Trip Review: San Francisco Part 2

This is really going to be about food.  Because that's what we did in San Francisco.  Well, that and run races.  But the race part I already covered. So here's the "we ate a ton of stuff" post.

After the race we took the express shuttle back to the hotel where I took a quick shower and then we headed out to lunch.  Back across the street to the Ferry Market Building for some burgers and fries at Gott's.

I also had a nice red ale, since beer is my favorite post-race refreshment.  Thatbaby got a grilled cheese, while both Thatboy and I got big juicy burgers.  Mine had Point Reyes blue cheese.  His had bacon and American cheese.  We all shared the sweet potato fries. 

I should also point out that at some point we grabbed some cheese from Cowgirl Creamery (Mt. Tam - my fave) and some bread from Acme Bread.  They became our late night snacks in the room. Seriously, you can get anything from the Ferry Market Building.

Later that night we headed to La Mar Cebicheria.  This is one of those restaurants we could never get the inlaws to eat at.  Just not adventurous enough.  Thatboy and I, however, love Peruvian food.  Our first night in town, Thatboy suggested we grab a cocktail before heading to dinner, which we did at the hotel bar.  Thatbaby thought the idea of a cocktail was a good one, especially when we let him have his first shirley temple.  So as soon as we sat down at La Mar he asked for a cocktail.  Luckily they had some great non-alcoholic specialties our little guy could enjoy.

Dinner was amazing.  One of the highlights of the trip.  I had a classic Peruvian dish - lomo saltado.  The meat was so tender and flavorful, and as Thatboy and I both agreed, the sauces made our dishes.  Savory, perfectly spiced, and complementary.

Thatbaby had a handheld version of my dish.  Lomo saltado empanadas.  He actually was a bigger fan of the rice - that happens.  But once he had a bite of the empanadas he thought they were pretty good too. 

Thatboy had the arroz norteno which had mussels, clams, scallops, squid, and octopus is a spicy picante sauce.  Even thinking about it now, over a week later, makes his mouth water.  Thatbaby proved once again that he's a fan of squid and octopus.  

After dinner we hopped on a trolley over to Ghiradelli Square.  We have Ghiradelli here in San Diego, but there's something about visiting the San Francisco location we thought Thatbaby would enjoy.

We were right.  He enjoyed every last bit of that ice cream.  We all shared a Sunday, because between his new found love of cocktails and ice cream on a daily basis, we had to draw the line somewhere.  But pretty far out there, because it is a vacation after all.

Monday morning we headed to Dottie's True Blue Cafe.  We never get to eat breakfast in San Francisco, so this was a real treat.  We decided to go on Monday because I heard the lines are outrageous, and I thought we'd have a shorter wait on a weekday.  We did. We were seated almost immediately.  But by the time we left, the line was wrapped around the block.

Thatbaby overheard us talking about one of the specials of the day - chocolate coconut muffins.  The mere word "muffins" had his little ears perk up.  They're one of his favorite breakfast treats.  He knew exactly what he wanted.  The muffin was huge.  The kid didn't even finish half of it.  But the chocolate coconut balance was perfect.  Not too much of either.

As you can see, Thatboy ordered a small breakfast.  The Open Road comes with 2 eggs, bacon, potatoes, and 2 pancakes.  Thatbaby helped with the bacon. 

Personally, I think I got the winner of the meal.  It was a daily special - a fresh baked biscuit with a fried egg, provolone, prosciutto, and avocado.  Yeah, there were potatoes and fruit that came with it, but I didn't even get to them. The flakey, buttery, biscuit, the salty meat, the creamy avocado, and CHEESE! Thatbaby helped me with my prosciutto too.

So the moral of this story?  If you want to eat your way through a city, San Francisco is a pretty good one to do it in.