So I trust you enjoyed your dim sum brunch at Yank Sing from A Half Day in San Francisco Part One? Of course you did. You’re welcome. Time to walk it off.
With your back to the SPEAR ST. entrance of Rincon Center walk half a block to your right to MISSION. Walk two blocks towards the water (can’t miss it.) The big street bisected by trolly car tracks is EMBARCADERO. Cross the street so you’re on the water side and take a left on EMBARCADERO heading away from the bridge.
In a couple blocks you’ll be at the Ferry Building Marketplace. Go inside. You’ll dig it. Trust me.
Inside is a treasure trove of local artisanal food, flowers, produce, skin and body products, cookware, you name it. If you’re still on your way to Sonoma, this is a great place to whet your appetite for what’s to come. If you’re like me, and you can never cram in enough food and fun in your always too short time up north, this is a great place to pick up culinary souvenirs from delicious Sonoma spots you might have missed on your way back.
• Cowgirl Creamery is a Northern California institution. They have been making amazing handcrafted organic cheeses since the 1990’s and have facilities in both Pt. Reyes in Marin County and Petaluma in southern Sonoma County. Both are open for tours when booked in advance. But, if you can’t make it, this is the perfect place to get a taste of their pungent, decadent triple cream Red Hawk, their tangy, teeny Inverness and, one of my favorites, the Humboldt Fog, a partnership with Cypress Grove creamery, a truly unusual goat cheese that is tangy and crumbly at its center, but runny and almost brie-like around the edges under the bloomy rind. With a thin layer of signature ash shot through the center, it’s a cheese as dramatic as it is delicious.
• Beekind is an emporium of honey and bee related products from around the world. Candles, cosmetics, soaps, and of course, plenty of the unfiltered sweet amber itself. There are quite a few Sonoma County honeys represented in their ever changing repertoire. They also have a location in Sebastapol (921 Gravenstein Highway South) a great stop when you’re up there.
•Benedetta, founded in 1996 in Sonoma County specializes in botanical skin care utilizing farm sourced ingredients from California and around the globe. Recyclable packaging, no animal testing, no chemicals or toxins. But the most important thing to me, is that these products smell and feel like heaven!
Other personal favorites include —
• Acme Bread Company, The Mister spent many childhood years in the Bay Area and has become a self-styled sourdough aficionado. His criteria is based on 1) heavy sourdough flavor and 2) “Crunchewiness” which I’ve come to understand as a crisp, well baked crust, bonus points for a hint of brick oven smokiness, and an elastic bounce back from a dense interior. A loaf of Acme’s had to be purchased if only to compare to his childhood gold standard down the road a spell, but I’ll save that for part three.
• I think top sweet honors go to the Black Jet Baking Company. Caramelized coconut macaroons? Apricot crumb hand pies? Besides the diabetic coma you’re about to slip into, what’s not to like?
If you haven’t stopped off for a second brunch, and believe me, the temptations are many, time to move on down the Embarcadero, remember Sonoma is on small town time, they roll up the sidewalks early, you don’t want to miss that first sip of pinot!
So on to large, grunting, foul tempered, lazy beasts…no, not him! As we move on to A Half Day in San Francisco Part Three: Pier 39 ghastly!
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