My mom is a Mills College alum and absolutely loves San Francisco… you could say my crush on this city is probably in my DNA. Fantastic views, a cultural melting pot (with some of the best eats from around the world), and a laid back culture that I adore. San Francisco is en fuego when it comes to food. I ate about 100 killer meals when we filmed the San Fran episode last year. I enjoyed the sun and surf—yes I went into 54 degree water in search of fresh abalone and sea urchin—and I even squeezed in time at Humphrey Slocumbe, an ice cream parlor worth the trip just for their foie gras ice cream sandwiches.
Some other culinary highlights: Dinner at Benu with my pals at Boobs4Food. French Laundry alum Corey Lee is only a few months into his solo career and this restaurant needs to be on everyone’s go-to list. Advice for anyone headed to Benu: order the tasting menu you can avoid the decision making pressure. Oh, and make your reservation well in advance.
Incanto is one of my favorite places to eat in the country, not just in SF. Chris and Mark run a tight ship, and even if you don’t like snout to tail eating, this restaurant never fails to thrill. Pine broth with matsutake and shaved abalone was best thing I ate all trip in SF. Ditto to the torchon. If you are not following @offalchris on twitter, you should. He posts pics almost every day of his latest creations.
I did food rescue with activists from Food Not Bombs…. We salvaged food from dumpsters that was perfectly fine to eat and make a meal to feed the hungry. It was a moving experience on many levels. Partly because it’s shocking to see how much food is wasted in the USA (and could go to feed hungry people), and partly because I was on the other side at one point in my life.
As I’ve said before, helping the homeless is a cause very near and dear to my heart. I encourage you to tune in to Bizarre Foods: San Francisco tonight (Tues., March 1 @ 9pm E/P). For every viewer, Travel Channel will make a ten cent donation to the 100,ooo Homes Campaign, an org devoted to finding homes for Americans without them. Sure, a dime doesn’t sound like much, but if we get 1 million people to watch, that’s $100,000!
Please watch tonight, and please spread the word.
