Eating in San Francisco

Eastern Bakery is the classical Chinese bakery. Claiming to be the oldest Chinese Bakery in San Francisco's Chinatown and dating back to 1924, the place is faithful to a classical Chinese look and transports you across the ocean and back a century just by walking in. The emphasis here is not on the design but on the content: a tasty cookie is more important than a complete Chinese seal on eat.

Japantown in San Francisco is maybe less known than other ethnic quarters and it is worth a careful visit; one of its attractions are the many Japanese restaurants at the shopping centers. A fierce competition pushes the prices down and creates an excellent food quality.

Across the bay, in Oakland's Fruitvale, Saigon Wrap offers a Hi-Tech version of Vietnamese food. All the classics are available here: pho noodle soup and typical Vietnamese sandwiches are the hits and closely resemble the originals. Aware of their customers' tastes, they serve Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk and cappuccino as well; tapioca desserts, and smoothies. Not all the attractions are Asian; next to Saigon Wrap is Powderface, a place specializing in New Orleans style Beignets.

Quick Tips:

While talking about food, the San Francisco area is extraordinarily rich and varied; there are restaurants for all tastes and it seems that the whole globe is represented there. It is not just the variety; the amount is impressive as well. Except for Cambodia, where else can three Cambodian restaurants be found within walking distance from each other? Even in its Asian homelands, Lao-Thai mixed establishments are an oddity.

Unfortunately, there is a definite sense of danger in the streets after dark; thus visiting the sites for a late lunch makes more sense. Oddly, the cameras in every street corner do not add a feeling of security; who is watching on their other side? I asked locals and got truly surprised looks.

The food pricing does not follow a simple pattern. Downtown San Francisco is not the most expensive place in the area; actually, for small items and odd coffees, the variety is better and prices are lower here. Oakland and Berkeley are generally more expensive, especially while moving away from their main streets. Water in neighborhood's shops can be ridiculously expensive, bringing it from downtown before venturing in less central areas is recommended.

Best Way To Get Around:

To move between the different towns in the San Francisco area, the BART (www.bart.gov/) train offers the best deals. Its pricing depends in the distance traveled and tickets can be conveniently bought from vending machines at the entrance. The only drawback is that each town is covered along a single axis and thus sometimes a second method of transport is needed.

The MUNI (www.sfmuni.com/) is a system of trains and buses serving the city of San Francisco. Tickets cost .50 and a free transfer ticket can be obtained and used within 90 minutes. The website offers a comfortable Trip Planner. AC Transit (www.actransit.org/) is a system of buses covering the East Bay towns. Trips cost .75 and a .25 transfer ticket is valid for 90 minutes; trips can be planned through their website.

Transbay buses cost .50 and cross the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge. At San Francisco they conveniently stop at a terminal close to both Market and Mission streets.

At www.sparetheair.org, it is possible to check if the current day is a Spare the Air Day; if so, all the options mentioned above are free.

Japan-town is on the San Francisco's Western Addition; there, some of the beautiful minimalism of that culture got adaptations in its way across the ocean, and not always for good. Two shopping malls are the center of the quarter. A small plaza separates between the malls; it has a flat fountain producing an agreeable gurgling sound and a multi-layered pagoda. It sounds nice; an elegant pagoda is always an inspiring sight; but here there was a catch: it was built of solid cement.

To avoid the sight, we entered the Japan Center Mall and after wandering a while through the interior, which included a Japanese Bridge and a scaled down Osaka Castle, we decided to eat at Kushi Tsuru, one of the many Japanese restaurants in the place. Most of them showed their distinctive dishes on their windows and the choice between them was hard; however, Kushi Tsuru made a positive impression and we weren't disappointed.

The service was professional and fast, and the too close tables were not a problem because, in the early afternoon of a Friday, the place was scarcely populated. An excellent miso soup served as an appetizer and provided the perfect background while we studied the complex menu.

We tried three signature dishes, Sukiyaki, Katsu Don, and Bento Kaiseki.

The Sukiyaki was superb. The dish was served in a pan and included meat, tofu and vegetables. The meat was lean and cut into thin slices; the vegetables were fresh and crunchy. The secret of a good Sukiyaki is the broth, and here it was at its very top. The dish costs $9 and justifies moving to San Francisco.

The Katsu Don was a big bowl of rice with an omelet over it supporting chunks of breaded meat and seaweed. The wasabi served with it was fresh and naturally colored, in a pale cream instead of the usual green. However, the dish suffered a major adaptation from the original; in Japan it is done with very fat meat and includes chunks of fat; politically incorrect in these days, here it was done with lean pork-meat. It cost $9 and was served in a quantity able to feed a small family.

The Bento meals are the biggest attraction in the area. They are not well defined and the term refers to the typical tray in which they are served. They are considered to be a whole meal and exist in many variations. My host chose the one called in Kaiseki, that cost $18 and was the flagship of the restaurant. The tray had regimental dimensions and included red tuna, shrimps, tempura, and small pieces of other fishes, roasted or marinated. Rice and vegetables cut in ornamental ways completed the dished. All the ingredients were top quality, and despite its size, the tray was left clean.

