Well, we ventured into the City (that's San Francisco for those of you outside San Luis Obispo) last weekend. We had not been in 10 months so it was a trip long in coming. We stayed in Union Square, our usual haunt, but decided we would be more adventurous and check out different districts we had not been to before. Our drive up on Friday afternoon was long (we had to turn around in Paso and come back home, 45 minute drive, to pick up some critical concert tickets) and traficky. Ugh. And rainy. More ugh. But it's all worth it when you are heading to SF.
Once in the City we made our way to our hotel, The Handlery, right smack dab in the middle of Union Square. The location is ideal. The hotel is old but has been recently renovated and is clean and comfortable. They also have their own parking garage. It's best if you get a park and stay package rather than ala carte for parking at $38 a night - yikes! Ryan booked us an Executive Room, and it was nicely appointed and had a comfy bed. We had windows looking out onto Geary St. and they even opened! The room had a mini fridge and a nice strong hot shower. If you want a detailed review, you can check mine out at http://www.tripadvisor.com. So for now I can tell you I would recommend this as a clean and comfy hotel in a good location for a good price.
Friday night we had intended to go to this "moving" restaurant. It's a place that is a mystery and you don't know where it is until you call a number and they tell you where to go and you enter through a door that says "No Entry". Unfortunately, the phone number was no longer in service so then we were on our own to figure out something else for the evening. We started off with a cocktail (or two) in the room and headed out to an Irish pub across the street from the parking garage O'Farrell. Had a Magners cider there, oh and a buttery nipple, and we headed down to Market Street. We took a cab to the area where the Castr0, Mission, and SoMa districts intersect and had dinner at place rumored to have a bacon and egg pizza. We showed up at Star Belly and it was very crowded even though it was well after 9 p.m. We were seated in 5 or 10 minute at the bar. This bar serves only beer and wine so we tasted a few beers and settled on a light ale which was not bad considering I am not a beer drinker. We asked the bartender to order us the bacon and egg pizza and he seemed a little confused but said the kitchen could make it for us. When it came out it was not really bacon and egg but maybe more of a green goddess pizza, regardless, it was very tasty! You can tell the ingredients are fresh and dough is handmade. I'd probably go back but try something else on the menu, they had a wide variety of entrees and appetizers, mostly along Italian tastes.
After Star Belly we decided to head back to the hotel but stopped for a drink at Zuni in the SoMa area. They were slowing down for the night but some were still eating dinner and ordering dessert after 10:30. We ordered Bacardi and Diet Coke but no Bacardi here, your choice is Cruzan. It is a lighter sweeter rum but did the trick. After our night cap we started walking down Market Street toward Union Square but we had come a lot further than we thought and decided to take a cab the rest of the way. It was cold and we were quite drunk and it was quite late. We thought hitting the sack for an early day was a good idea.
Saturday Ryan had us head out to the Filmore district (Western Addition) for late breakfast at Gussies Chicken and Waffles. This was some good food! We had the cornmeal waffles and Ryan chicken wings and I had buttermilk chicken tenders. Yum! If you are looking for some true southern food, you've got to check this place out. After this huge meal we walked a little to a bus stop to head to Golden Gate Park. We have been to the City many times and never been here, so today was the day! Once we got there we walked all around and it is truly a beautiful park. We decided not to hit the museums on this trip but went to the Japanese Tea Garden and it is quite beautiful.
Then we walked back through Golden Gate Park over to the Haight Ashbury area. This was a lot of fun! We had excellent people watching during this part of our excursion. We'd pop in at a bar for a drink (Punch Bowl, specializing in rum drinks, with a feel of the Caribbean), then we'd visit a vintage shop and oooh and aaah at the great items for sale. We stopped in at a gay bar, Trax, where they have $1 schnapps shots, then poked around in an awesome clubwear/costume/drag clothes shop. What a fun day! It's full of energy and fun stuff! You can pretty much make a whole day in this area.
After we'd had enough for the day we hopped on a bus and headed back to Union Square. We did a little bit of shopping and the ducked in to Lori's Diner for an early dinner. Why Lori's? I wanted an omelet for dinner and they had breakfast all the time. It was ok, it's touristy and the service is so so. But I got my bacon and cheese omelet.
Then it was time to rest the feet and back to the Handlery. Before we knew it, Ryan and I had fallen asleep! We were just supposed to rest a little and then shower up for our concert that night at Ruby Skyy. Ooops. We slept for about an hour and a half. But once we realized we still had a whole night ahead of us, we had some absinthe (that always helps you get going) and started getting ready. It was fun to get really dressed up for an night out. It seems everywhere is so casual these days that it doesn't make sense to dress up. But we looked HOT this night. We had only a block walk to Ruby Skyy and were able to go right in since Ryan bought the tickets ahead of time. The show was for the debut of the Crystal Method's new album. There was a dj on before CM who was pretty darn good. Eventually CM came on and they were pretty good but a lot of hype. We stayed until 2ish and then headed home. The club was still hopping at that time but we'd had enough.
On the walk home we had our obligatory post-Ruby Skyy pizza. We found the "sideways" pizza place again and got one to go. It's always packed in this place but it is truly great pizza. "Sideways" pizza? Yes, there is a story to that.... the first time I took Ryan to Ruby Skyy we stopped at this very pizza place and got a pizza to go. We were very drunk and in walking back to the hotel Ryan carried it as you might carry a stack of school books, on end, down at your side in one hand. So when we got to the hotel and opened the box all the toppings slid to one side of the pizza and lumped on that half. It's quite a funny and memorable story.
Anyway, the next morning was Easter and check out day. We checked out and had the front desk hold our bags while we had breakfast and shopped a little more. By now the rain started again. We went half a block down to a diner that claimed to have "the best breakfast in SF", well, we had to see if that claim was true. We got seated at the counter and this place is VERY busy. Breakfast took a long time but we got to watch the cooks "do their thing" right in front of us. It's amazing all they have to keep straight. Breakfast was quite tasty but I'm not sure if the long wait warranted it. I might try it again but during a less busy time. After breakfast it was on to Chinatown for a specific item and then the rain really started. Once we had the item (one of those cats with arm up that is supposed to bring you good luck in business) we went back to the hotel and loaded the car and started on the journey home.
I can say that I'm very glad we checked out some other areas of the City. It's really an interesting and fun city, one of my favorites, and I can't wait to go back and explore more new places there!
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