Alas my cheese spreaders didn’t make it through security at the Burbank airport, unlike at O’Hare, where they barely got through. So I arrived without a gift for our friends here in Sam Francisco. Next time, I’ll stick with tea towels.
Other than that our short flight on Alaska airlines from Burbank to San Francisco went well. Safely ensconced in SF’s Sunset neighborhood, we took Susan’s dog on a walk at scenic Fort Funston, overlooking the Pacific and had a terrific Burmese meal in the Richmond at Mandalay, which as it happens won a James beard award this year. I can see why.
We sat outside in a heated area and had delicious food. Highlights: tea leaf salad (crunchy mix of nuts and leaves), samusa soup, naked eggplant, pork with green beans, chicken lettuce cups, balata /crispy pancakes.
This morning, Dirck and I had breakfast at Tartine, the famous SF bakery in the Mission that now has an outpost in the Sunset on 9th Avenue. We had an excellent morning bun (although the one at The commissary in burbank was mighty good too). Also amazing – the enormous country loaf and ham and cheese croissant. Oddly, we sat next to a guy I realized I knew from Chicago… after he left Tartine. So I emailed him to confirm it was him and he was still nearby so he returned to say hi. We walked back to Susan and Erica through glorious golden gate park, taking a few wrong turns, without complaint. Must look up Susan’s piece on substack about “desire lines” – off the beaten paths that develop in places both planned and wild like golden gate.
Susan drive us to a gentrifying area in the south park of the city near the ballpark called Dogtown which amazing views of the east bay looking out at Oakland. The view was particularly astonishing from the rooftop of RH. An opulent furniture store in an old Bethlehem Steel Building. Breakfast in Sunset was coffee and a glazed donut at Uncle Benny’s on Irving.
TakeBetsywithyou 