Ritz Bites: The best kind of vacation

September 02, 2008

The best kind of vacation

My favorite type of travel -- and way of living, really -- is hanging out with good peeps and spending days going from one eating and drinking establishment to the next.

San Francisco makes doing that very easy. Even in a mere 48 hours you can get a lot accomplished.

Blue Bottle was ground zero for all social and caffeine-oriented activity. We didn't try their siphon brew because it's hard to wean us off the cappuccio, and apples vs. apples makes for better taste testing. But the apparatus is quite a thing to behold, as is the clean interior tucked inside an historic building at the edge of newly redesigned Mint Plaza. Limited seating means a focus on the coffee and friends (or strangers sitting next to you given the forced-friendly arrangement), not spending $3 to fritter hours away on the laptop. I also like the name of the intersection.

No trip to SF is complete without a visit to the Ferry Building. Check. Purchases at the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant (Tintilla de Rota and Malvasia from Lipari), then a carafe of rose with charcuterie plate. Done and done.

Judging by the line spilling out the door at Tartine on a late Sunday afternoon, you'd never know that a major chunk of the Mission's residents have decamped for Burning Man. I get it. Pressed cheese sandwiches and perfect desserts are always in demand.

I never ever thought in a million billion years that there could be such a thing as too much insanely creamy smooth meringue. Tartine's blow torches are getting put to very good use for this noble cause. Yet as much as it hurt to leave some over on the plate, I couldn't finish all of the miraculous meringue frosting that encased the layers of cake and mild lemon curd. Truly a top 10 dessert for this citrus lover.