I was in San Francisco this week for WWDC (Apple‘s Worldwide Developers Conference). I found out a few months ago I’d be able to attend, so of course, I made a list and asked for advice beforehand. Now that I’m here, I plan on posting a report as quickly as possible for each day, to stave off procrastination. My report for “San Francisco: Day Six” (Friday, June 6, 2014) is as follows:
Day Six was my last day in SF. I had a few sessions I wanted to attend, and then I had to start heading to the airport around 4 PM, so I didn’t think I’d get to do much, eating-wise, but I still had a few must-visits on my list. One was a place I had been looking forward to going to all week, but because they only served a particular dish on Fridays, I couldn’t go any sooner on my trip…
Ha Nam Ninh (Yelp)
The dish I had wanted to try was bún bò huế, a Vietnamese rice noodle soup that I hadn’t had before, and I wanted to branch out from phở. I know bun bo hue is nothing like pho, and I was intrigued by the promise of a more in-your-face broth, different noodles, and toppings like pig blood cubes. Alas, it was not meant to be. When I tried to order it, I was told that they no longer serve it. The explanation I got, if I understood correctly, was that the chef who made it had left. Disappointed, I asked what else was popular and was directed to order #25 on their menu, Hủ Tiếu Nam Vang, Phnom Penh-style noodle soup w/pork, squid, shrimp, fish cake, and to get it dry, with broth on the side. I later found out that this was the “dry pho” I had read about online. The shorthand to ordering it is “#25 dry”.
I don’t know if I had just built my expectations with the BBH too much, but I didn’t find this dish to be anything too special. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was good, but it didn’t seem all that interesting to me.
Once I attended my last session at WWDC, I decided I’d tackle one more SF ice cream shop, having hit six already. I had heard about a place in an interesting part of town called the Dogpatch…
Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous (Yelp)
I had read that this place had unique flavors and a really great texture to their ice cream, so I was interested to see what they had to offer. They did have some interesting flavors, but I went with Pink Guava, because guava is one of my favorite fruits. Unfortunately, the taste of guava was not really there. Perhaps they were going for an understated taste, but to me it just tasted like really good ice cream base with a little bit of guava flavoring.
Having had two disappointing experiences on my last day, and with nearly no time to spare, I headed for the Ferry Building, hoping to maybe to rescue my day with a visit to Humphry Slocombe’s other location, or maybe down some oysters at Hog Island, but by the time I got there, I really only had time for one stop, I decided to end my SF trip the same way I started it, with a Chris Cosentino shop…
I think I expected the shop to be a bit bigger than it was, but I loved the case of hanging salumi. I didn’t have time to get a sandwich or custom salumi order, as they were pretty busy filling existing orders, so I just got their Mixed Salumi Cone, a selection of three salumi in a paper cone. Today’s selection was Mortadella with pistachios, Capocollo, and Orange & Wild Fennel Salame. Each was very good, and it was a great pre-flight (really, pre-BART) snack!
[Previously: Day One, Part One; Day One, Part Two; Day Two; Day Three; Day Four, Part One; Day Four, Part Two; Day Four, Part Three, and Day Five.]
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Ha Nam Ninh (Yelp)
337 Jones St
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 346-3100
Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous (Yelp)
699 22nd St
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 970-0750
Boccalone
1 Ferry Bldg
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 433-6500
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So that was my trip to San Francisco. I had a great time eating through a taste of your city in a five day period (the first and last days were really only half days). I can’t wait to come back! There are so many places I’d love to go back to, but at the same time, there are so many places I didn’t get to try! To wrap up here are some statistics:
Places Tried and Reported On: 24
Repeats: 0
Instagram Pictures Posted: 48
Blog Posts Written: 9(!)
Ice Cream Shops Visited: 7
Other Most Frequented Cuisines: Italian (4), American (3), Thai (3)
Highlights: Humphry Slocombe’s Secret Breakfast, Kin Khao’s Plah Pla Muek, La Ciccia’s Spicy Octopus Stew, Nopa’s everything(!), Porcellino’s Porchetta, State Bird Provisions’ nearly everything(!), Tosca Cafe’s Fried Pig Tails, Zen Yai’s Thai Boat Noodles.
Disappointments: I won’t list them here, but I’ve been pretty candid about what I haven’t liked in my individual reports. I will say I did not regret trying any place, even if I didn’t end up caring for it.
Thank You: To everyone on Chowhound SF, Chowhound LA, my Instagram feed, etc., for all your suggestions, feedback, and encouragement. Hope you enjoyed these reports! If you have any questions, please let me know!
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