The Sweet Side of San Francisco

Sugar junkie that I am, most of my trip was spent finding as many sweets as I could in San Francisco. Some people visit the city to indulge their inner tech geek, some for the non-smog-filled air and scenic views, and others simply want to reap the benefits of fresh, organic vegetables with some locally caught fish. Good for them, but my trip - sans one Mission-style burrito - was solely sugar-focused. Left to wander on my own, I was a sugar fiend on a mission.

Now without further ado, here's a breakdown of my findings, including an unexpected favorite at the end.

Ideal Heat Stroke Prevention

 

Now this is what I'm talking about. San Francisco is a nature-lover's city, blooming with flowers and greens everywhere you look - that is, if you can see past the peak of the hills. Quality ice cream on a sunny day in the park was exactly what the Sugar Doctor recommended.

After walking two miles in 90 degree weather in a show of stubborness against public transportation, the thought of ice cream with Stephanie of Lick my Spoon was an oasis beckoning to me. From the no-frills, down to earth grocery store Bi-Rite Creamery, to the more refined Humphry Slocombe, you can't go too wrong with any of the flavors offered there.

Sugary Tracks:  Bi-Rite Creamery (Dizzying rainbow of flavors,with a line around the corner to match), Humphrey Slocombe (I'd like to wake up everyday to a bowl of "Secret Breakfast" (pictured) of Cornflakes and Bourbon. Word to the wise, skip the DuckFat Pecan Pie. It sounds better than it tasted.), Ciao Bella Gelato (Ferry Building)


Mission Impossible: Cupcakes



In a city with about a third of the population of Manhattan, I shouldn't have been surprised to find that the saturation of cupcakeries reflected this. Fine, point taken. But I was also approaching it with New York expectations of eccentricity and food experimentation. I hunted near and far in San Francisco for signature cupcakes, but every cupcake I had was just "okay". Maybe I'd seen one Sea Salted Chocolate Cupcake too many in my life, but I soon gave up my passionate pursuit of this particular quest, partly because I was so distracted by other stronger desserts.

Sugary Tracks:  Miette (didn't try their famous Gingerbread, but the Old-Fashioned (pictured), was an impressive sink-and-melt-in-your-mouth chocolately morsel), Love at First Bite (Berkeley), Kara's Cupcakes, Arlequin (Ferry Building Farmer's Market; more adventurous flavors)


The Cutest Type of Cookie



French macarons are some of my favorite pocket-sized treats. Small enough for a satisfying sugar kick in the middle of the day, but deliciate enough to be too frustrating for this home baker. Imagine my delight when I realized that where San Francisco fell short in the cupcake division, French macarons were scattered throughout the city like colorful buttons of sugary pick-me-ups. The price and quality of these tiny "cookies", and I use the term loosely, more than made up for any other shortcomings.

Sugary Tracks: Paulette Macarons (Sweet Wedding Almond (pictured) is as adorable as its name), Miette (Pistachio macarons are NOT green, but naturally colored and filled with cloudlike Swiss buttercream), Schoggi (Swiss chocolates, but pretty decent macarons too)

Culture Crash Course in Chinatown



As soon as I heard about it, I knew I couldn't leave without visiting Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. And apparently neither could two tour groups before me, nor the three coming up the hidden alleyway after me. I don't blame them, there's a certain allure to the secrecy of this place, and the smiling Chinese senior waiting to welcome you with a plate of fresh-off-the-press samples.

Surprisingly, the flat disc versions that haven't been pressed into the familiar folded nests for fortunes bring more focus onto the food item itself. There's an addictive power to these snacks that stems from their satisfying crunch and a strong vanilla flavor. My mind was boggled by a bag of chocolate-vanilla-strawberry fortune cookies.



Who knew you could do so much with these simple snacks? Most of us only eat these things at the end of every Chinese restaurant meal because we're eager to see words of wisdom or confusion are inside. Not here though; be prepared to fess up some change to include your own fortune, and even to take a photo inside the factory.



If you think you know egg custard tarts, you haven't tried the ones at Golden Gate Bakery. With that kind of unimaginative name, you don't go in expecting much, or even know what to get. There's no question about it: get the egg custard tarts. Ignore the grouchy ladies and the nonexistent decorations, and try to spot the fresh baked goods. When I went, I spied a tray of them balanced precariously on top of a tower of Chinese newspapers.



These tarts are definitely for those who prefer more custard filling. There's a visibly skewed balance of mostly soft, warm, eggy custard barely cupped by flaky puff pastry crust instead of the more common butter crust. A word of advice is to eat them on the spot, instead of saving a few for later like I did. Since they're more fragile, they don't keep well; the taste turns sickly sweet and the crust soggy and misshapen after a few hours.Which means, you might have the oh-so-horrific task of going back to get more the next morning.


The Expensive, the Famous, the Over-hyped




I had pretty high hopes for this James Beard Foundation recognized bakery. But Tartine's "famous" bread pudding, warmed up or chilled through, and carefully analyzed, was unremarkable at best and a letdown in reality.

Maybe I should've tried a buttery croissant or their abundant array of Valrhona chocolate desserts, but the staff's unenthusiastic responses didn't exactly convince me to shell out more money when there are so many other tempting places nearby. Bi-Rite is literally around the corner. Perhaps I just came on an off day, but I left unimpressed.

Hot Enough to Play for the Other Team



Hot cookie, if you were a man, you'd have the hearts of every man and woman walking down the Castro. You've even won over this cookie skeptic. And I'm not even talking about your NSFW shaped cookies either, though those are definitely amusing. I'm talking about the lethally delicious Snickerdoodle.



