Long Labor Day Weekend in San Francisco
 

This trip was a quick 3-day weekend in San Francisco in celebration of our 15th wedding anniversary over Labor Day weekend 2010. We’d had such a fantastic time when we went last year (http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...-francisco.cfm), we couldn’t wait to go again. This trip was more about relaxing and dining combined with some sightseeing because last time we hit most of the typical highlights.

<b>Travel LA to SF</b>
We flew Southwest Airlines, Burbank to Oakland, opting for the $10 per person each way extra fee for priority boarding. This was worth it as we were taking only carry-on luggage and we knew it was going to be a busy because of the holiday weekend. I’d booked a room at the Westin St. Francis, a Starwood property for $60 plus 4000 SPG points per night.

We arrived into Oakland Friday morning, on time after an easy flight. Like our last trip, we took the AirBart shuttle bus from the airport to the BART station ($3) and then the BART into the city, getting off at Powell street ($3.80). It was fast, about 40 min total, and very efficient especially because we did not have a lot of luggage. We then walked the 3 blocks to the hotel at Union Square. Before leaving the Metro station, we asked a MUNI employee about buying a MUNI transport pass and she directed us to a Walgreen’s at 4th and Market which she said she had just verified they had passes. Upstairs, there is a MUNI kiosk where you can buy the passes and cable car tickets but the line was more than a block long.

<b>Westin St. Francis</b>
The Westin St. Francis at Union Square is a historic hotel built in 1904. It has hosted presidents and queens, sometimes both at the same time. The lobby still has some of the old fashioned grandeur along with a modern tower building behind the hotel. I’d called after making the reservation online to request an upgraded room, given that it was our anniversary and I have SPG Gold status. When we checked in, they had assigned us a standard room, but when asked, they upgraded us to a grand deluxe in the tower.

Our room was on the 29th floor, overlooking Union Square, the city, and the bay in the distance. We could see Coit Tower and the Transamerica Building. Views on the other side of the tower might include the Golden Gate Bridge.

The room was spacious and probably renovated in the last few years. It had a king sized bed, desk area, large flat screen tv and plenty of room to move around. The bathroom had odd french doors instead of a single door but I think that was so they would not bang into the main door to the room. It had the usual Starwood property Bliss product amenities.

<i>Next up, lunch at Out The Door...</i>

<b>MUNI Passes</b>
We had plans to meet my husband’s aunt for lunch, but first we had to buy our 3-day Muni passes and headed to the Walgreen’s at 4th and Market as directed. There was no line and in short order, we had our 3 day passes ($20). Rides are $2 each on the bus and $5 per cable car ride so these passes can pay for themselves very quickly.
I had copied directions the day before from the MUNI site to where we were going and had them in my Kindle which I was using to store all my itinerary information and guidebook information created from my personal Google Map of San Francisco.

<b>Out The Door</b>
Off we went to Filmore St, getting on an express bus and arriving half an hour early. After a forgettable chocolate croissant and cappuccino while waiting, we made our way to Filmore and Bush to the restaurant Out the Door, an offshoot of the popular Slanted Door restaurant in the Ferry Building. There we met up with my husband’s aunt, who works nearby.

Out the Door is upscale Vietnamese street food and most of it was very good, albeit not exactly authentic. We started with decent spring rolls filled with shrimp, pork and vegetables and a Vietnamese crepe which gets wrapped in lettuce and dipped in sauce and was very tasty and similar to the ones we had last summer in Hue, Vietnam.

I ordered the pork over rice noodles with crispy imperial rolls which was similar to one of my favorite dishes, Bun Cha. This was probably the best dish of the bunch. David got a wide noodle (which weren’t) with flank steak and Hungarian peppers which turned out to be a bit bland and David’s Aunt got a nice looking chicken salad. They didn’t have any Vietnamese beer on the menu (is it possible to get here in the US?) so David got a Belgian wheat beer. Lunch was around $65 before tax and tip.

<b>Alamo Square and the Painted Ladies</b>
After lunch we walked up and down Filmore, checking out the shops and going into the Boulangerie Bakery. From there, we walked down Filmore, about 8 blocks and then over one, to Alamo Square where the “Painted Ladies” are. No, these are not “ladies of a certain profession” but rather the beautiful old Victorian houses which line the street around the square. The square is actually quite a lovely park on a hillside taking up about 2 square blocks. We spent about an hour there, taking photos, relaxing in the sunshine on the lawn and enjoying the view. After that, we took the bus back to the hotel and just decided to take it easy until dinner.

