A day of eating ice cream

Today was one of those days that your mother would not approve of . . . as far as eating goes. We started again with an hour's walk, this time to the Palace Hotel downtown. Since we were taking a tour at 10 we thought why not treat ourselves to a really classy breakfast at one of the fanciest hotels in San Francisco?  It was not to be. The grand garden court (note picture) was not open to the public -- private function only. So instead we ate at the Pied Piper Bar, where they really push the $29 buffet. The service is so slack they must hope you get up in frustration and serve your own meal, rather than wait for porridge or eggs from the kitchen. The blueberry pancakes and oatmeal that eventually showed up were good, but cost $40!! And we never got to dine under the high glass roof of the courtyard.
The tour, however, was excellent, given by a retired law professor. These City Guides free tours, organized under the SF public library with volunteers taking you around, are wonderful. The hotel we toured was rebuilt in 1909, as the replacement for the original from 1875 that didn't survive the great earthquake. Well, the building did OK, but the SF fire department tapped the hotels' own water supplies to try to put out flames on Market Street and when the fire jumped to the hotel, the hydrants were dry. The hotel was reduced to a burnt-out shell. The owner put up a new Palace, the one still standing today.
After, we headed for the Mission district--a lot different than the Palace Hotel. Taking the BART was another lesson in patience. A street woman helped us figure out (at a cost) the system. Boy do they need better signage, better lighting, better public address system, non-baffling ticket machines, and more. But we made it to the right spot, Omnivore Books, all about cookbooks and food. Ladies, get your old Irma Rombauer out of storage: there was a 1953 hardcover of The Joy of Cooking on the shelf for $200! You can never have too many books especially cookbooks. I will leave to Norm to explain our eating extravaganza.

It's me, Norm here: Did I say before it's still summer down here? Bougainvillea blooms are spotted on the streets in our Marina district, and it's warm enough for eating ice cream cones to cool off, as part of a small culinary research project: where was the ice cream better, Mitchell's or Bi Rite, both in the Mission district and each recommended. The icy award has to go to Bi Rite, on 18th and Dolores, but Mitchell's tropical flavours like jackfruit and mango sorbet were pretty good. Bi Rite gets our taste test awards -- at least for the scoops of brown sugar and coffee-toffee I had. Mary's cone of toasted coconut and butter pecan she placed ahead of Mitchell's black walnut and coconut-pineapple.There's a lovely bakery cafe nearby, Tartine, which also gets two thumbs up. We had lots of dessert already, so here it was tea, coffee and a croque monsieur of heirloom tomato, ham and cheese broiled on an open slice of their really crusty bread. (Mary also has a new sourdough bread cookbook acquired this day, so homemade bread is coming to Metchosin again. Mmmm.)
This was all a starter for dinner at Cafe Panisse in Berkeley, the famous restaurant started by Alice Waters that serves local California produce in a craftsman-style house along Shattuck Avenue, a few blocks from UC Berkeley. The meal was delicious: a thin crust pizza for Mary and rigatoni alla Norma (honest, that's what the menu said) for me. Dessert was . . . more ice cream. I know, there's sometimes too much of a good thing, but this wasn't one of those times. It was passionfruit ice cream and it tasted like a healthy glass of fruit juice at breakfast. If Dairy Queen could duplicate the recipe, I'd never eat ice cream anywhere else.