Road Trip!

DB takes reservations: Reservations

As far as schlepping, can you spell 38-Geary :slight_smile:

I’ve read nothing but great stuff on it.

Yes, Dragon Beaux is definitely on my list. “Schlepping”? Where is it?

Love this post @Bookwich. SLO is edging to the top of the list. :blush:

But now I’m torn about which route to take! Maybe we could do 101 part of the way then do a stretch on Hwy 1? I’m also starting to wake up about something else… high-up, winding roads? I can tell you’re a gal who wouldn’t be bothered by this. But I don’t do well with winding, twisty (bad experience as a child). How dangerous is it? Because it won’t be beautiful if my husband has to concentrate on not crashing and his wife’s palms are sweaty and her knuckles are white.

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It’s on Geary at 21st St. SF has numbered avenues in one part of town and numbered streets in another. The Mission District has the #d streets

The 38 Geary is a city bus that runs from the Embarcadero (all the way downtown) almost to the ocean. And to gild the lily at the Embarcadero is the Ferry Building with Hog Island Oysters and other food delights :slight_smile:

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i had another great meal at liholiho yacht club recently, lots of really creative seafood dishes to share and large meat dishes for the man. and because hawaiian food is big in sf.
hog island or swan, because oysters
dragon beaux, pork belly
la ciccia, oyster stew and spaghetti with bottarga
ppq, dungeness and garlic noodles

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Some of the beautiful parts of Hwy 1 are pretty high-up and winding (Big Sur area in particular), but the scenery is spectacular. I like SLO, but it’s pretty hard to beat the Monterey Peninsula for the combo of beauty and (as stated pretty accurately by @beefnoguy above), decent mid-tier restaurants. Here’s a link to my Monterey post from a couple of years ago – I doubt much has changed:
http://foodtalkcentral.com/t/a-week-in-monterey/3596

For San Francisco, we love Sam’s Grill, a very old-school place with waiters that came with the building. Simple fresh-fish preps. It’s in the financial district, and only open Mon–Fri. For a similar place that’s also open Sat. night (but good luck getting a table), there’s Tadich Grill, which is even older. And yes, definitely Ferry Plaza on Saturday morning. My vote is for crabcakes or breakfast at the Hayes Street Grill stand, or a grilled cheese from Cowgirl Creamery. My daughter loves the porchetta at Roli Roti. Go early to avoid the crowds.

Also, we like (and I may get laughed at for this) Brandy Ho’s, up off Kearny & Pacific at the edge of Chinatown. A bit of a dive, but good food. We go for the smoked ham w/garlic, and the onion pancakes. In fact, I’ve just defrosted a bag of the smoked ham and garlic from a previous trip, and that’s lunch today. The ham is really smoky. We’ll see how it survived the freezer.

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Dragon Beaux, like other Koi Palace-related properties, takes reservations but (as they sort of warn you on their web site) that doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t have a long wait.

Yank Sing honors reservations by having a table ready.

That pork belly is so, so great.

At Hog Island in the Ferry Building, it was a nice day last May and we sat on the back patio enjoying all the views. And slurped oysters and drank sparkling rose’. Mmm.

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Curious how they do that. Do they tell customers that they have to leave?

Oh yeah! I remember that report. :yum:

Since we’ve commenced the SF planning of the trip - what area should we stay in for maximum sightseeing and eating benefit? Would you do AirBnb or hotel? I’m leaning toward AirBnb.

Oh boy. If it rains I will probably have a stroke!

For me, Dragon Beaux is more of a schlep than going to Koi Palace in Pleasanton, but Yank Sing is better and a block from a BART station.

I used to drive from Berkeley to the Richmond fairly often, but since Facebook, Google, et al. expanded the Bay Bridge rush hour to 18 hours a day seven days a week, forget it.

Which is two blocks from the Rincon Yank Sing.

Well, she won’t be coming across the Bay Bridge. I don’t even know where Pleasanton is. Just not an East Bay kinda gal, I guess.

How does any restaurant honor reservations? They don’t overbook and they hold empty tables for customers with reservations.

That’s what “reservation” means. It doesn’t mean “in line ahead of walk-ins, maybe, if we can be bothered.”

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If you are white-knuckler, and I think you may be. I suggest you plan your route so that the twisty spectacular portions of HWY 1 are as you trek North. The passenger (TheCookie) will be on the mountain side rather than the plunging into the ocean side of the road.

I “enjoy” driving :slight_smile:, and my dw freaks when the precipice is on “her” side as we negotiate certain portions of the wonderful dramatic highway 1.

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Yes, dear.

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Pleasanton is kind of like Rosemead.

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At least I’ve heard of Pleasanton :slight_smile:

For Dragon Beaux, go there about 30+ mins before doors open and you’ll get seated. Might be better to Uber over unless you find parking meters that have more than 2 hour limits.

In SF, b.Patisserie is quite excellent for French style desserts, kouign amann and the ilk. Owner Belinda Leong was a former pastry chef at Gary Danko, worked at 3 star Manresa, and did some time in the kitchen of Noma. She also does some Asian/Cantonese slight twists to the desserts; a while ago she did a very upscale version of the pineapple bun, but die hard purists said it was a farce and it looked far more European than Cantonese (lol), and you get some French twists of a classic chestnut maron but instead of chestnut it’s peanut butter and jam. It’s about 12 mins walk if you park by SF Japantown, and you will head towards Fillmore street (lots of nice shops to browse) and will pass by Woodhouse Fish (seafood/lobster rolls) and some very quaint looking cafes and brunch places, and SPQR before making a left on California street to get to the the patisserie. Nice local neighborhood strip on that side of Fillmore.

Hayes Valley might be fun to explore as well. On that street is True Sake (the nation’s first ever dedicated sake shop, drop in to take a look if you are in the area…pick up something and pay corkage at a restaurant to try instead of wine for fun), and nearby you have Souvla (tasty greek lamb / beef gyros, salad, greek fries), hipster coffee Ritual, Smitten liquid nitrogen ice cream, hipster Blue Bottle coffee, Arlequin Wine Merchant, a Mano (a neighborhood walk in Cal Italian place, very good pastas, though the pizzas are just average), Doppio Zero (VPN certified pizza and other pasta, but to me this is overall very average), Salt & Straw (you have that at Larchmont/LA so no point going there for SF) and some somewhat pricey clothing and shoe stores. And there’s Monsieur Benjamin, very nice French style place that’s more upscale but great quality and very satisfying.

Yank Sing serves more dated classics that cater more towards non Cantonese/non Chinese speakers, maybe better service, but the prices are very high. Dragon Beaux isn’t cheap but you get more modern interpretations of dim sum (some fusion touches) in addition to the classics…perhaps not the tip top best of all service, but is more in line with Hong Kong, and you get a variety of premium Chinese tea to choose from. I’m not clear on where Dragon Beaux stands with the local Cantonese community up here, but for sure they are not so enamored with Yank Sing (a lot of it due to the pricing and lack of variety/value).

Hmmm if you like Cantonese roasties, maybe drop in to Ming Kee (call ahead to make sure they are open) and get a rice plate for lunch? Literally eating with local Cantonese and Toishanese Cantonese in the area and construction worker types, super blue collar. Sit down to order from waitress (menu is under the glass cover on the table) Just get BBQ pork/char siu and soy sauce chicken rice plate (or you can order individual plates of some of their roastes a la carte, the menu will mention it), it will hit the spot so good (cash only).

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