7 Bay Area Food Hits

             My family and I have a dining fetish when traveling. First we need to be sitting down with a spoons, knives or forks in our hands. For us eating a turkey leg and a soda on a park bench in Disneyland is tragic.  That does not mean we are not adventurous about food though. It simply means, we just need to eat and to eat properly..and seriously.

     It always excites me to discover new restaurants and cafes. From our last trip to the States, allow me to share what we found....Are you ready to drool? Just kidding!

1. CREPEVINE

     Crepevine has a branch in Burlingame where we usually stay in the Bay Area. We never ventured into trying it during our previous trips because we thought all along that is was expensive but the food was actually quite affordable. Their crepes were nothing less than yummeh! We loved the Santorini with its medley of walnuts, pistachios, brown sugar, coconut, cinnamon and mascarpone and the delightful, no-miss mix of strawberries, bananas and nutella of the Burlngame crepe.

BURLINGAME Strawberries, bananas and nutella

 

SANTORINI Walnuts, pistachios, brown sugar, coconut, cinnamon and mascarpone

                Yellow who is twelve is not yet ready to give up the kids' menu and went for the grilled cheese sandwich which she said was to-die-for.

     GRILLED CHEESE on sourdough with house potatoes

2. BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE

     My good buddy from my high school past, Dindo who lives in Sta. Clara drove up to Burlingame and introduced me to Blue Bottle Coffee. It was love at first sip with my Three Africans blend. I like my coffee strong, robust and Blue Bottle was just perfect. I liked it too that the branch in Burlingame occupies a corner of a little produce/organic market . Really quaint and laid back. I love it! I miss that place!

     Blue Bottle has an interesting history too. Read about it here.

3. COSTCO

     Yes, you've read it right Costco. I was missing my kitchen and had no energy to cook Christmas dinner as my mother-in-law was, so we headed to Costco and bought...Christmas dinner! We had salmon, pasta alfredo. meat loaf and mashed potatoes. The works! We even had a four cheese platter. Haha! My mom would be shocked! LOL! But hey, we pulled Christmas dinner off and I almost did not miss my mom's cooking...But I still did. (Biting lower lip drama.)

4. Safeway's Traditional Strawberry Bistro Cake

     We were searching for dessert to go  with Christmas dinner and we sort of stumbled upon this in our neighborhood Safeway. YUM!!! I could eat a whole cake but I did not of course even if I looked like I did after the trip. HECK!!! It is light and not too sweet unlike the more popular dulce de leche.

5.  TAD'S

     Tad's along Powell in downtown SFO is from what I have read a dining institution. It has been around for 45 years and is actually a steak house. It became our go-to place for breakfast though since it was so close to the Hilton where we stayed. They serve good breakfast and early!

     I, on the other hand absolutely loved its yellow vaulted, coffered ceiling. =-) So pretty!

No this is not in Chinatown...

            H, the kids and I are not big on steaks so we stuck to the breakfast menu. =-)Good old American!

6. Big Mouth Burger

      The kids went for the burgers. H and I loved the Salmon burgers at Big Mouth Burger in Millbrae. Really good and healthy too.

     Their apple pie with a buttery, soft crust was also delicious.....Hmmm!
 

        May I have two please/ KDDING!

7. Napa Sigh

     We had what I could call a melodramatic trip to Napa. You know the type of trip that sort of does not want to push through and when it finally did someone gets lost or losses something. I am thankful about how it turned out though. No one hurt. Just a lot of wasted gas. Poor Mother Earth!

     Two highlights that day; half of our convoy got to visit a replica of a  medieval castle and we had a picnic in one of the wineries and had these......Pathetic me but I don;t remember what these were but good.

     This was in Sattui Winery. I will share more about these pics in a different post.

     In the meantime I leave you at this. =-)

     It is a Sunday here in Manila and we are off South of Manila to get some fresh air and to eat hopefully healthy food. Maybe you have a food discovery you want to share with me. Tell me about it. Would love to hear from you.

     Happy Sunday!