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We had a rare, non-rainy day yesterday, so we took advantage of it to do a couple stairway walks in San Francisco, using Adah Bakalinsky's wonderful book Stairway Walks in San Francisco. San Francisco is a city of hills, and there are an astonishing number of public stairways. Some are old, some are new, some are beautiful, some are utilitarian. We walked up the Joy Street stairway in Bernal Heights, called a street for the sake of the dozen charming houses off of it to have addresses, but it's always been just a stairway.
I love that doing these walks takes us into neighborhoods we would otherwise be oblivious to. Slowly I'm gaining a better sense of the city. There is so much interesting architecture and gardening in SF. We see backyard gardens, front yard gardens, community gardens, abandoned gardens. There is a stunning collection of Victorians, Queen Anne's, and Italianates on Liberty between Noe and Castro, one-stop shopping for out-of-towners interested in SF architecture.
We had an amazing lunch at Le Zinc French Bistro in Noe Valley. The modestly named "Spring Salad" was a bed of greens with warm green beans and a thick slice of heavenly, house-made foie gras terrine (not a mousse, just foie gras!). The barbecued lamb sandwich had shredded lamb that was rich, slightly sweet, delicately flavored, and utterly delicious. They have a lovely garden courtyard which would be wonderful in warmer weather. Thanks to the Chowhound Guide to SF for this recommendation.
The Chowhound guide also came us in helping us remember the exact location of Rainbow Grocery, which we can always get close to, but have problems getting the fine details right. I haven't found a source for black rice or kamut down here yet, so I stocked up. I also picked up kamut flour and teff flour to play with. What a fun place! And we made a final stop at Mitchell's Ice Cream, with assistance from Chowhound. I've heard people rave about it and now I understand why. I had soursop sorbet and macapuno (fresh soft coconut) ice cream. M had an intensely chocolatey chocolate caramel crunch. We'll be back.
I love that doing these walks takes us into neighborhoods we would otherwise be oblivious to. Slowly I'm gaining a better sense of the city. There is so much interesting architecture and gardening in SF. We see backyard gardens, front yard gardens, community gardens, abandoned gardens. There is a stunning collection of Victorians, Queen Anne's, and Italianates on Liberty between Noe and Castro, one-stop shopping for out-of-towners interested in SF architecture.
We had an amazing lunch at Le Zinc French Bistro in Noe Valley. The modestly named "Spring Salad" was a bed of greens with warm green beans and a thick slice of heavenly, house-made foie gras terrine (not a mousse, just foie gras!). The barbecued lamb sandwich had shredded lamb that was rich, slightly sweet, delicately flavored, and utterly delicious. They have a lovely garden courtyard which would be wonderful in warmer weather. Thanks to the Chowhound Guide to SF for this recommendation.
The Chowhound guide also came us in helping us remember the exact location of Rainbow Grocery, which we can always get close to, but have problems getting the fine details right. I haven't found a source for black rice or kamut down here yet, so I stocked up. I also picked up kamut flour and teff flour to play with. What a fun place! And we made a final stop at Mitchell's Ice Cream, with assistance from Chowhound. I've heard people rave about it and now I understand why. I had soursop sorbet and macapuno (fresh soft coconut) ice cream. M had an intensely chocolatey chocolate caramel crunch. We'll be back.
