There is more to American food than just hamburgers and hotdogs. America is rich in culinary culture. Take San Francisco (SF) for instance, where part one of our American food journey took place. SF has a very diverse and amazing food scene worth exploring. It reminds me of Sydney as it also has diverse cultural and linguistic communities. Amongst the various ethnic communities are Chinese, Japanese, Italian and Filipino. The diversity is very evident in the food that SF has to offer.
I did my SF food research prior to leaving Sydney and what I found looked very promising. We arrived on my birthday and it was the best and most awesome birthday ever! There was no better way to celebrate than indulging myself with good food and be surrounded with loved ones in a great city such as SF.
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| Foyer at Hotel Tomo |
We first checked in at our super cool Japanese anime/pop themed hotel called Hotel Tomo in Japantown, SF. Japanese animation was shown at the foyer in three different LCD screens!
Good Luck Dim sums and Susie's Cakes
Our cousins and aunt arrived at our hotel to welcome us. They surprised us with so much food! With boxes of dumplings and red velvet cupcakes. The best cousins and auntie ever!
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| Boxes of dumplings and red velvet cupcakes |
With so much delight and excitement, we dove into the boxes of siumai, prawn gow gee, vegetable dumplings, charsiu bao, and baked pork buns from a place called Good Luck Dim Sum. Look them up in Yelp and you'll find good reviews for both their food quality and price. They certainly tasted good, but it was the prawn gow gees that stood out for me.
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| Red velvet cupcake from Susie's Cakes |
After that, it was time for the red velvet cupcakes from Susie's Cakes. It was just the way I like it, generously topped with yummy cream cheese icing. You could really taste the cream cheese in the icing and the cupcake was perfectly moist.
Clam Chowders at the Fisherman's Wharf and The Pub at Ghirardelli Square
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| Clam chowder in sourdough bread |
A trip to SF is not complete without trying the popular clam chowder. The most common clam chowder at the Wharf is the New England version. This version is milk or cream based. We went to Chowders to have a taste of this comforting dish. Perfect for a cold weather, we slowly worked our way tearing the sourdough bread from the top and dipped into the clam chowder. The chowder had a fresh clam taste. It was thick and creamy with very light acidity.
After an hour, we went to The Pub at Ghirardelli Square which is located at the other end of Fisherman’s Wharf. The lighting was dim and the décor was what one would expect from a pub. This was where we got to try some of America’s best.
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| Evil Bob's jambalaya |
Evil Bob’s jambalaya – blackened shrimp, andouille sausage & chicken jambalaya was very rustic with flavours that punch through your taste buds. It made me feel like I was in New Orleans.
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| St. Louis style ribs |
The St. Louis style ribs was my absolute favourite! It was chunky, juicy, tender. The barbeque sauce it was smothered in was thick, tangy, slightly sweet and smokey. It was brine and smoked for six hours. It was awesomely beautiful .
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| Beef short ribs |
The beef short ribs was very rich in flavour, very tender and was served with candied yams and mac & cheese. Both the St. Louis style ribs and beef short ribs were pretty rich and juicy.
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| Truffle mac and cheese |
We also ordered truffle mac and cheese. It had three cheeses with truffle oil, bacon & green onions. Wow, it was a whole new mac & cheese experience. Once you’ve tried this, you would never want mac & cheese any other way again.
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| Buffalo wings |
The buffalo wings was served with blue cheese crumbles and buffalo wing sauce. It was a delight that went so well with the cold weather.
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| Espresso burger with fries |
The espresso burger won best burger of 2010 in SF. It had espresso and brown sugar dry rub on the patty with blue cheese, bacon strips, onion rings and a touch of garlic mayo on a sourdough bun.
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| The birthday boy (very happy!) |
If you ever plan to visit the U.S., a stop at San Francisco should be considered. I highly suggest checking out Good Luck Dim sum, Chowders and The Pub at Ghirardelli Square. The Pub is a must (It was my favourite food place out of the whole trip). Part one of our food journey was very yummy for my tummy! Part two of my American food adventure to follow soon!
Good Luck Dim Sum
736 Clement St
San Francisco, California 94118, United States
(415) 386-3388
Open daily 7am-7pm
Susie’s Cakes
2109 Chestnut Street
San Francisco, CA 94123-2708, United States
(415) 474-2253
Open daily 10am-7:00pm
Chowders
39 Pier # 121
San Francisco, CA 94133-1036, United States
(415) 391-4737
The Pub at Ghirardelli Square - Recommended
851 Beach Street
San Francisco, CA 94109, United States
(415) 351-0500
Open Weekdays 11:30am-1:30am; Weekends 9:30am-1:30am
www.thepubsf.com
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