Snickerdoodles are not my cookie of choice, but I heard great things about the ones here. So I bought one. And I took a bite. And then another. And suddenly, even after a filling lunch and extensive cupcake tasting with cupcake blogger Chockylit, somehow only crumbs remained at the the bottom of my paper bag. I was as shocked by how quickly I'd devoured it as I was by how delicious and worth the extra calories. The toffee and mini chocolate chip ones did not disappoint either, but my heart had already been stolen by the Snickerdoodle.

Without resorting to the regular tactics of overusing butter or underbaking, the cookies here are large discs of pure edible euphoria.  Hot Cookie was my unexpected, overarching favorite out of my trip to San Francisco, enough so that this was the only place I returned to grab a momento from before I left for my return flight to NYC.

Of course, there is so much more that I haven't covered. I do have to leave some territories left unconquered for my next trip, after all. But for a casual day trip of sweets, you can't go wrong with the Ferry building or the Mission, and also the Castro. If anyone wants a specific dessert walking path, I can guide you along what I did for maximum tasting without going overboard. So, with this list and Blue Bottle coffee in hand, go tackle these sweets!

Each link either goes to a photo I took of the dessert, or the company website.Please click on them to see what dessert I'm referring to. Full set of photos can be found by clicking here. Please leave feedback, questions, and concerns about my health in the comments below!

Weekend Re-cap, Take I

Friday J'10

I got a surprise half day when the office shut down around 3pm, just in time to meet up with an old internet friend. We sat and chatted at the City Bakery, home of the Pretzel Croissant. My rule of thumb is that a food has gotta be good if it has its own web page full of devoted followers.















I wish it looked this good IRL.

Then we headed to White Castle, a place I've been wanting to try since I saw Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. I already heard from many sources that it wasn't all that great, but I wanted to try to mediocrity of it for myself as a H&K fan, darn it. For $0.69, I'll get over it.

Next up, Garrett's Popcorn's NYC location right by Penn Station. I'm biased because a friend works there, but seriously as a non-popcorn lover I still found myself compulsively snacking on my bag of caramel popcorn all the way home. Nutrition? P'shaw!

Home for a short reprise, and then it was off to Chickpea for some spinach and broccoli baked falafel (Haha, attempt to be healthy) and Bereket Turkish Kebab House for cheap Indian food with my Meetup group. The night wrapped up wonderfully with a midnight screening of Casablanca, which I'd never seen before.


Saturday J'11

Today's plans were a bit last minute, but turned out okay after all. I had brunch at The Smith, known for sharing the same owners as Jane. So, one of these days I should try the infamous french toast. That day though, I was craving one of their signature dishes, the Poached Egg with Spinach and Caramelized Onions on Potato Waffle. Since it was Saturday brunch, the $13 price tag didn't include a drink or anything, but just the item a la carte.

That afternoon was spent wandering around the newly opened Governors Island. It used to be a military base, and the buildings reflect that past. There is Fort Jay, a hospital, barracks, and even Castle Williams. The center of the island is a gigantic hill, and there are picnic areas. It's a strangely peaceful island.

The night events were fun, sans the short downpour and my falling down a flight of stairs. I hear black and blue all over is easy to match with at least.


Sunday J'12

I was a busy bee on Sunday! Haha, that kind of works, since Melissa means "Honey Bee". Okay, no more lame jokes.

So a cucumber walks into a bar....



Just kidding.

I met up with a friend to go to the Target High Line Street Festival. According to the website, this event "will feature internationally-acclaimed artists, inflatable sculptures, cowboys, story-tellers, marching bands, swing bands, salsa bands (some on a roof-top stage), and an exciting array of hands-on activities including a special Target “Hi from the High Line!” photo postcard experience for kids of all ages. While there, it will be hard to miss the World’s Largest Lemonade Stand"











Cowboys and yuppies and amoebae, oh my!

It was fun strolling along the newly opened High Line. We were dying in the heat, but luckily there were many glasses of lemonade and ice cold watermelon to the rescue! There were also hats, silkscreened T-shirts, postcards, balloon amoebae (see above), and other fun booths. Target had their act together.

Actually, before we headed to the festival, we made a quick pit stop at Chelsea Market. I've been dying to check out Fat Witch, Sarabeth's, Eleni's Cookies, and L'arte del Gelato for a long time. We ended up getting rainbow cookies from a bakery that I don't remember, sampling Fat Witch's brownies, and getting a small cup of Gianduia and Dolce di Latte gelato. My verdict is that while these establishments are great to stop by if you're in the area, I'll be sticking to my staples in the East Village. I've yet to try anything that can pull me away from Momofuku Milk Bar.











Puppycake? Yes ma'am.

We left around 3:30pm to go catch a little of the Bastille Day celebrations on 60th street. This was more like a standard street fair, which means it was mostly food. We got a tasteless and "hole-y" nutella crepe from Bar Brenton and an equally lacking flag-colored white chocolate macaron at The Macaron Cafe. Should've opted for the Payard pastries that everyone else was carrying around.











At least you LOOK pretty!

A quick stop to Dylan's Candy Bar to wrap up a day of sweets, and to use their bathrooms to change for dinner. Nothing says class like changing into an evening gown in a candy store! Mm, there's nowhere else I'd rather be. Except maybe a chocolate bath.

So why did I change at all? Because I was going to Aquavit for Restaurant Week! My companion and I ended up not doing the RW menu after all. We opted for the Pre-Fixe menu, found here. Reviews will come later, but for now feel free to just peruse the menu. At night, I saw Cheri at the Paris theater. On a side note, there's a Cooking Mama game for the iPhone. Want!


Monday J'13

Tonight I just went to see How Green was my Valley at Bryant Park with some friends. Nothing too special happened, but it's funny how enjoyable a night can be with just a blanket, some pizza, and Mister Softee sprinkles ice cream. Click here to find out more about the HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival.