San Francisco (Part 2)

San Francisco, California -- Continuation of post below.

Day 3: Off the Grid, Alcatraz, and oysters!
We started our day with a light breakfast from Chinatown, then we walked around Union Square for a bit.  For lunch we decided to try out Off the Grid, which is a collection of gourmet food trucks that park in a specific area for lunch and dinner.  After looking them over, we ordered from the korean bbq truck Koja Kitchen.  This ended up being the most popular truck by far.  We got a bbq short rib (kalbi) sandwich and the bbq chicken sandwich along with a side of kamikaze fries.  Both sandwiches were on buns made of sticky rice, which really complimented the spicy, flavored meat.  The kamikaze fries were waffle fries covered in kim chi sauce, japanese mayo, bbq ground beef, and scallions.  SO GOOD.  Louie has said this was his fave meal in SF.  Not only was this super-inventive, it was also tasty and very affordable.  They also had tiramisu dessert cups using mochi...but we didn't try it out :(

Of course Louie was still hungry after this, so we went over to this place called Turtle Tower for some pho.  We really liked the flat noodles and the homemade taste of the broth, but the steak was not as thinly sliced as versions we've had in Philly.

After two lunches, we took the ferry over to Alcatraz.  The prison and island are pretty cool and worth a visit.  There's an audio tour included in the price of admission, which was probably the best audio tour I've ever done.  It's narrated by former guards and former inmates.

Dinner was at the Hog Island Oyster Company in the Ferry Building.  We went over at 4:30pm to take advantage of the happy hour deals, and the place was packed with a line already forming.  It's really popular, so I would recommend getting there on the earlier side.  We waited about 25 min for a table and that was pre-happy hour rush.  The oysters were really fresh and the clam chowder was chock full of fresh clams.  Yum!

Can't forget about our delish gelato cone for dessert!

VERDICT: Go to Off the Grid!  If you love pho, try it out but be aware the meat is different. Hog Island is pretty standard seafood.


Day 4-5: Yosemite
Just a collection of the beautiful pictures we took.  Also we stayed in a tent here.  I would recommend getting a hotel room unless you really like roughing it.

Day 7: Muir Woods and Marin Headlands

Giant redwoods!

Suspension bridge!

Cuban sandwich for lunch.  Meh, expected better.

San Tung for dinner.  We actually tried to go here for lunch earlier in the week, but the restaurant is randomly closed on Wednesdays (wtf?).  We had a recommendation to try out the wings here, so we came back for our last meal.  We ordered the homemade shrimp and leek dumplings, the original dry fried chicken wings, handmade noodles in black bean sauce, and 5 spice beef and noodle soup.  The dumplings were really good and reminiscent of the kind Louie's fam makes (legit since they're from Beijing--dumpling capital of China).  The wings were sweet and tangy, though they were cooked with whole chilis and garlic.  Both noodle dishes were made with handmade noodles which were SO GOOD.  We both loved the soup, which was really beefy (sounds weird, but delish) and the black bean noodles were pretty good too.  This place is actually really popular, especially, for some odd reason, with SF hipsters.  We walked in at 5pm and the place was already getting packed.  I've heard lines form outside just to get a table during lunch or dinner.

VERDICT: Get the dumplings and 5 spice beef soup for sure.  The wings are really good too, but just know they are not spicy.  Black bean noodles are aite.