The only free wifi in the hotel is down in the main lobby area where there is a bar and coffee counter so we went down there for a few minutes to check email and look at the MUNI site to see if it would be easy to get to the restaurant by bus. David had an over-priced martini ($14++) but he enjoyed it because it was one of the hotel’s old signature drinks (a gin and vodka mixed martini) and it was made by a bartender who has been working at the hotel for 40 years.

<b>Dinner at Perbacco</b>
We got dressed for dinner and then waited 20 minutes for a bus which never came. Finally, we gave up and took a taxi to Perbacco. The restaurant was full but we only had to wait about 3 minutes before we were seated (we did have a reservation).
Our server was wonderful; he recommended specific dishes, was able to answer questions about the menu and even brought us wine to taste. I really like that the restaurant offers many of their wines by the 1/4, 1/2 and full liter. They also offer pastas in small and large sizes.

We shared an appetizer of heirloom green tomatoes, burrata cheese and fresh corn. Then we shared langaroli al brasato, a pasta filled with beef cheek, served with a velvety sauce made with quince (sugo di cugna) and a crumbled hard Italian cheese called Cusie al Castagno on top. The flavor was outstanding, really enhanced by the sharpness of the cheese.

For my entree I had a cooked-to-perfection, roasted veal loin (first cooked sous-vide), with porcini mushrooms and artichoke hearts and my husband David had a roasted quail breast stuffed with foie gras and served with braised chard and chanterelles, also excellent, though very rich.

It’s hard to miss the cheese table when you walk though the restaurant so of course we knew what David was having for dessert; one of the three blue cheeses from Italy and a 20 year tawny. I had the burnt caramel gelato with vanilla sea salt. Heaven. Dinner was $143 before tax and tip and was an anniversary gift from my mother.

We walked back to the hotel, enjoying the night and walking off some of the meal. The view from our room at night was lovely.

Hi Kristina

It's been 4 years now since I visited San Francisco (hard to believe; time just flies by!) and your words brought back a fond recollection of just sitting in the park at Alamo Square, admiring the Painted Ladies and smelling eucalyptus leaves. Good to see that someone else (you) found just being in the park enjoyable (and free! bless the simple pleasures in life).

Thanks for this delightful trip report; it's making me hungry though. :)

Best wishes, Daniel

You are writing a great report!

Now I have to search that "out the door" - didn't know slanted door has an offspring :)

For photos from day 1 and links to restaurants and such, check out my blog page:
http://www.wired2theworld.com/2010/0...uare-perbacco/

Daniel- Yes, I'm usually "go, go, go" on my travels but this time it was nice to take it easy. We were blessed with beautiful weather and that park is lovely.

Dayenu-there is a link to Out The Door on my blog. :-)

<<<Now I have to search that "out the door" - didn't know slanted door has an offspring>>>

Dayenu, there are "Out the Door" locations in the Westfield shopping center (under Bloomingdale's) food court, at Fillmore and Bush and in the Ferry Building!

Enjoying your report and especially appreciate such details as the cost of AirBart and Bart!

<b>Saturday, September 4th, 2010

Ferry Building Farmer's Market</b>
The Ferry Building Farmer's Market is one of my favorite places in San Francisco. Saturday morning we opted for coffee and pastries in the hotel's lobby and then went down to Market street and caught the F tram to the Ferry Plaza stop. By that time the market was in full swing. David couldn't resist buying a maple-bacon beignet from a bakery stand, and I bought some intensely flavorful and juicy organic green and purple pluots.