Excellence has a price; in our case it was the dessert. The dishes' size didn't left any space and created a reasonable pretext to return.

I was happy to discover this place. While walking in San Francisco's Chinatown, I found the Eastern Bakery, at 720 Grant, pretty much at the center of the neighborhood. From outside it already looked like the real thing, with an unobtrusive front which was hard to spot; even the house number was hard to find, as would be the case if it were placed in Beijing, Xian, or Shanghai. Once inside, I was captivated; the place irradiated that peculiar Chinese density, with a casual approach to the surroundings that claimed they were focusing in the activity. A narrow corridor held the counter and pastries at one side and more treats at the other; at its end were a few scattered tables for the few customers that decided to eat inside.

A million different treats were displayed with simplicity against a background heavy with reds and gold. The simple lotus and a melon Chinese cakes cost a dollar each and were excellent, puff pastries cost the double and were nice; next to them were butter croissants and donuts winking at the foreigners. The Chinese pastries were adorned with the classical Chinese seals in red; and Chinese patrons were sipping soups that I didn't find listed at the counter.

I don't expect to see a Spanish restaurant serving Wiennerschnitzel nor a Chinese place serving good coffee. The brewed coffee here was awful, but that was fine with me. Coffee is not part of the Chinese Cuisine and if seen in an authentic Chinese place it should appear—in my eyes—as an afterthought, for the sake of casual foreigners crossing its way.

Next to the counter was a note that claimed the Eastern Bakery is the oldest Chinese bakery in the area, dating back to 1924. "We were here before the Great Depression, the bay bridges, World War II, etc...," a sign next to the counter says.

Next to it there are many Chinese bazaars, musicians and Chinese-seals' artisans; many of the buildings are shaped as pagodas and complete the feeling of inadvertently having crossed the Pacific.

Fruitvale is not exactly on the San Francisco's tourists path, but as pointed in my First Week in San Francisco journal, Oakland can be an interesting town to visit and its southern part, which around the 35th avenue is called Fruitvale has a few attractions of its own.

The Fruitvale station of the BART leads to the Fruitvale Village, a pleasant residential and commercial complex built around a sunny plaza. Just in front of the station, at suite 134, and next to a giant palm, is Powderface, a pleasant coffee shop specializing on fresh and tasty New Orleans Style Beignets.

Beignet is a fried dough, hollow, and square, covered with powdered sugar and served hot; the sugar melts in the mouth and combines with the soft, inner part of the crust to create a delightful experience. They are fried in front of the customer in deep oil which unfortunately is recycled. The powdered sugar is carried away easily, and if not the face, at least the fingers will be covered by the sweet treat by the time the beignets are gone. Three are sold for $3 and a dozen for $10.

They offer more conservative sandwiches, croissants, cakes, smoothies, and other attractions; however, considering the special-experience value, which so attracts travelers, the beignets are a must. To accompany them, one of their coffees is the natural, and excellent choice.

The coffee is served on paper cups and the beignets on a carton tray; however, in a place aiming up-market they could have paid more attention to that detail. The service is fast and professional; the waitress kept smiling all along my interrogation regarding the nature of the beignets, despite my being sure she had heard the same question many times before.

The place is spacious and comfortable and the classic music played in the background strangely fits the surroundings. Huge windows allow looking at the quiet and sunny plaza; a narrow bar with high chairs next to it is placed along the windows just for this purpose. A couple of tables along the inner walls allow comfortably reading the newspaper or writing this entry.

Saigon Wrap claim to have been the first shop selling Vietnamese sandwiches in Oakland almost thirty years ago. They are a family's business which began at Oakland's downtown and then moved south to Fruitvale Village, just in front of the Fruitvale BART station.

The fact that many of their clients were of Asian background when I visited, was an early—and correct—sign of their products' quality. Many times, Asian places put a very strong emphasis on their products' quality and less on their environment, but this is not the case here. The place has been carefully and tastefully designed with a kind of high-tech style that adds taste to the food. Free wireless Internet on computers with high-quality flat screens placed on comfortable spots and a huge, flat screen quietly displaying their self-advertising and attractive PowerPoint presentation.

Until 9am they have an "early birds" breakfast, which includes a coffee and a stuffed croissant for three dollars. I missed that, and the Vietnamese sandwiches—nowadays ubiquitous in the East Bay area—were available here in a rather pricey version. Instead, I decided to try their pho, the traditional Vietnamese noodle soup that is eaten across the ocean at all hours of the day. I selected the beef version, and wandered if it would be served here with the thin slices of raw meat in the process of being cooked by the soup; it seemed to me a daring move for an American restaurant.

A few minutes later, a generous bowl was served next to a tray with the typical condiments: sprouts, mint leaves, lemon, a piece of chili, chili paste and soy sauce. The rice noodles occupied the bowl's bottom and on them, the meat was still rosy-fresh but getting darker by the second. Green onion decorated the soup. After putting everything in, the taste was as good and fresh as anything I tasted in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. Considering the air-ticket saved, it was a bargain at $5.50.

Such a big dish didn't leave much space for a dessert and I settled for a mango smoothie which cost $2.50. It was prepared from fresh fruits on the spot and served with a genuine smile.