where did we eat, and other helpful hints for travelling to san francisco and napa

-sit at the bar or kitchen counter whenever possible

-ask the staff where to go eat. the cooks and servers all know the new hot spots. All of our favourite food places came from a recommendation from restaurant staff.

-get to know the bartender at your hotel. tip well and be kind.

-the Bart from SFO to downtown San Fran is easy and cheap.

-The F-line has antique streetcars, on purpose.

-Homeless people make good tour guides

-San Francisco has the best buskers. One guy had a real drum kit. another an actual piano. Larry the bucket guy makes a drum kit out of buckets. he is awesome.

-the streetcar stops just long enough to perform a crack deal if you know who to talk to

-the map of san francisco is flat. the town isn't. what might look like a "nice little walk", isn't bring your sherpa

-california avenue goes straight up.

-dungeness crab is best served plain. it is the only food that isn't made better with butter. Every place down on fisherman's wharf serves it.

first meal: La Taqueria on Mission. I had cow face and beef tongue, D had pork carnitas and shrimp.

first meal in Napa: Rutherford Grill, one of our favourites on the whole trip. In the town of rutherford, on rutherford rd. Rutherford is between Yountville and St. Helena.

- everything in Napa shuts down at 9:00. One exception is Bouchon which serves until 11:00

For Breakfast in Napa we went to the Luna market, a little grocery store across from our hotel, the Rancho Caymus, in Rutherford, which catered to the mexican population that worked at the wineries. We had breakfast burritos with egg, beans potato and chorizo

Oakville grocery in Oakville is better than the more famous Dean and Deluca's in St. Helena. great place to grab a quick pic nic lunch if you are doing the wine tour.

Bistro Jeanty, is fun, busy and loud. The food riffs off bistro classics. Sit at the bar. They have about 7 different types of pastis. Great cocktail list.

Bouchon, Thomas Kellers's french bistro. Less expensive and far more casual than French Laundry, but not worth the money. Doesn't live up to the hype. Fussy small portions. Which is okay, but only if the flavours were bang on. Which they weren't. Duck confit was way to clovey and lacked that tasty crispy skin. Marinated veg salad was weird with crab beignets which were smaller than a tater tot with as much crab flavour.

Couldn't get in to either French Laundry or Ad Hoc (Thomas's family style restaurant). Everyone was saying the Redd was fabulous, but we never made it.

In the town of Napa we went to Angele, which was tasty. Artsy takes on bistro classics. Locavore philosophy. Good cocktail list. Nice big patio, we sat at the bar.

Morimoto: did not enjoy. The designer had fun with this space. Felt unwelcome and uncared for, so we didn't stick around to try the more interesting dishes on his expensive menu.

Carpe Diem, had some nice desserts, although the candied potato chip was more gimmick than anything. Nice people. The owner knew where Winnipeg was, he was a hockey fan.

Boonfly Cafe, on the old sonoma road attached to the Carneros Inn. Charming, quite beautiful. Really tasty food. Excellent coffee. Awesome burger, great BLT sandwhich with heirloom tomatoes. definitely worth the trip.

In San Francisco we stayed at the Palomar Hotel. Very nice. Clean, modern, right downtown. from 5 to 6 their was a free wine reception. Have a glass of wine, and order the crab cakes. made with dungeness crab and not much else. Don't you hate crab cakes that are all breading and filler with very little crab? Or the ones that where the crab is so overworked that it tastes like sand paper? These are not like those, these are barely held together, almost pure crab, and tasty. While you are here, ask the bartenders where to eat in town.

First night we went to the Slanted Door in the ferry building. Modern take on vietnamese food. We had some really tasty clams with pork belly and some summer rolls with lots of yummy shitake and greens and tasty things. I had the girliest cocktail ever. With raspberries and vodka and shaken up with an egg white. All pink and frothy, luckily I am secure in my masculinity.

then we walked halfway to Nopa. Straight up hill. then we called a cab for the last half of the walk. Nopa was fantastic! Busy, lively, loud. We arrived at 930 on a wednesday and it was packed. We would have to wait 45 mins for a table. Food was fresh and local, interesting cocktails. They had a wood oven and a wood grill in their open kitchen. Probably the best restaurant experience we had in San Fran.

Thursday we went for breakfast at Boulettes Larder in the Ferry Building. The chef was intense. half an hour before lunch, she didn't have the lunch menu written. D had scottish cut oatmeal. hates oatmeal, loved this, came with garnishes of walnut, flax, raisin and brown sugar in cute little boxes. I had the fluffiest scrambled eggs ever with spinach and black eyed peas cooked in roast pork drippings. so good.

at cafe mystique on castro we had hummus with spicy ground beef. really delicious Morrocan mint tea.

at cafe zuni we had the house cured anchovies and a salad with pancetta and parm. tasty.

