San Francisco XIII: The Ferry Building

The Harbor Court Hotel, which Monsieur P booked for our stay in San Francisco, was near perfect. We were across the street from the Ferry Building, which proved mighty convenient. We could step out the door and into Blue Bottle Coffee in the mornings, the Farmers Market multiple times a week, and to Hog Island Oysters for afternoon feasts.

The best part? Nightly rates were only $99!! Their ordinary room rates are slightly higher, but there was a summer special and we definitely took advantage. The rooms were on the small (very small!) side, but the service was top notch and they had free happy hour in the hotel lobby everyday. And yes, we went. Every. Single. Day. There was free coffee and tea in the morning, lemonade in the afternoon, and milk and warm cookies in the evening. Free wifi, and super fast macs in the lobby. Plus a hotel manager that was very well versed in the neighborhood restaurants, cocktail bars and ice cream shops. Loved it.

We woke up early each morning, and started the day with Iced Coffee, New Orleans-Style at Blue Bottle...

...and on certain days we had the iced coffee twice. It was that good. What makes it "New Orleans-style"? The coffee grounds are blended with chicory. Give it a quick Google search and you're bound to pull up many recipes.

Monsieur P had the latte one morning, but then went back for the iced coffee on all other visits. It's not that the latte was less than stellar, oh no, it was just that THAT NEW ORLEANS ICED COFFEE. It was blow your mind awesome.

There was always a line, no matter what time or what day we went. But it worth the wait, and the final product was much better than the Brooklyn location of Blue Bottle.

They make pastries in-house, and though I wanted to try everything (especially the bread loaf made with Arborio rice!!) I ended up sticking with the Liège Waffle that was truly spectacular. It's only $3, and made to order. A liège waffle is a waffle of the yeasty sort, with sugar pearls sprinkled over the surface of the dough right before it gets pressed in the waffle iron. The result? Crisp pockets of sugar laced in each bit, the slightly bit of sweet in this hot crunchy, chewy creation. I could easily wolf down three every morning. No butter, no syrup, nothing else required. So perfectly simple and delicious.

...here's a look at the innards. See the pull of the waffle? Not cakey, but yeasty, closer to bread. As far as NYC goes, the Wafels & Dinges truck does a pretty good liège waffle...but still, it's not the same! I still need to try the one from Petite Abeille.

They accidentally forgot our waffle order one morning, and gave us a pair of Pizza Dough Biscotti with Almonds while we waited for the waffle. I wasn't sure what to think of the biscotti - it was slightly salty, but not in a good, man I want to dunk this my coffee way. Mainly forgettable. The only things you need to know here is NEW ORLEANS ICED COFFEE AND LIEGE WAFFLE.

Oh! And maybe. MAYBE. The Affogato. Hehehe. I got this for 9am breakfast one morning and Monsieur P thought I was crazy/a glutton. Two big scoops of Maple Walnut Ice Cream with a shot of espresso. The ice cream is by Humphry Slocombe in the Mission. Have you read the recent New York Times article on Humphry Slocombe? If not, you really should! The article was published just a week after our trip, and it made me really regret not visiting the actual ice cream shop.

In addition to our morning iced coffees and waffle, we would also pick up a few other snacks at the Ferry Building. This included goodies like the Ham and Cheese Turnover from Acme Bread...

...and a few of the mini rustic rolls to pair with cheese from Cowgirl Creamery next door.

Pepato Cheese

I eventually got over my phobia of flies inside the cheese shop (the flies still gross me out, but my desire for cheese seemingly overpowers everything).

Then there are the Meat Cones from Boccalone (owned by Chris Cosentino and Mark Pastore of Incanto). $3.50 a cone - a succulent, albeit small, sampling of three types of housemade salumi.

Per Carey's recommendation, I also picked up a log of their Nduja, a soft spreadable spicy salami. Have been spreading it on nearly every piece of baguette/cracker/yeasty carb I find at home. Here's an article by Julia Moskin with more about the Nduja - very interesting.

We're almost through with our log, but luckily, I just learned that Murray's Cheese also carries it! It's costs about $3 more at Murray's, but is totally worth it.

And for more substantial snacks, Gott's Roadside (aka Taylor's Refresher) with their order at the counter, fast food, but good food, lots of seating, is a good greasy bet. Pictured above - the Mini Corn Dogs and Onion Rings meal for $8.99. Light and healthy this is not. Good afternoon snack-y food, best shared with another. The Espresso Bean Milkshake is solid, and sweet potato fries are another must-get from Gott's.

And now you see why it was so important that our hotel was next to the Ferry Building?! It was really a central hub for us. Aside from all the eating discussed in this post, there was plenty more mentioned in my previous San Francisco posts. We had dinner at The Slanted Door inside the building one night, oysters and prosecco at Hog Island Oysters, brunch with Carey at Il Cane Rosso one morning, and then caught the Sausalito ferry, which docked from the Ferry Building, on a Saturday afternoon :)