We wandered the market for a while, admiring all the offerings, but the real reason we were here was the Roli Roti truck. Sometimes our experiences with places, food, are not as good as the memories were the first time around. I'm happy to say, the porchetta sandwich from the Roli Roti truck is <i>not</i> one of those disappointments. The pork is perfectly seasoned and they make sure that each sandwich gets its share of the sliced pork meat and crispy skin. The bread is soft, but doesn't fall apart, and the addition of caramelized onions and peppercress perfectly compliment the roasted pork. It is, hands down, <i>the best pork sandwich I've ever had.</i>

We got in the long line and waited about 20 minutes to get our sandwich. We sat in the sunshine for a while enjoying our food, watching the other market-goers, and watching the seagulls and a duck dive for fish off the pier. After a while we went inside the Ferry Building, but the shoulder to shoulder crowds drove us out in short order. No Boccalone salami for us this time, but I do love the bike they have out front (see photo on blog).

Our next destination was the San Francisco Muesum of Modern Art (MOMA) and for this we hopped back on the F tram and took it to the 3rd and Market stop. Along the way, there was a commotion at one of the stops. There was a man who looked homeless sitting on the bench just outside the tram's open doors. He had his head down and hood pulled up so we could not see his face, but his fly was open and peeking out for the world to see was...well... something which should normally be kept inside one's pants. It was clearly deliberate and among all the "Oh gross!" and "Ewwwww" exclamations, my lovely husband decided to take a photo. You won't be seeing that photo on my blog to be sure, but I'm sure someday it will pop up on my screensaver of random images and I will be <i>oh so thrilled</i> (not).

<b>MOMA</b>

We finally arrived at our stop, hopped off and walked down 3rd, south of Market, toward MOMA. The entrance to MOMA currently costs $18 per adult for non-members. This comes with a free audio tour if you want it, or access to the free docent led tours. There was a docent tour starting in 10 minutes so we decided to do that.

As it turns out, this tour was called "Calder to Warhol; Introducing the Fisher Collection." These were all pieces donated by the Fisher family who started the Gap corporation. Avid collectors, they amassed over 1100 important modern art pieces and have donated them all to the SF MOMA under the condition that the museum be expanded to three times its current size to house the entire collection by 2016. The pieces we saw were on temporary loan as a preview of what's to come six years from now.

Our tour, which was supposed to last 45 minutes, lasted an hour an a half and our passionate and well informed docent made it so interesting that the time pretty much flew by. We saw works by Alexander Calder, Chuck Close, Anselm Kiefer, Roy Lichtenstein, Agnes Martin, Gerhard Richter, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol and more. This specific exhibit is no longer there but gives a good indication of the types of works in the museum and the direction it's going the future.

One of the artists I liked a lot but was unfamiliar with was Gerhard Richter. He had a very eclectic style and didn't confine himself to one genre of painting. All of his pieces were shown in one room so the viewer could appreciate the stylistic differences.

One of the other more interesting pieces was by Sol LeWitt. These were pencil drawings done right on the wall and would be removed after the exhibit, so they were temporary. But it's not the fact that the giant X was done entirely in pencil line drawing which made it interesting, what I found intriguing was that the work was done after the artist's death. The pieces were created to the exact specifications and instructions given by the artist and were meant to be recreated anywhere. This of course led to the discussion of <i>what</i> is art and <i>who</i> is the artist?

Afterward we checked out some of the other exhibits, including one celebrating the 75th Anniversary. We really enjoyed the museum and look forward to going back in 2016 to see all the changes.

After the museum, we stopped in at a bar called Dave's, on Third St, between Market and the museum. We'd passed it on the way to the museum and <i>my Dave</i> wanted a hat with their logo on it (his name and a martini glass). We ordered a couple beers on tap and what turned out to be a giant order of "small" nachos as a snack. This place is an odd cross between local dive bar and tourist stop. You could tell there were some regulars sitting there at the bar mid-day, every day. Dave got his hat and we watched the US Open Tennis semi finals for a while before walking back to the hotel for a break before dinner.

<b>Dinner at First Crush</B>

For dinner, we met up with one of David's colleagues who was in town visiting a friend. We wanted something more casual so we chose First Crush, a wine bar/restaurant only two blocks from Union Square. First Crush offers more than a dozen wine flights (tastes of three different wines in a theme) and small plates which is a nice way to eat and share everything with the table. Unfortunately, I was so wrapped up in our conversation, I forgot to take pictures of anything but the menu after the first two plates; the cheese and the charcuterie.

