San Francisco (Before Covid) - The Croissant Files and Angler

I was cleaning out photos that I didn't think I needed or wanted anymore and came across two sets from our trip to San Francisco right before the "official" start of the pandemic. It was January of 2020....I had thought about just deleting this.....but after pondering after a couple of minutes, I thought I'd just do a quick post, especially since I'd done posts on other places during that same visit. So here goes with a minimum of "chatter" from me.

We awoke to a nice sunrise.......and on this day, I thought we'd do a bit of walking and grab some croissants at places along the way. So we headed down Sutter Street to the first location I new was open on this day; Le Marais Bakery......which brought a smile to our faces since Le Marais is a frequent stop on our trips to Paris.

We grabbed some coffee and a Croissant aux Buerre to start things off.

 The croissant was a bit dry and the amount of butter to salt was quite low. Though it was nicely flaky/crusty...so decent texture, but nothing I'd return for.

Le Marais Bakery
1138 Sutter St.
San Francisco, CA 94109

From here we headed up Sutter Street passing some beautiful looking houses...yes, that architectural walking tour in Pacific Grove has developed a mild fascination with all these historical houses. Like the "Payne House", which is now a hotel.

On left here is the JACL Headquarters.....

And then walked thru a very quiet Japantown to our next destination.

To the bustling Jane the Bakery.

This would be the best of the three Croissants we had during this walk.

Jane The Bakery
1881 Geary Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94115

From here we headed down Geary, taking a right on Divasidero.....

Then a quick left on California to a place that had been recommended to me named B Patisserie.

This place was quite popular.....

Though I don't think it's for their plan croissants which lacked butter, was dry, and just not to our taste.

b. patisserie
2821 California St.
San Francisco, CA 94115

The great thing is; these three places are still open....so you can check them out and make your own decision.....

From here we headed down Divasadero and took a left onto Hayes Street; taking some time to watch the pooches having fun at Alamo Square Park.

We had fun watching the dogs......and I think next time I might pay more attention to the architecture in the area.

We headed back west on Hayes Street to the area known as the Hayes Valley, which seemed quite hipster to us....and took a break at a park named Patrica's Green, which is home to Tara Mechani.

There was also this structure which grabbed our attention.

From here we headed west and then took a left on Market Street, where we encountered the San Francisco I recall from visiting in the 90's. 

After taking a short break (nap), we headed out for dinner. I'd made reservations at Angler.

Which is kind of known for the seafood and such; but the Missus was interested in the vegetable dishes. It seemed like a great place (this was before the Michelin star) for a nice, light dinner. And, to be perfectly honest, in spite of the spotty service, it was the best meal of the trip.

We went with mostly vegetables; except for the Antelope Tartare.

Which I loved.....great balance of savory-gamy flavors and acidity.

The grilled cauliflower was meh.....

The Missus loved the potatoes....the cloying cheese sauce, not so much.

The texture of the potato was amazing.....which is how She "convinced" me to make Hasselback Potatoes, which was not nearly as wonderful in cut and texture as these.

The Parker House Rolls were very nice; especially with the seaweed butter.

We loved radicchio, so was really excited about the radichio with XO sauce.....

The actual radicchio was fantastic; lightly bitter, savory, prepared well. But the "XO" sauce....well, it brought nothing to the dish. Really........the Missus still prefers what I make at home.

The last dish to arrive was the Hen of the Woods Mushroom, which was delicous!

I've heard about the $500-$600 meals here.....I guess folks were having lobster and crab; our was not even close to that......and so we'll probably eat here again.

Angler
132 The Embarcadero
San Francisco, CA 94105

And I especially feel like I earned this meal.

And here are some signs for you......

Comments

[kat]

beautiful sunrise

[Joy]

Next time you are in the area b. patisserie makes the kouign-amann by which all other kouign-amann are judged, at least the americanized version. Truly a delight!

[RedDevil]

I made your radicchio recipe a long while back, thumbs up. Our last pre CV trip was also to SF in Jan 2020. Thanks for the posts!

[Caninecologne]

I've had the kouign amann from b patisserie (a fiid gift from a friend who bought me half a dozen) and they were so flaky and buttery. Nice post with lovely sights (historic homes and croissants)

[Kirk]

It was very striking Kat!

I've read about that Joy....though an acquaintance recommended the croissants....which is something we search out everywhere.

Thanks for reminding me about the radicchio RD! Haven't made that in a while. Too bad that the place where we had that in PDX has closed. I'm going to do our pre-Covid CDMX visit post in this type of framework.

We enjoyed the walk CC! And diner was enjoyable as well.

[An]

I don’t know if you’ve been there yet during your SF visits, but I would highly recommend Arsicault Bakery! It’s was my favorite croissant and kouign amann in SF. Especially if you get a hot one!

[Kirk]

Hi An - I actually have Arsicault Bakery on my "map" that I use. It was just a bit farther then I wanted to walk. We'll get there next time! It's great to hear from you and hope all is well.

[Soo]

I'll have to give Jane the Bakery a try next time I visit. That's cool you tried the 3 croissants.

[Kirk]

I tried to line up the places along a nice walking route Soo....

[Dereck]

Is that potato just mandoline sliced and then reassembled and roasted?

[Kirk]

Hi Dereck - It's just a more fancy and refined version of Hasselback Potatoes:

https://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2020/04/recently-consumed-cream-of-broccoli-soup-and-hasselback-potatoes-sort-of-a-recipe.html