You’ve got to hand it to San Francisco, they sure do food with style, whether it’s 2 star Michelin, a restaurant that seasons their garlic with food or serious health conscious fare. However, what San Francisco does better than anyone else are food trucks. Now, living in England, the thought of a food truck serving you something that you might be interested in seems like a farce – our experiences being limited to the pitiful excuse for food served out of these trucks at festivals and fairs. Off the Grid is San Fran’s food truck revolution bundled under one happy umbrella. The organisation has food truck markets every week, all over the city and even tells you how many trucks are going to be present at each market. Once a month, at Fort Mason, Off the Grid brings together no less than 30 trucks serving up anything from cupcakes to creme brulee to pho, beer, jerk chicken and tacos. Throw in a live band and some of the best food you’d pay handsomely for in a restaurant, and you’ve got yourself a perfect summer evening. My efforts must have taken me across at least half the food trucks and I have to admit, I was ecstatically shocked and surprised – everything I tasted was fresh, vibrant and just, downright, delicious!
Off the Grid, San Francisco
Sons & Daughters, San Francisco
It’s almost sacrilege to visit through the west coast, especially San Francisco and not pay a visit to a few trees. By trees I mean the biggest giants rooted on planet earth – the Redwood Sequoias. My adventure took me to Yosemite National Park where amongst the giants was one that stood 240 feet tall, 30 feet wide and looked well for it’s 2000 years of age. Of course, the rest of the national park, made famous by its namesake cartoon bear, too is stunning beyond words. However, one is ravenous on the way back and I had been lucky to have been recommended the restaurant Sons & Daughters by one of the waiters from Coi – the even bigger bonus was that the restaurant happened to be about 10 minutes from my hotel in Union Square. As I later found out, the chef is a protege of 2* Saison and has a style similar to that of its mentor, only a few hundred dollars cheaper. Being the last customer of the night, there was no rush to my meal, the service was lovely and I even got a complimentary addition to my tasting menu! On this occasion, I decided to finally try out a vegetarian tasting menu – something I should do more often as these are the ones that truly bring out the best of a chefs creativity.
Slanted Door, San Francisco
For all the many reputations and stories about San Francisco one has heard, there are none that quite do the city any justice – it truly is a magnificent place, whether wandering through the historical heart of music in Haight or along the bay, marvelling at the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset, delving into the literary intensity of the beatniks or just soaking in the vibrancy of it all. With its multi-faceted personality, comes too, a wide and glorious selection of food, but one place in particular that locals and visitors all are in unison about is The Slanted Door, Charles Phan’s temple of modern Vietnamese cooking that is perpetually full to the brim every single night and with good reason too!