Frances for dinner. On Noe in the castro. farmer's market shot of two kinds of melon and tequila. house blended house wines served by the ounce. the bring you a beaker and charge you for what you drink. tasty crab beignets. lamb served 3 ways with rapini, and the tastiest chicken roulade you've ever seen. voted top 10 new restaurants in the US by Bon Appetit and you can see why.

Brenda's for breakfast. French Creole spot in the heart of sketchy town. We arrive, we are told to write our names on the clip board outside. when our table is ready, the call us. We begin with a flight of beignets. plain, apple, dark chocolate and spicy crawfish. I had crawfish and adouille pot pie and D had shrimp and grits smothered in a tasty brown sauce. worth the wait.

lunch we had dim sum in china town. china town is super touristy. apparently there are less touristy mini china towns in San Fran, but we wanted to see the big one. bought a mah jong board. Does anyone know how to play mah jong? Don't go for dim sum at 2 in the afternoon. the food is still good but you miss the whole show. highlight? the shang hai soup dumplings.

started dinner with a braised beef shortrib at the hotel bar. our bartender tells us, "tonight, I'm driving" she chooses our snack and pairs wines with it. Thanks, Morgan.

then pie at Mission pie. I had a plum pie and Danielle had a mixed berry.

walking up mission, their are a bunch of people grilling "mission style" hot dogs. fried up with lots of onions on little flat top grills out of the sides of mini vans. I am sure they have their permits in order. I had guerilla guacamole made right their on the sidewalk.

went to a bar that was basically under the free way. Zeitgiest. Looks like any college/punk rock bar anywhere in the world, until you step outside. The bulk of the bar is in this empty lot, hemmed in with 12 foot fence and barbed wire. the lot is filled with rows of pic nic tables. the facilities are porta potties. everyone sits together. one woman was doing yoga. most of the beer is sold in pitchers. great vibe, tons of fun.

then to bar agricole. recomended by the chef of Boulette's Larder. the courtyard up front featured tables and a herb garden. the restaurant was very new with lots of wood and crazy ligth fixtures made out of plastic tubing. The place was seven weeks old and beautiful. I had another cocktail involving an egg white, but at least it wasn't pink. We were really tired, so I don't remember all the dishes, but we had sardine roll mops and a dish with three kinds of radish and lardo.

tired and full, we still grab a street crepe from a vendor across the street. Danielle falls asleep with the crepe on her pillow.

saturday is ferry building farmer's market. We start with breakfast at blue bottle coffee. the individually drip each cup. Danielle had a caramelized belgian waffle, and I had a coffee cake that involved guiness and caraway.

the market is incredible. fresh dates, walnuts, pomegranates, limes, heirloom tomatoes everything you could possible want. oysters, fresh lamb, cheeses, cured meats, jams, juices... we ate "korean tacos" which was nori filled with grilled pork belly and yummy sauces.

we had salumi cones at boccalone. I bought a tasty salted pig parts t-shirt. we bought N'duja, guaciale and wild fennel and orange salami to bring back with us.

Cow Girl Creamery was beautiful we had a very enthusiastic cheese boy. we told him we wanted only California cheeses. we got about four from the Girl Creamery and about ten others. everything from a fresh chevre, to this stinky cheese made like a gouda, but kept soft. loved the story of the dry jack cheese. exclusive to California, this cheese was invented when during th war the local italian community couldn't import their prized parmagianno, so they asked the local cheese makers to dry and age their monterey jack to the consistency of parm. the dust it in cocoa.

rented bikes and biked down to fisherman's wharf. it was fleet week and their was a blue angels air show, so it was crazy. wall to wall people. so much fun.

we had dungeness crab at the blue mermaid. i had a big frosty glass of anchor steam ale. Dungeness crab is best eaten plain. we experimented. it is the only food that is not made better with butter. butter detracts from the sweet flavour of the meat.

not done yet, we had these delicious grilled chicken skewers from a street vendor. they were done with some sort of teriaki sauce.

that night we celebrated our bartender's victory at the bar tending competition by enjoying her lavender cocktail

then a cab to cosentino's In Canto. Nice spot, we sat in the lounge with a very friendly, career server. D ordered the with a poached egg and shaved cured tuna heart. I had the blood pappardelle with pork trotters and foie gras. I think we had dessert, i think mine was a goat cheese cheesecake, and Danielle's was a chocolate mousse, but its all a blur now.

sunday, we must return home. we have breakfast at thai place in the airport. really tasty soup. even the airport food was good! lunch at the ihop in the vancouver airport, not so much.

so, if you go to san francisco, eat small amounts often. you won't be disappointed. we ate six or seven meals a day. some were better than others, but we didn't have one bad bite of food the spaghetinni whole time we were there.

now, planning our next culinary trip. Chicago? New York? New Orleans? Italy?

we might just have to settle for the Canad Inns in Grand forks.