The Wandering Hart

Last week I got the opportunity to go back out to San Francisco, which had been home before the cross-country move, and visit some friends! I also while I was there of course revisited some of my favorite restaurants and spots.

On my first day there, I met up with a close friend and we grabbed lunch at Coqueta, a tapas restaurant with excellent cocktails, along the Embarcadero. Afterward, we explored the Ferry Building for a while. The Ferry Building is a relatively touristy stop in SF, but I’ve always loved going in there. While there you can sample some of the most popular food San Francisco has to offer, such as oysters from Hog Island Oyster Company and ice cream from Humphrey Slocombe, and browse a ton of other merchant stalls and shops.

After wandering for a while longer, my friend and I meandered over to the Mission, which is one of my absolute favorite places in the city. Normally when I head there I like to browse Valencia Street, which has cute shops and excellent restaurants. My personal favorites to browse are Dog Eared Books, 826 Valencia Pirate Supply Store (a pirate-themed store benefitting a literacy-focused non-profit), and Paxton Gate (a store focused on plants, science, and weirdly taxidermy). I’d also usually hang out in Dolores Park for a little, which is one of the city’s nicest parks and usually has a ton of people hanging out and enjoying some sun. However, since it was already getting late we headed straight to meet more friends for dinner at Limon, a Peruvian restaurant with amazing chicken and lomo saltado and multiple locations throughout the Bay Area.

Throughout the rest of the week, I sampled a few more of my favorite restaurants including a dinner at Farmhouse Kitchen, which is a really excellent Thai restaurant and also has multiple locations throughout the Bay Area. The culinary highlight of my trip, though, was going back to San Mateo (my former home) to grab sushi at Sushi Maruyama. Sushi Maruyama is one of the best sushi places I’ve been to and is just a small spot in the suburbs of San Francisco. They have incredible sushi and rolls as well as these delicious wagyu tacos that I always get! Highly recommend trying it if you’re ever in the area. And while you’re around San Mateo you can grab cookies for dessert from Antoine’s, which is a delicious cookie shop just down the street!

It was really an excellent week. However, there were plenty of favorite things I didn’t get to do while I was in town, including hiking Mt. Tamalpais, grabbing fish tacos from Hook Fish & Co, and seeing even more friends. Luckily, that’s just an excuse to go back again!