Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
a stone pot.
(
415-431-6268;
www.namusf.com
; 499 Dolores St; small plates $8-22;
11:30am-10pm Tue-
Thu & Sun, to 11pm Fri & Sat;
22, 33,
J,
16th St Mission)
Understand
San Francisco's Original Mission
When Captain Juan Bautista de Anza and Father Francisco Palou brought 340 horses, 302 head of cattle and 160
mules to settle Mission San Francisco in 1776, there was a slight hitch: the area had already been settled by Nat-
ive Americans for some 14,300 years. To build their mission, the new arrivals conscripted local Ohlone People.
In exchange, Native laborers were allowed one scant meal a day and a place in God's kingdom - which came
much sooner than expected. Measles and other introduced diseases reduced the Ohlone population by almost
three-quarters during the 50 years of Spanish rule in California.
The mission settlement never really prospered. The sandy fields were difficult to farm, fleas were a constant
irritation, and Spanish soldiers sent to retrieve runaway laborers went AWOL themselves. Spain readily handed
off the colony to newly independent Mexico in 1821, which ceded California to the USA in 1848. Within
months, gold was found near San Francisco, and leased mission property proved fertile ground for saloons and
music halls - as the Mission remains today.
9
Ichi Sushi
$$
SUSHI
GOOGLE MAP
Alluring on the plate and positively obscene on the tongue, Ichi Sushi is a sharp cut above
other seafood options. Silky, sustainably sourced fish is sliced with a jeweler's precision,
balanced atop well-packed rice, and topped with powerfully tangy dabs of gelled
yuzu
and
microscopic
brunoise
of spring onion and chili daikon that make soy sauce unthinkable.
(
415-525-4750;
www.ichisushi.com
;
3369 Mission St; sushi $4-8;
5:30-10pm Mon-Thu, to 11pm Fri & Sat;
14, 49,
24th St Mission,
J)
10
Commonwealth
$$$
California's most imaginative farm-to-table dining isn't in some quaint barn, but the con-
verted cinderblock Mission dive where chef Jason Fox serves sensational salads of green
strawberries and black radishes with fennel pollen, and poached oysters atop foraged suc-
CALIFORNIAN