The other items we did have were all quite good. Out of their small plates we also had Snake River Farms Pork Belly, Crispy Veal Sweetbreads with Truffled Scrambled Eggs (this was a big hit), and a Green Chard Gratin with Swiss Cheese and Bacon. We also ordered one of the large plates, the Oven Roasted Duck Breast with Caramelized Figs and Duck Confit which was also excellent.

We had a couple desserts too, but since I didn't take pictures of them or the dessert menu, I can't remember what they are. Dinner for two, including champagne, wine flights, and a couple extra glasses was about $120 before tax and tip.

Photos for Day 2 can be seen on my blog at:
http://www.wired2theworld.com/2010/0...a-first-crush/

I am loving this trip report, thank you.

Wonderful report!!

So glad you decided to post your SF trip report! I love reading about one of my favorite cities! :-)

Thanks everyone! :-) Here's the last day...

<b>September 5, 2010
Day 3</b>

This morning we met my sister-in-law, her husband, and their two boys (ages 1 and 4) for dim sum at Ton Kiang in the Richmond District. It was a long bus ride down Geary, but at least it was a straight shot and it took us about 30 minutes to get there. We arrived at 10:30am and were sat upstairs in an almost empty room. The upstairs room has larger tables than downstairs. The place filled very quickly and by the time we left there was a long line waiting outside (and yet no one in line for the dim sum place next door).

The various dim sum dishes we had were all very good. We ate wonderful shrimp and mushroom dumplings, sticky rice and meat wrapped in leave packages, roasted duck, Chinese broccoli and too many other various dumplings to count. I was so taken with my adorable nephews that I completely forgot to take photos of the food! The check for 4 adults and 2 children was about $80 before tax and tip.

Afterward, we took the bus to the Exploratorium where we met back up with the family and spent a couple of hours there wandering around with the kids. This is a really fun and at the same time, educational, place for children of all ages. There are tons of hands-on science exhibits on which the kids can experiment. They particularly enjoyed the big bubble maker, the indoor climbing playground area and the various spinning and whirring gadgets. Admission $15 per adult, and $10 per child age 4-12.

From the Exploratorium we walked over to the nearby beach where were got a panoramic view of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a warm but hazy day and the beach was crowded with people sunning themselves, flying kites, and kids and dogs everywhere. We didn’t have time to stay, but it would be a fun to walk all the way down to the bridge along the water there someday.

We said goodbye to the family, and walked around the little lake next to the Exploratorium and then decided to take a bus to North Beach to wander a bit. One thing I wanted to do for sure while we were in San Francisco was take a cable car ride. We tried to catch a cable car back to the hotel and waited for over 20 minutes, but not one would stop because they were all full.

At that point, we took the bus back to where the cable car starts up near the wharf. When we arrived, the line was very long and we were told there was a wait of at least 45 minutes. We waited another 20 minutes chatting with a couple from Australia who were traveling the US for 8 weeks, and only one cable car departed during that time. Judging by the size of the line, and the frequency of departure, we probably would have to wait another hour if we wanted to get on one. We cut our losses and got back on the bus to Union Square and I never did ride a cable car on this trip.

For dinner, we had a hard time figuring out where we wanted to eat. After much debate and consideration of our finances, we decided to go casual and (hopefully) less expensive and and walked over to check out Katana-ya a ramen place I’d read about which was just around the corner from hotel. This is a teeny-tiny place, seating maybe 30, but there was only a small wait so we went back to hotel planning to return later. This was a mistake. By the time we returned, there were a lot more people waiting and a dozen names on the wait list. We added ours and settled in for what turned out to be over an hour’s wait.

The food was very good. Here, it’s all about the ramen, but they have a large sushi menu as well. We ordered ramen with Pork belly, some sushi and were fortunate to be able to sit at the sushi bar to watch the guy behind it work. Dinner, including beer, was about $50 before tax and tip. Katana-ya, 430 Geary St, San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 771-1280

Day 4
We left hotel by 9:30am to retrace our steps down to the BAR and BartBus back to Oakland Airport and home. It was a wonderful and relaxing way to celebrate our anniversary and I can’t wait until the next time we return to San Francisco.

Great report. Appreciate all the details.

Photos for the last day can be seen here;
http://www.wired2theworld.com/2010/0...and-katana-ya/

Great report and photos. YES, your nephews are adorable! :-)