At the beginning of 2016, our family planned a trip to San Francisco! This is a city we had wanted to visit for quite sometime, but as most know it is pretty expensive to visit, let alone live. I did my research as I do and found that if we traveled on the off season we could save significantly. The deal was so good my best friend of 20 years even joined us with her family.
This post is dedicated to the wonderful eats we discovered in San Francisco. I usually find restaurants to visit by looking up hashtags on Instagram, looking at Instagram pages (most have an @bestfoodinsertcityname), read blogs/watch YouTube Vlogs, or simply type in breakfast/lunch/dinner/coffee etc. into my Google maps.
While there we got to sample some amazing food. My only wish is that we had more time to try even more. Here are some photos of some restaurants we visited.
Hollywood Cafe: This is one of those that I just found by typing 'breakfast' into my google maps. Located in Fisherman's Wharf, this cinema themed restaurant is cozy and filled with celebrity headshots. The menu has many options to choose from and the portions are very generous.
Plow: I originally found this place while watching a Tastemade series called Day of Gluttony. Once they said Almond Pancakes I was sold, plus the aesthetics of the restaurant are to die for. Plow is located in the Potrero Hill neighborhood and is all about keeping it local.
In n' Out: Literally next door to our hotel and since we got in so late it worked perfect. If you've never had it, it's a must since it is a big California thing. It doesn't have anything on Whataburger though, sorry.
Swan Oyster Depot: This delicious place was discovered by watching an episode of Parts Unknown with Anthony Bourdain. We love him! ❤ Andrew and I binged watched basically all the episodes and when we planned to come here we re-watched it for some ideas. This place was cute and tasty! Expect a line but know that it's all worth it. We ordered ourselves a dozen raw oysters and the crab back that we saw on the show. Oh my goodness, it looks so weird, but is so good! Don't skip out on this place if you have the time.
The Slanted Door: Our friend that joined us on the trip was a chef here in San Antonio and his choice on our last night was The Slanted Door. It is definitely on the higher end as far as price, but it comes with gorgeous views of the Bay Bridge. We went at night and the lit up bridge gives the Golden Gate a run for it's money. Don't skip out on seeing it! The food here is modern Vietnamese and served family style. Which was perfect since everything looked and tasted great, no one had to miss out. I even order a pretty good french press. If you want to be fancy for the evening this is a great place to do it.
MAU: Another Vietnamese kitchen we visited was MAU. Found this on the Day of Gluttony series and it was great! Perfect since it was quite chilly out in San Francisco that evening. It's was also located near The Castro District which made for a nice walk after. Unfortunately, while writing and researching this I found that it is no longer open which is a bummer. RIP.
Ritual Coffee: Time for coffee, because how else do you survive such a jam packed trip. Recommended by the same series as MAU and Plow (hey, that rhymes :D), Ritual has several locations in San Francisco. The one we visited was in The Castro district. Such a nice and clean design and I was able to go out of comfort zone when it came to coffee with all the options they had.
Farley's Coffee: Last on the list is Farley's coffee. This place was found by wandering the streets while waiting for our table at Plow. I absolutely loved walking this neighborhood and the color and character of this shop. It was such a quaint place to have some coffee bright and early.