Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cuckoo for Cocoa
The line of tourists snaking into
Ghirardelli Ice Cream and Chocolate
Shop
9
(900 North Point St.;
%
415/474-1414; www.ghirardelli.com;
Sun-Thurs 9am-11pm, Fri-Sat 9am-midnight; AE, MC, V),
at Fisherman's
Wharf's west end near the cable-car turnaround, is testament more to the
fame of the ice-cream shop/chocolatier than it is its superiority. I far pre-
fer Norman's, which is a 3-minute walk away, and not just because
Ghirardelli is otherwise available across the country, from Chicago to
Orlando. However, there's no denying that Ghirardelli (
Gear
-ar-delli with a
hard “g”) is a San Francisco mainstay, and its success as a destination is
a big reason Fisherman's Wharf has turned from blue-collar workers' area
to a legit tourist attraction. Ghirardelli Square is where the chocolates
were once manufactured, from 1895, but the company moved its operation
across the Bay to San Leandro generations ago, leaving the one-time fac-
tory to be converted into a bricked terrace of very fancy shops and restau-
rants. Despite the fact that Ghirardelli is, in fact, made elsewhere, tourists
are not strongly disabused of the belief that it's still made here in quan-
tity and are tempted by the allure of chocolate to queue here. The brand
maintains both a small “on-the-go” storefront (Mon-Sat 8:30am-5pm, Sun
9am-5pm) for chocolate sales only, where tastes are often doled out for
free, and a full-fledged ice-cream parlor selling overpriced ($9) sundaes
piled with rather bland ice cream and pleasingly rich chocolate; both get
packed on weekends and holidays. If you just want chocolate, no sundaes
or lines, skip to
Ghirardelli's Union Square shop (42 Stockton St.;
%
415/
397-3030)
instead, where there's never a crowd. Then if your friends ask
you if you went to Ghirardelli, you can say yes—just don't waste an hour
of your precious vacation on it.
CHINATOWN
The food offerings in Chinatown are plenty—so numerous that if you ask 10
locals to name their favorite restaurants, you probably won't hear the same place
named twice. Stroll Grant Avenue for the more Westernized of them, and then
Stockton for the (usually less expensive) places where you may have to point at
something to order it. South of California Street, the restaurant options thin out
as you approach Union Square.
$ Hing Lung Restaurant
5
(674 Broadway, at Stockton;
%
415/398
-
8838;
8am-1am; cash only)
is better than your average jook joint. What's that? A joint
selling
jook,
a term for the rice porridge (also called
congee
), which many Chinese
eat by the tankerful every morning, noon, and night. If you're going to be trying
it for the first time, this is a great place to do it, because they make congee well—
not too watery or thick with rice. The custom is to pile the stuff with whatever
