Where to eat in San Francisco: A mother-daughter culinary journey

I made it to the San Francisco! There were a few delays, if you recall. But, I’ve been in California for the past couple of weeks and I’ve loved it, as usual. I’m not new to the perks of the Bay Area. My dad has been living here for more than a decade and I visit him every year, so it has really become like a second home to me.

However, that is not the case with my mom. She just moved from Mexico to The United States a few weeks ago. Now that I’m hitting the road on my own and that she has retired, she decided it was the perfect time to move back to the USA with my dad. Although she has visited San Fran before, it was many years ago, so she was quite unfamiliar with the place when she arrived. Therefore, I thought I’ll be a good daughter and show her around. And what better way to get to know a city than eating!

We <3 Food

Mom and I are hardcore foodies. And I’m not joking. Have you ever seen Gilmore Girls? That’s the perfect example to illustrate both, our relationship with each other AND our relationship with food.

Mother used to run a catering business back in Mexico and I helped from time to time. We catered in private events and also sold pies, quiches and cheesecake in several Farmer’s Markets around Guadalajara.

She is one of the most amazing cooks I’ve ever met. If you don’t believe me, ask around. I still have the theory people went to all my birthday parties not because they loved me, but because of the obscene amounts of appetizers and deserts she made for the guests.

As you can imagine, this woman knows about food, so whenever we go out to eat, whether is in our home country or abroad, it is always an adventure (we have some stories involving the calamitous NY tuna sandwich of 2008 and The Best French Egg Pizza Ever, but I’ll get back to you on that later).

So, with that background in mind, mom and I woke up really early in the morning, had absolutely nothing for breakfast since we knew we were going to consume the calories required to function for an entire week in one day and headed to Downtown San Francisco to our first stop: Mama’s.

Brunch at Mama’s

If you haven’t had brunch in San Francisco, you haven’t had brunch at all. Good old SF is the brunch capital by excellence (well, and also New York, but that was too far).

There are hundreds of options in the city to enjoy a nice glass of mimosa and zucchini bread, but since it was my mom’s first time in the city, I decided to take her to Mama’s.

I had never been to Mama’s before either, but since it appeared in almost every brunch article I read and had awesome scores in Yelp, I decided it was worth the try.

Mama’s is located in the centre of Little Italy, the Italian neighbourhood of San Francisco, so it was definitely a good sing, since most of the restaurants in the area are awesome. We arrived a little before noon, only to find a queue that was long enough to surround the outside of the place. Even though I must confess I was very tempted to quit and find a less crowded place, my mom said that if it was that full, there must be a very good reason for it. Boy, she was right.

We queued for about forty-five minutes in a particularly cold and windy day. And before you say anything, let me tell you that we had absolutely no regrets about it! When we finally made it inside, we encountered with this lovely little place with a very homey vibe.

Mom and I decided to split a dish, since it was only our first stop and we planned to keep eating the rest of the day. Of course, we ordered a spinach quiche (we are quiche girls, as I said). Mom also ordered a potato salad, since she says that American potato salads are the best. Although I have a weakness for kartoffelsalat, I must say she had a point, because it was yummy.

I can’t stress enough how delicious this thing was! The quiche was so wonderful that it was worth another slice for sure. The filling had tons of spinach and the crust was very crispy and light. But the best part was all that cheese. The top had a massive amount of melted cheddar that made it just heavenly!

We accompanied our order with a mimosa and a mocha latte… Well, just a mimosa, since my mom spilled most of the latte in her top, but the mimosa was so good that it compensated the loss.

I was afraid it was going to be a bit pricey, because it was so popular, but I think the prices were quite fair for the quality of the dishes. Also, the service was very kind and friendly. Mom and I left the place very satisfied and went to our next destination near The Embarcadero.

The Ferry building

If you are craving a snack, but are not exactly sure of what do you want, The Ferry Building is your place. It does not only have an amazing location (just right by the ocean and within walking distance from The Exploratorium and Alcatraz Cruises), but offers a bunch of options for any food fans.

Oysters, artisan cheese, Argentinian empanadas, pastries… We had so many choices that we decided to go back to basics and get an ice cream. Only it wasn’t really that basic. Humphry Slocombe is one of the most bizarre ice cream shops in the city. They are particularly famous for their unusual flavours. And when I say unusual, I really mean it. “Peanut butter curry”, “Government Cheese” and “Elvis, the fat years” (wherever that means) are only a few on their list.

We decided to share again and opted to get an odd scoop and a more regular one, to balance. We ordered a combination of Peach Popcorn and malted milk chocolate and I must say it was a win.

There was definitely a lot more to do and eat in The Ferry Building. They offer free walking tours and you can catch ferry boats to Sausalito and other places in the Bay. But since we had a tight schedule, we ignore the distant cries from the chocolate shops and left the place.

Boudin Bakery

I know, I know. If you are familiar with San Francisco, you may say this option is a little cliché, but if you are new to the city, you must, at least, try it once! Boudin Bakery is famous for its sourdough bread, which is a San Francisco’s classic.

They have establishment all over the Bay Area and their Fisherman’s Wharf shop let you witness their baking process and offers Museum tours to get to know more about the history of the bakery and San Francisco itself. Mom ordered the characteristic clam chowder, which is a typical dish in the area. While it’s delicious, I’ve had it a bunch of times before, so I opted for a butternut squash soup instead. They also serve it inside a sourdough bread and topped it with roasted walnuts. They also have a restaurant upstairs and offer several complete meals, but we still had to make some room for later.

Ghirardelli Chocolate Company

Ghirardelli is, in fact, a bit cliché too. But we were already in the neighbourhood, so I though, what the hell? After all, it would be foolish to go to Belgium and not try Godiva, right?

Ghirardelli is THE chocolate company of San Francisco. Is one of the oldest chocolate factories in the country and they offer anything you can think of to satisfy us sweet lovers. From their famous Chocolate Squares to their ginormous ice cream sundaes.

Since the day was quite cold and we have no respect whatsoever for our diabetes family history, we ordered a salted caramel hot chocolate (although we could easily have had another ice cream). Salted caramel chocolate is quite popular in San Fran. And to have it on a hot beverage while we sheltered from the weather was just amazing.

Suppenküche

And of course there was dinner. To be super honest, we weren’t planning on visiting this place exactly. We originally intended to go to Biergaten to grab some pretzel dumplings and a beer. However, it was incredibly crowded and we’d already had our share of queues that day. A local suggested us to try Suppenküche if we wanted to keep the German theme and we agreed to give it a try.

The place specializes in Bavarian cooking and they make their best to offer a traditional German experience to their customers. My mom ordered a Maultaschen in Pilzrahmsoße (I dare you to say that five times in a row). The dish was some sort of German ravioli. The filling had pork and vegetables and an amazing mushroom sauce.

She also ordered a diet coke, but they told her they just had its Germanic version. So, they brought her this instead.

It tasted like a traditional cola beverage, but with a dab of lemon. It was actually quite tasty.

I, on the other side, decided for a Gemischter Salat. It was a salad with a mix of greens, beet, cabbage and carrots.

To be such an unexpected place, we really enjoyed our meal. It was so different from everything we normally eat, but delicious, nevertheless. Definitely a great end to a great day. I have a bunch of other favourite places to eat in SF and I’ll be posting about them soon enough. In the meantime don’t forget to write in the comments about your favourite places to eat in San Francisco.

I guess I’ll see you on the road.

Love,