San Francisco food
 

I'm interested in San Francisco and surruondings' delis, patisseries, boulangeries, bakeries, farm stalls, etc. and of course picnic venues.
Thanks,

If you want the most unique food venue you will ever see, then go to Fisherman's Wharf. Outdoor fish vendors are present and it's a sight, smell and sound like no other.
Also, at anyplace you can pick up authentic SF sourdough bread. Last year, we picked up several loaves and brought them back to our neighbors--a huge hit with them!

The Ferry Building on Saturday during "Farmer's Market". Actually it's not so bad during the week either -- inside.

Be sure to go to the Ferry Building - http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/ The Saturday Farmer's market is wonderful as well as the many vendors that have stalls/stores inside the building on a permanent basis.

Tartine is a fabulous French bakery in the Mission (18th and Guerrero).

I would recommend asking this question on the SF Bay Area board on chowhound.com.

Don't miss the grocery stores in Chinatown.

Picnic venues? Golden Gate Park, the Palace of Fine Arts grounds.

Cinderella Bakery

Blondie's Pizza

Another vote for the Ferry building. It has an amazing variety of locally produced foods and wonderful restaurants, bakeries, etc. Definitely try to go during the farmer's market but still go if you can't make that.
I would search the California forums at egullet.com and chowhound.com for more recommendations.

If you will be visiting in crab season (if not, you'll get the non-local crabs), take the bus or Calif St Cable Car to Whole Foods on Franklin & California. Buy a crab, have them clean & crack it, purchase some "red sauce" if you like, get a plastic spoon at their deli, some chilled white wine (Calif Reisling) & corkscrew, and then walk 2 blocks west & 1 block north and have a picnic lunch in Lafayette Park - there are tables there. Great view of the Bay and Danielle Steele's house.

Stu Dudley

I'll vote for the Ferry Building's farmer's market too. It was incredible in April. Had a great homemade turkey sausage sandwich for breakfast one day.

As far as fisherman's wharf, yes it has sights and smells you won't find anywhere else. Unfortunately the smells make me gag. I can't imagine eating anything there or anywhere near there. :-(

And don't go by pier 39 to see the seals if the wind is blowing your way. Nasty.

LOL indytravel, I sure agree with you ragarding Pier 39 (which I do not like) regarding the smells of the seals. Makes me gag! I can't believe that people stand around forever watching them...not my cup of tea so to speak.

I hadn't been to the city since 2000 LoveItaly. So this spring I was overwhelmed by the number of seals (seal lions, whatever) I was seeing. The stench was horrific.

Next time I'll have a chart to demonstrate to the seals how other sea creatures manage to "do their business" in the water. Crapping on the docks and rolling in it is just completely unacceptable. :-D

Hi Ram,

We just returned from SF and always enjoy going to North Beach for the Italian deli’s and restaurants. This time we stood in Cow Hollow on Union Street which is packed with a lot of small delis and cafes too.

We started our first morning by walking across Van Ness to Polk Street then down a couple of blocks to Polkers Gourmet Burgers. I don’t know about the burgers but they make a great Joe’s Scramble for breakfast. In fact, we breakfasted there twice. It reminded me of some of the small cafes in Boston and they have a couple of waitresses from England working there. It’s small and had a line out on the sidewalk on Sunday morning with some locals eating there too. People were not at all concerned about the short wait. Some walked up to Starbucks for their coffee and just brought it in when their name was called.

From Polkers, we then walked back up to Union Street, caught a ride on the number 45 muni over to Columbus Ave, which is the Italian District. You are also near Washington Square (which is really a trapezoid) and a couple of beautiful churches if you’re into sight-seeing those. We then walked up Filbert to Coit Tower, and were actually able to see the parrots of Telegraph Hill swarming around us and squawking. It was quite a sight!

For lunch, we walked back down to Columbus Ave, and always enjoy a visit to Molinari’s Delicatessen. It’s located on 373 Columbus Ave and open Mon- Sat. We always buy one of their dry salamis to bring home. It is some of the best! We are able to split a sandwich and just eat at one of sidewalk tables. It’s not at all fancy, just real authentic and we once saw a couple of local Italian gents all dressed up like something right out of the Godfather there. It’s just enough lunch to do more sightseeing of the district which is a favorite for many including us. You can cruise around on foot and later have a gelato for a small refresher.

A couple of nights later, we returned to Columbus Ave and had dinner at Calzone’s. It was warm, so we got a table outside on the sidewalk and ordered chicken and asparagus with pasta and pine nuts. It’s only $11.95 so a real bargain to sit outside and people watch with a glass of wine and a nice dinner.

After Calzone’s, we also like to pull into Stella’s bakery next door and order a couple of cannoli boxed, to take home to friends. (Yes, we leave the gun.)

We also took the advice of Stu and some other posters and tried Sam’s Grill and Sea Food Restaurant at 374 Bush, in the Financial District for dinner one night. The seafood was fabulous! Our server was celebrating his 38th anniversary, was very pleasant, and recommended some great items. We also enjoy Tadich Grill just a few blocks up on California Street, though tried Sam’s this time.

You might click on Stu’s name for a great list of SF restaurants. I printed the list and we plan on trying out others on future visits. We tried to get to the Slanted Door, but wore ourselves out walking around town, so look forward to trying that next time.

A warning about Lafayette park - very popular place among the dog lovers. They let their pets run amok. So if you don't want your picnic to be interrupted by some hungry uninvited "guests" don't go there.

A good place for picnic-ing is by the Warming Hut past Crissy Field in the Presidio. There are picnic tables and a parking lot right next to the Warming Hut. You will have a gorgeous view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay.

See http://www.crissyfield.org/ for a map and more info.

If you want a quick look inside the SF Ferry Terminal Market, go to http://snipurl.com/i1si . I took them on a weekday visit last July. Very nifty place!