SF Recap 2021

This was my 3rd trip to visit Niraj in San Francisco. 

TUESDAY

I arrived Tuesday morning, and walked from 16st/Mission to his apartment. First stop was getting sandwiches at Lucinda's. I got the pastrami and it was delicious, even if they went heavy on the arugula. 

From there we headed to Golden Gate Park to play some disc golf. We played a skins game for 18 holes and it was a NAILBITER. I ended up winning 10-8. Mostly, it was good to finally have some good competition. 

(Actually, I opened up a 9-3 lead, but Niraj won three in a row to make things legitimately tense on the 16th hole. I won that, clinching it 10-6. Niraj finished strong making it 10-8.)

After all that walking, we earned some beer and wings at Kezar Pub.

We headed back to get cleaned up and get hungry enough for dinner. We watched an episode of Squid Game and then walked to Mangrove for thai food. Which was closed. So we audibled to Nara for sushi. 

Great sushi as well as spicy pork buns. 

After dinner, last stop of the night was Last Rites, a tiki bar. 

The drinks here were insane. Very well done.

Between the airports, walking to his place, the disc golf, and walking around for dinner/drinks, I accumulated over 27k steps, a new personal high.

WEDNESDAY

Started our day by fueling up on donuts on Bob's.

I got the seasonal apple cider donut which was good, but the star was the raised maple donut. From there we took the Ferry across the bay to Oakland/Alameda. 

We grabbed a beer at Almanac...

And then headed next door to the Rake for another beer. 

After that, we needed something to soak up all that beer. Pizza it is!

We went to the Square Pie Guys in Oakland and it was LEGIT.

We split a Big Von with garlic ricotta cream, italian sausage, pepperoni and mike's hot honey. A perfect pizza. One of the best of my life. 

After that we walked to the Trappist which had a great vibe, although I was too full to get another beer, so I got a Paloma while Niraj got a beer. 

Before we left Oakland, we got to see the bar that Niraj use to own (rip).

We headed to The Willows for pub trivia.

We met Niraj's friend Michael and our power trio finished 2nd out of 8 teams. That was a lot of fun.

After that we went back home to watch Free Guy. 

THURSDAY

We started our last day at The Interval, known for being a bar but they had some morning drinks and food.

I got a pretzel bun with bonus cheese inside (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Gruyere.)

This is the place where Niraj has a bottle in the ceiling.

Lunch was at Garaje. I got the Zapato, a grilled burrito. Very tasty.

From there we walked to our Escape Room, an art heist.

It was just the two of us in a room and we escaped with 11 minutes to spare. Good stuff.

Then we got some good beers at City Beer Store and Mikkeller.

Next up, was a sneak preview showing of the highly anticipated last Bond movie from Daniel Craig, No Time to Die. 

Then last stop was a newer tiki bar that Niraj hadn't been to yet, Zombie Village. 

Any time with Niraj is always a good time.

SF Recap

DAY ONE

Monday morning I arrived at Denver International Airport at sunrise.

I proceeded to fly over the Rocky Mountains. 

And landed in San Francisco, where I went straight to La Taqueria to meet Niraj and get a burrito. La Taqueria won 538's burrito bracket and I was curious because I've always wanted to try a griddled burrito (you have to order Dorado style to get it griddled.)

I ordered the Super (adds avocado, sour cream and cheese) Carnitas burrito Dorado style with no beans.

The burrito was quite impressive. The griddled tortilla makes a huge difference and I wonder why every place doesn't offer the option. The meat wasn't as flavorful as I might have expected, but overall this was an outstanding burrito. I also opted try their Agua Fresca. (When in Rome) They had a bunch of flavors, I picked Tangerine. It tasted just like clementines, which I love.

From there we walked to Dolores Park and made some game plans.

After that we headed to Golden Gate Park to play 18 holes of frisbee golf.

Burnsdog crushed me. He was up 5 holes through 7.

But I did hit the best shot of my life. You can see my green disc in the basket above. I stupidly had already moved from where I took the shot for this picture, the shot was farther back and on the left. I'd say it was at least 50 feet out.

From there we went to Magnolia Pub & Brewery on Haight St.

I got the Proving Ground IPA, Devils on Horseback on Brussels Sprouts, and cheddar bacon burger. When they brought out the devils on horseback (bacon-wrapped dates) I commented that the Brussels sprouts were a waste. (I mean I like them, but they are no bacon-wrapped dates.) And then they turned out to be the best Brussels sprouts I've ever had.

From there we checked out the last night that Amsterdam (a bar) was open. But I was so tired, I didn't last long.

DAY TWO

We started the day by walking to Alamo Square. 

From there we tried to go to House of Thai 2 but they weren't open yet, so we went across the street to Kate's Kitchen. I got the spicy chicken on baguette with their home fries. Delicious.

After lunch we bussed it over to Anchor Brewing for a 1pm tour. They're nice enough to give you a decent sample of Anchor Steam before the tour starts. And then after the tour, they give you 6 other Anchor samples.

After the tour we Ubered over to an Escape Room. 60 minutes to get out of a locked room. To read my full recap, go here. 

We escaped with 13 seconds left! A nail-biting time of 59:47. In other words it took us 99.64% of our possible time to escape.

After that we headed to The Social Study where I tried some Sanfrangria. Since the Escape Room was in Japantown, we were inspired to have sushi for dinner. We went to Hot Zushi and it was great although I didn't take any pictures.

DAY THREE

Here's the view out Niraj's window. Not too shabby.

A brief backstory. In December I got an email that a bar near me would be tapping Pliny the Elder. I show up an hour and a half after they open and it's already gone. So Niraj and I head to Monk's Kettle for lunch and I order a Pliny the Elder like it's nothing special.

Couldn't decide between the burger and the chicken sandwich so we get one of each and split one. Both are really amazing and the fries come with outstanding tomato jam.

Then we hop in a ZipCar and drive north to Petaluma. Home of Lagunitas Brewing.

Great stuff. In fact, I gave Aunt Sally's Sour my highest rating to date. 

Here's the bathroom at Lagunitas:

After Lagunitas, it's just a short drive to Santa Rosa, home of Russian River Brewing. I really wanted to get a flight to try all their beers. But the week I was here happened to be the once a year release of Pliny the Younger, one of the most sought after craft beers. People have waited 8 hours in line for this beer. I wanted to try it too but didn't want to wait a super long time. So we show up and it doesn't look that bad.

Still in line.

Took us just over 2 hours to get inside.

After all that we we get a glass of Younger. And...to me it's hardly different than Elder. For some people waiting all that time might build it up so that they think it's something more than it really is. I think it had the opposite effect for me. Like, I waited this long for a beer that tastes like a beer?

The star of the show really is:

That's a 21-beer flight. 18 fit in their custom holder and three more served on the side. Most were good, some were outstanding.

And on the way home we pulled of at a viewpoint for a dramatic shot:

Simply put, another fantastic trip.