Bi-Rite Creamery: Best Ice Cream in San Francisco

After reading a review about the best ice cream places in the U.S., my family and I decided to take a little drive to Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco. "How special can this place really be?," I wondered as we waited 20 minutes in line just to get in the door. The answer, VERY SPECIAL! If you are near San Francisco, it is definitely worth a trip! I had the toasted coconut and the coffee toffee on my first visit, and salted caramel and malted vanilla on my second visit. All I can say is...WOW!!

The Musee Mecanique San Francisco

If you ever visit San Francisco Fishermen's Wharf, be sure to drop into The Musee Mecanique near No. 9 Fishermen's Grotto Restaurant. (And, if you love crab, be sure to check out the menu at No. 9!)



The Musee Mecanique used to be located at the beach, near The Cliff House, but was relocated about ten or so years ago. This museum houses many photographs from the Sutro Baths and Playland at the Beach as well as many mechanical toys, some are even made piece by piece from hand! The top photo is Laughing Sal from Playland. She now has a home right inside the front door of the museum. Put a couple of coins in her and she'll laugh just like she used to!



Admission to this museum is free, but plan on spending a lot of coins on the mechanical attractions! There is something for all ages to enjoy, from pressed pennies, to pinball machines, to photo booths. Personally, I just enjoy looking at all of the old pictures.

Barry Bonds Home Run #754 July 27, 2007

Well ... still waiting for number 755 to tie and number 756 to break the record, but we hope to see it at home! Here is Barry Bonds trotting into home after hitting home run #754 at AT&T Park in San Francisco on July 27th.

The Cliff House, San Francisco

After purchasing a vintage black & white photo of The Cliff House from 1958 on PoshPoints, I decided that I wanted to make a trip there to compare 1958 to 2007. The Cliff House has been in existence since the 1800s, but there seems to be a discrepancy as to whether it has been rebuilt three or four times depending which historical account you read.




No, my camera isn't broken, the sky was in fact gray. It was just a typical San Francisco summer day with thick marine layer present. Some of us think of it as "natural air conditioning." (Hey, it is much more fuel efficient than electric powered air conditioning systems! Plus it doesn't harm the environment. You just need to put on a jacket. And a beanie. And a scarf. And a pair of gloves. And some thick socks. Well, you get the picture!)



While there, we decided to dine at one of the two popular restaurants, The Bistro. I ordered the "Ben Butler Sandwich," which is Dungeness Crab Meat on grilled Sourdough with melted cheddar cheese and is served with mixed greens. Yum!

I ate half there and took the other half to go. The picture below shows the "to go" half the next day. The salad was a little wilted, but still delicious eaten with the crab! My only complaint was that the chef put too many chives into the crab meat. Why would anyone want to overpower the delicate flavor of the crab with chives?! Maybe somewhere else where the crab comes out of a can, but not in San Francisco where the crab is always fresh and tasty!



I'm glad I purchased that picture. I've been to The Cliff House and Ocean Beach many times before, but I think that the last time I went was well over ten years ago. Pretty sad considering I live less than a half an hour away. That picture convinced me I was long overdue for a trip to the beach. So, to the lady in Arizona that purchased the picture at an estate sale and decided to swap it on Posh, thank you!

Cheesesteak Review #3 ~ Jake's Steaks, San Francisco

I have been to Jake's Steaks in San Francisco twice before this visit (the first was excellent, the second was terrible), but this review will focus on only this third sandwich. I didn't place my own order because I just had a rather intense eye exam and could not see a thing. Ordered for me was a 15 inch chicken with American cheese, sweet peppers and hot peppers. (Each pepper ordered was an additional 50 cents.)

Jake's chicken is cut in chunks and they melt the cheese on the meat so that you get an even proportion throughout your sandwich. They use my favorite, Amoroso's rolls. Although I love hot peppers, they overpower the flavor of everything else, so I ate those first so that I could actually taste the other ingredients. Jake's loads heaping helpings of meat onto the rolls. I wish I had put this thing on a scale. It was ENORMOUS and felt like it weighed a ton! I only chowed down half of it and saved the other half for another meal.

The onions were nicely cooked. The hot peppers were too overpowering and the sweet peppers had little taste. (Jake's uses banana peppers rather than bell peppers.) The chicken wasn't dry, but lacked that "something" I experienced with the sandwich in my first review.

This sandwich was definitely better than Jersey Joe's, but not as good as The Cheese Steak Shop. I give this cheesesteak a three and 1/2 star rating. Careful if you go to Jake's though, as the quality of the food doesn't seem to be consistent.

Almost forgot to mention, my party also ordered a side of the waffle fries. Ummmmm. I'm not really a French fry fan, but these were really good! Must be the shape ...

MLB All-Star Week in San Francisco

Well, my next cheesesteak review will have to wait a little while. It is Major League Baseball week in San Francisco and I will be at FanFest tomorrow, the Future Stars game on Sunday and the Home Run Derby on Monday. All festivities except the All-Star game itself (which is probably the most boring event of the week).





Here are some pictures from San Francisco. The first three were taken inside The Giants Dugout store, AT&T Park location. The two huge banners were hung in Union Square right on The Westin St. Francis Hotel. (Sorry about the watermarks. I hate having my photographs "borrowed" without my permission. You can take 'em, but they'll be kinda ugly with my eBay store mark across the middle.)

Cheesesteak Review #1 ~ The Cheese Steak Shop, San Francisco

Okay, with selling being slower than slow, I have decided to have a little fun this summer. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I was born on the wrong coast. I have an obsession with everything Philly. Being inspired by the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms and their "Summer of the Steak", I decided to do my own little cheese steak taste-testing here on the West Coast.

First trip, The Cheese Steak Shop located at 1716 Divisadero Street in San Francisco. THIS PLACE ROCKED! I stopped eating beef in 2003, so I ordered the 7-inch chicken with onions and sweet peppers. I also tried an order of the curly fries.

They chopped the chicken and the onions very fine and they placed a couple of the sweet peppers on the top. These were THE sweetest tasting peppers I've ever had and they added a wonderful flavor to the sandwich. I think that I'll probably have dreams about this sandwich - yes, it was that good!

The chicken was cooked to perfection, not at all dry, and was very tasty. The onions were also perfectly cooked and did not dominate the sandwich. My only gripe is that the cheese (I had the American) was placed on the roll before the meat and was not mixed with the meat on the grill. I felt a little cheated on the first bite because it was all chicken. I prefer when the cheese is more evenly distributed throughout the sandwich. This, however, is only a minor complaint and certainly wouldn't prevent me from going back for more!

I should also mention that The Cheese Steak Shop uses Amoroso's rolls, which are a bit crunchy on the outside, and chewy inside. Yummy!

The seasoned curly fries were also excellent and not at all greasy. They were perfectly crispy and made a nice compliment to the chicken cheese steak. I dipped mine in just a bit of ketchup and mustard. Delicious!

Overall, I give The Cheese Steak Shop four and 1/2 stars out of five. Not a bad rating at all! Next time I'm going to order the 10-inch!