PRIMAVERA MEXICAN FOOD AT FERRY PLAZA FARMER'S MARKET...COMMUNING WITH TOURISTS

Saturday mornings at the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market are sort of a rite of passage for both folks who live here and tourists that come to visit. It's a fine line for locals as we want to support the local farmers but are intensely put off by the gawking tourists, people pushing multiple kids in strollers and folks who bring their dogs even though dogs are not allowed in the food market stalls area. All of it produces a mass of people in a small space--it is not for the claustrophobic or people who don't like crowds. But when friends say they want to meet up there we dutifully go and just roll our eyes at the machinations and outfits of those who don't live here--hey it passes the time. One goal of going is to grab a bite to eat and there are any number of outside stalls offering the standard "local, organic, sustainable," blah, blah, blah food. I've eaten at a fair number of them before, but one I hadn't tried for whatever reason, was Primavera Mexican Food.

NOPALITO MEXICAN KITCHEN...JUST DON'T CALL IT A TAQUERIA

Mexican food is almost a dime a dozen in this town, especially when you have the Mission where you can find everything from mom and pops restaurants to taquerias specializing in authentic food. So when a hipster version opens with all the buzz words, sustainable, organic, local, etc., it just makes me roll my eyes, usually at the prices of what they are charging versus what you are getting. And it was with this raised eyebrow that the SO and I popped in to try Nopalito out in the sunset district next to Golden Gate Park. It is an offshoot of sorts from the folks who started Nopa, a great place I've been to before. I have this thing about high priced Mexican food, I mean why bother when you can get the same thing authentically and at a better price? But I decided to keep an open mind.

CAFFE CENTRAL AT THE WESTFIELD.....A STEP UP FROM MALL FOOD

The Westfield is a mid to high range shopping mall in the heart of downtown San Francisco. Though mostly it's a tourist and teen hangout so when we go it's to see a movie at the theater there. This particular visit also included a journey to the underground food court. Since The Westfield has positioned itself as not your average mall they've tried to upgrade the normal food offerings you'd see at a suburban mall--no Sbarro or Panda Express here. Some places have managed to stick around while a few others have come and gone. One newish (about a year now) place there is Caffe Central (sorry no website).

ROOSTERTAIL....IT GIVES GOOD SIDE

**ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST ONLY TO REBORN. SEEMS ROOSTERTAIL IS CLOSING AS OF JUNE 14TH 2015 AND REOPENING AS GARDENIAS***

It's a random Saturday and the SO is out sailing so I head out to grab a quick lunch bite. I'd heard about Roostertail back when it got a lot of opening press. I've been meaning to check it out and now seemed like the perfect time. 

It's a cute little space on Sutter just off Fillmore, closer to Japantown than the Fillmore district, but that's splitting hairs. Long and narrow with window seating, bar seating, tables and they have a tiny outdoor area at the back where there are 2 small picnic type tables. I grab a seat in the window and peruse the menu--here it is:

THE BUTLER AND THE CHEF...A FRENCH BISTRO BRUNCHAPALOOZA

Ahh...Sunday, let's do brunch, but somewhere in our SOMA neighborhood and oh yeah, there's a baseball game today! Yes, all recipes for a disaster of long waits, but we venture out anyway and decide to hit up The Butler and The Chef, and if it's too busy we'll keep on walking.

PO PO FAMILY RESTAURANT IN BOERNE TEXAS....EATING WAAAYY BEYOND THE BAY AREA

What better way to spend July 4th than in Texas! Well, the SO and I are visiting his family and yes, it's pushing 100 on a daily basis, but there is plenty of air condition to go around. When one is visiting family a lot of time is spent around food. You get up in the morning and while having breakfast you talk about where to go for lunch. Then at lunch what the plan is for dinner. And on the way home from dinner, stopping by the store to pick up something for breakfast, it's all very cyclical. Food in Texas falls within a range of grilled/barbecued, fried and Mexican. (Sometimes you can find places that offer all of those on one menu.) Usually though your best bets are to go with the "institutions"--restaurants that have been around awhile and attract a large swath of folks based around decent homestyle food in large quantities. One such place is Po Po Family Restaurant. Located outside Boerne Texas, which is located outside San Antonio, it's a drive to get there like most things in Texas. It has a long history, which is printed on its placemats for your reading pleasure.

It also has its own unique decorating scheme which has also taken years to achieve--unless of course they are plate hoarders and just happen to have them laying around. 

THE CREME BRULEE CART...DESPERATELY TRYING TO GET MY SWEET ON

I've seen the creme brulee cart around town for quite some time. It's gone from cute little cart to multiple location dessert empire as it were. So it was on this particular Saturday of wandering the city I came across the cart in one of it's mostly permanent locations at the corner of Castro and Market, and after all this time thought, why not try it.