and fries. We planned to share this of course and I’m glad we did.

I was impressed by the construction of the burger, all the toppings were just the right amount. The burger was juicy and flavorful and the onion rings were nice and crispy, but I was not a fan of the fries. This huge  burger +oinion rings/fries + drink = $14 which fed two! It was so good that we ate here twice on our trip. Second round, Benjie got a Turkey burger and I got a mini deluxe burger, which were good choices again. I also hear their veggie burgers and sweet potato fries are popular picks.

Ike’s Place

3506 16th St

San Francisco, CA 94114

Oh Ike’s! You did not disappoint. Lucky for us we got there right before the lunch rush on a Saturday afternoon. We probably only waited about 25min versus the usual hour waits I hear of. After we ordered from the lovely lady at the cash register outside, we had to wait probably another 10min for our bag of sandwiches to be brought out to us by Ike himself. Then it was time to find somewhere to eat them! Ike’s has no seating so the adventure starts when looking for somewhere to stuff your face.

With all the tempting sandwich options, it was hard to pick just one. Benjie wanted to share a sandwich, so I let him pick and the Superman it was- Roast Beef, Corned Beef, Pastrami, Salami, Turkey, Bacon, Ham, Avocado and Jack + all the fixings $12.21. That one sandwich was actually TWO when cut in half.

So what makes this sandwich so awesome is of course all the meat and avocado but the famous dirty sauce- Ike’s house garlic aioli sauce that is toasted on the bread and then spread on after.

Your sandwich always come accompanied by a caramel apple lollipop, which adds a nice touch after all that garlic.

Farmerbrown

25 Mason St

San Francisco, CA 94102

Next up on the list for dinner was to try farmerbrown, known for their fried chicken and atmosphere. Be prepared to wait on weekend evenings, luckily they have a nice bar for your waiting pleasure. It was very dark lit and loud with a pretty good selection of breaks playing. The drinks were good enough to keep ordering more. Once we got seated about 40min later, service was kind of on the slow side. I never knew who our actual waiter was but various people did take care of us. The menu had very limited selections, but I did not mind since I was determined to try the fried chicken. Since by this time we were starving, we ordered the sweet potato steak fries w/cayenne salt & lemon aioli for an appetizer $7.50. They were good but a bit to spicy for me. Benjie didn’t care for the aioli and wished he had ketchup instead. We both ordered the fried chicken dinner which included a breast & drumstick with hamhock greens & macaroni tillamook cheddar cheese 16.95. I also ordered a side of an angel biscuit $2.  The fried chicken was fried to perfection and juicy and the mac and cheese was really good. The angel biscuit was nothing to rave about, I wished I didn’t order it but now I know.  The chicken dinner was the perfect portion as well, yet I was too full to try dessert. I did notice that others were getting complimentary jalapeno corn bread at their table, I’m guessing we didn’t get any because we ordered an appetizer, next time I would like to try those. Overall it was a nice dinner to end our long Saturday roaming the city.

Tartine Bakery

600 Guerrero St

San Francisco, CA 94110

I was so excited to try Tartine!!! On Sunday we finally got to go since we were in the Mission District visiting Benny Gold. I went expecting a line out the door, luckily there was just a line inside, I was so excited and overwhelmed by the pastries, I forgot what I’ve been wanting to try. I kept it simple and went with the double pain au chocolat $4.75, cup of bread pudding $3.50 and an eclair $4.95.

The bread pudding was to eggy for my liking, but the peaches complimented it well. I guess I was just not use to this style of bread pudding and expected something a little more sweeter.

The double pain au chocolat was the BEST chocolate croissant I’ve ever had. The texture and sweetness was perfect. The eclair was a winner too, Benjie loved it and he’s hard to please with sweets. The vanilla custard and Valrhona chocolate glaze was delicious. I’m teasing myself typing this, I really need more Tartine in my life.

Not on the list, but stumbled upon

Q restaurant and Wine Bar

225 Clement St

San Francisco, CA 94118

Sunday was our last night in San Francisco and there was too much to do and so little time. There was a bookstore we wanted to check out that was in Inner Richmond, so after Mission District and Haight Ashbury we went on a adventure to Richmond to check out Green Apple Books (awesome used bookstore) it was pretty late by the time we left and we had no plans for dinner so I asked one of the employees if he could recommend anything good nearby and he said there was plenty, he recommended Burma SuperStar, which is known for their tea leaf salad and samusa soup. He said there would probably be a wait and if we want more of an american comfort food place to check out Q’s. So we passed by Burma and there was a wait so we continued to walk more down Clement St and found Q’s and decided to try it. It was a pretty quiet night, we were seated promptly. Benjie pointed out that they had Root Beer on draft, so that was a must order. I’m not the biggest root beer fan, but I do appreciate reaaalllly good root beer and it sure was gooooood. There was nothing that stood out to me on the menu, but they are known for the macaroni and cheese with tater tots.  I ended up ordering the Beer Battered Catfish w/ corn relish, garlic fries and chili lime aioli $13.25. Benjie went for the fried chicken with mashed potatoes w/ gravy and braised vegetables $14.40. The catfish was not bad, but nothing to rave about, the corn was good and the fries were a bit too garlicky. Benjie’s chicken was just ok as well, but the mashed potatoes tasted like the watery powder kind with a sweet gravy so that was a disappointment. Overall dinner was just average. We also ordered a dessert, a traditional apple crisp a la mode, which was satisfying.

Farm:table

754 Post St

San Francisco, CA 94109

Farm:table is a cute tiny cafe that specializes in coffee and homemade breakfast using fresh and local ingredients. It was walking distance from our hotel and we passed it by on Monday when we were leaving, so I wanted to give it a try since I’ve heard a lot of good things about the two owners and their small business. I walked into an extremely small room which I think only had one wood table of communal seating and there was a counter to order with a chalkboard above with the coffee listings. The menu changes every day and is available on their website and via twitter. Next to the counter there is a little table with different pastries that you can self serve. I definitely wanted to try a couple and was indecisive on what to try. I went for the almond banana coconut babycake and carrot cupcake with mascarpone frosting. Both were moist and rich, but maybe a bit too oily, but you can tell everything was very fresh and not overly sweet. I would love to try more of their baked goods. I also ordered a latte, which was very satisfying and lived up to the hype. I would defiantly go back, if I was in the area again.