Sannn Frannnnnciscooooo!

I haven’t been back to downtown San Francisco since I was a little boy. That means I get to explore all the places my parents didn’t take me!

We met up on a Saturday evening after our lovely afternoon in Half Moon Bay with one of Jules’ friends from high school and her boyfriend.

They toured us around the Mission district in downtown SF and explained the city’s various neighborhoods. Perhaps more importantly, they also explained the city tendency to have weird ‘microclimate’ weather patterns…that literally vary block by block almost. Luckily for us, the weather was nice for us and not too chilly.

We wandered up to Mission Park after stopping at a nearby bakery (which is awesome and locally famous so the secret stays with me). It was an incredible sight. Mission Park looked like a giant campus quad (complete with a kids playground) seemingly stuck smack dab in the middle of suburbia. People were doing everything from hacky sacking, to picnicking, to smoking pot and dancing (no joke).

Once the sun had set enough to have it start getting dark, we headed out in search of some food. We ended up stopping at this dive bar that looked right out of something from the 1950’s- The Lone Palm. The interior and exterior would look totally in place in the Scarface movie.

While we were grabbing a drink there, we decided to go grab a bite to eat across the street at Beast and The Hare. It was a very unusual layout, both in seating (family style) and menu (lots of little known items to eat). Regardless, we had a wonderful meal and enjoyed a great bottle of red from 2005 (which is rare for us).

After dinner, we headed back to their place to see it and try some ice cream along the way. The place was called Xanath ice cream and the name does not beget how wonderful their ice cream is. They organically buy all their flavor essences, including a specific type of vanilla that was AMAZING. I kid you not, I still tasted it on my tongue for 20 minutes after I was finished eating it. It was, by far, the best ice cream I’ve ever had and a must try if you are in the area. While our day was jam-packed, it was sure fun!

TRON video game sighting #2