Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
bring their pure, home-raised products for sale. Below, I've listed places where
comestibles are likely to be good gifts to bring home; and where you might pick
up a quick nosh as you're rushing around town.
PlumpJack Wines
5
(3201 Fillmore St., at Greenwich;
%
415/346-9870;
www.plumpjackwines.com)
is one of the biggest wine dealers in a city that cares
deeply about the beverage: Some 900 wines are in its cellars. An unusually plen-
tiful selection of them are priced under $15. The main intention, claims the com-
pany, is to remove pretension from wine, although this place's style, flash, and
large inventory may still intimidate many. Besides running this Cow Hollow
store, the brand operates as a kind of boutique titan in the area, from running
restaurants, to running some upscale lodges in Wine Country, to successfully
launching a wine label at its own Napa winery. The founder of this smart-and-
sassy outfit was none other than Gavin Newsom, the dashing can-do man who
went on to become San Francisco's love-him-hate-him mayor.
One of the reasons that San Francisco's Little Italy, North Beach, has (in my
opinion) edged out New York City's is the continued survival of great little Italian
grocery stores like
Molinari Delicatessen
555
(373 Columbus Ave., at Vallejo;
%
415/421-2337),
where cheeses, meats, olive oils, and other ingredients—often
in hard-to-find varieties—pack a small, old-school corner deli. It's in the heart of
the neighborhood, and over time, it's become something of a local emblem.
Custom-made sandwiches using their fine breads and meats are $6 to $8—don't
neglect to grab a number when you come in. If you'll have a kitchen in the city,
avail yourself of the homemade pastas.
Many of the finer restaurants around town get their focaccia-style bread from
one place: the long-running
Liguria Bakery
555
(1700 Stockton St., at Filbert;
%
415/421-3786),
a no-frills corner takeout store that specializes in that one prod-
uct. And what a product—spongy, touched with oil, topped with various choices
like mushroom or onion, cut in enormous inch-thick planks and wrapped in
paper, and always sold fresh for around $3.50 each. The hours are funny because
the owners don't live to work; getting here early in the morning (perhaps before
you wait on the breakfast queue for Mama's, p. 58, across the street?) is wise.
If Liguria is out of bread (a possibility), head a block south to
Italian French
Baking Company
55
(1501 Grant Ave., at Union;
%
415/421-3796),
another
no-nonsense elder in the world of North Beach bakeries. It also does huge slabs
of focaccia and some other terrific breads and sweets, almost always under $3. The
19th-century brick still in daily use is locally renowned; ask, and they'll let you in
the back to have a peek. For sourdough bread, take a peek at the write-up of the
Boudin bakery on p. 137.
If the temperature goes above 70°F, the owner of
XOX Truffles
5
(754
Columbus Ave., near Greenwich;
%
415/421-4814; www.xoxtruffles.com)
won't
make his chocolate bonbons. That's because he doesn't want to ruin his confec-
tions with waxy ingredients like hydrogenated oils that hold cheaper chocolates
together. His hand-rolled artworks are 90¢ each in a variety of flavors, but buy-
ing a box of 20 for $9 brings the per-piece down to a more tolerable 45¢ each.
Rich hot chocolate (real cocoa, not that sugary Swiss Miss junk) is a steal at $3.
It tastes so good to be a chocolate snob.
If you're a
sake
(Japanese rice wine) person, it's not always easy to find stuff beyond
a few core labels, and those, true aficionados will tell you, are usually not the best-
tasting. But the stylish
True Sake
(560 Hayes St., at Laguna;
%
415/355-9555;
