San Francisco

You may have eaten at Slanted Door or even at Out The Door either at the Ferry Building or at San Francisco Centre, but you're going to want to try OTD Bush in the Fillmore. In addition to many of the dishes that Chef Charles Phan is famous for such as Vietnamese Spring Rolls and the Jicama and Grapefruit Salad or the Chicken Claypot, OTD Bush offers something else entirely. Breakfast!

I love breakfast but let's face it, going out for breakfast in this town usually means American fare, dim sum or maybe Mexican food. Now there is something new, Vietnamese food. At a press preview I got tastes of a lot of deliciousness. Hats off to Pastry Chef Chucky Dugo for a whole bunch of sweet and savory treats to dig into. I was crazy about the crunchy-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside Beignets, Crepes with apples, Warm Banana Sticky Rice with toasted coconut and sweet and savory style pate choux pastries. The little puff pastries were still slightly eggy on the inside, just the way I like them.

My first day in San Francisco—and much of my whole trip—was rainy. But despite the unusually rainy weather, the best part of my first day was having breakfast at Tartine Bakery. Located in the Mission District, Tartine has been a neighborhood standby since it was opened by the husband and wife team of Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt in 2002.

Both trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY and traveled throughout France before settling in Northern California. Prueitt is the pastry chef and Robertson is the baker. You can find Robertson baking daily at the bakery and Prueitt running the sister restaurant Bar Tartine, which is just a street away.

Every morning at the bakery is a busy one. There is always a steady line wrapping outside the doors rain or shine, literally. Two weeks ago I stood in line with my friends under umbrellas to taste Tartine's sweet confections. The smell wafting from within was enough to convince any one of us to patiently wait for a morning bite and a cup of Joe.

Spork in San Francisco is my new favorite restaurant. Pat and I went there for dinner after a lovely day in the Mission, checking out all the vintage stores and eating Dymano Donuts. Spork is a place serving old-school classics in a new-school fashion. They have sustainable-this and local-that versions of slow-food takes on old classics. And despite the political correctness of their offerings, everything tastes like it was pan-fried in lard in a steel skillet by my grandmother. That's a very good thing!

The In-Side-Out Burger ($14) screamed "eat me" from the menu. The beef is fresh from Sun Marin Farms. Two patties griddle-fried, peppery and crispy on the outside. Moist and pink on the inside. The concoction towers over the plate. It is a stack of ingredients as follows starting at the plate: Butter lettuce, tomato slice, beef patty, bun circle, special sauce, beef patty, tillamook chedder and a grilled onion topping so sweet it could be applesauce. The special sauce reminded me of the spicy thousand-island type I make at home, only no islands. You have to eat this with a fork and knife, but it doesn't diminish the burger experience.

I have recently made the greatest discovery of my life, gastronomically speaking. On a recent trip to San Francisco I was taken to b. Patisserie. Shouting OMG into the next century would not do this “salon de thé” justice’.  Opened in 2013 by co-creators, co-owners and total pastry geniuses, Belinda Leong and Michel Suas, b. Patisserie could very well have pastry chefs from all over the world setting out on pilgrimages to San Francisco. There is a line from the Eagles song, In the Long Run, “all the debutantes in Houston, couldn’t hold a candle to you.”

Sitting in a windowed corner of b.’s, savoring the croissant, the butter, sugar, crisp crusty outer layer melting in my mouth, the tune played in my head with the words changed to “All the pastry chefs in Paris, couldn’t hold a candle to b!”

b. comes from the name of San Francisco native Belinda Leong who began her career in pastry making back in 1999 working in the renowned San Fran restaurant, Gary Danko. After eight years there, learning much from Gary Danko who she cites as one of her major culinary influences, Belinda left for Europe, working in top patisseries and restaurants in Paris, Spain and Copenhagen, refining her skills and adding to her repertoire. After two years she came back to the Bay area as the pastry chef of Manresa the two Michelin starred restaurant in Los Gatos.