A Going Away

My sister and part-time roomate Diana left for Germany last week.  She’ll be gone for 3.5 months and I’ll have our Mission apartment all to myself (and 3 dogs) for the entire summer.  I missed her going away party at the Phoenix since I was in NYC, but flew back to SF a couple of days before she left.  One of the things Diana is weary about for her trip to Germany is the food.  She typically eats pretty healthfully, and is not a major fan of heavy food we stereotypically think of when we think of Germany.

To send her off properly, Christina and I took Diana out to a going away dinner at Delfina.  Listed as one of the top 100 resturants in 2008 in the Bay Area, I’m surprised I’d never been there, since I live on the same street and enjoy good food.  We showed up for our  5:30 reservation (My NY readers / friends, please don’t judge – my sister goes to bed at 10 pm every night for work at 6 AM).  The place was already lively and packed, as Californians like to eat early.

The Fanciest Street in the Mission

I want to start this post by telling you about a homeless person my sister named “No Way”.  No way, is a person that has lived on and about 18th street for the past 3-4 years or so.  PHD educated, and always sitting around and reading big novels, non-fiction, etc, we think it is interesting that a homeless person with such an affluent background chooses to live on one of the streets in the Mission with the best food.  We don’t think this is by accident.

For my New York readers, the Mission District is akin to Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  A place most people in the City hear about, but typically locals to the neighbor hood frequent the bakeries, coffee shops and bars.  The only difference is, in NYC, Brooklynites tend to be the ones that go out in Williamsburg at night.  In SF, people from all over the City hit up the Missions bars and resturants, but I digress.  Will save this for a different post.

Back to the fanciest street – in just one block, you can find the best bakery in town – Tartine, famous for their morning buns that you can smell baking at 7 AM every morning on the street and ham and cheese croissants.  There is Delfina Pizzeria and Resturant, as well as Bi-Rite Grocery Store and Creamery.  I actually told my sister Diana the other day that I would die if I left SF without going to the creamery.  

Tartine on the far left corner and Patrons in front of Delfina