Tuesday, July 3, 2012

I need my inhaler for these hills.


In case you missed the overview of our trip via Instagram, we started in the wonderful city of San Francisco and ended in Coronado.  I'll be honest, our vacations revolve heavily around eating and drinking...not so much sight seeing.  Prepare for an onslaught of drinks we drank and places we ate.  Let me start at the beginning.


We used Airbnb to rent out an apartment in the city.  After braving the hills (and taking the worst route via public transportation) and desperately needing my inhaler post lugging my suitcase up said hills, we arrived at our apartment.  On to drinking time!


Toronado is a renowned beer bar in San Francisco.  D says this is a spot that the locals go to and the staff doesn't mess around.  Have your cash and beer order ready at the bar.


The beers are going to be craft, so don't go looking for your Blue Moon or Bud Light.  We started with Russian River Blind Pig IPAs, which we can't get in North Carolina.

[First beer in California!]

Then we headed over to Magnolia Pub & Brewery, which was also within walking distance.  


I was a huge fan of Magnolia!  The beers were solid, but the food was delicious (which will obviously sell me on a spot)!



We topped our stomachs off with a little cheese and meats while we waited for our dinner reservations. We had gotten a recommendation to try SPQR.  I would most definitely recommend it to anyone visiting San Francisco.  It ranked as one of my top three meals of the trip.


Wine is really the specialty at SPQR.  It was nice to switch it up from beer for a bit.  Our waitress was really knowledgeable about wine and assisted us in choosing the perfect wine to pair with our squid ink pasta (with crab, shrimp, and trout roe) and smoked fettuccini (with sea urchin, bacon, and a quail egg).


And while I can not remember the wine name, I know ours was referred to as an orange wine.  I was in love with it!  I'm going to do some research in the future to figure out the name of the wine and track it down.  


Never hurts to end your night with a little espresso and dessert.  While we crashed after dinner that night, I promise we did a bit more sight seeing (and a lot more drinking) on our second day in San Fran.  

4 comments:

Unknown said...

how did you like Russian River ... and my hometown of Sonoma?

Joanna said...

San Fran is definitely one of my favorite cities on earth. Those hills are very intense though and I would never be able to survive them as a walker or a driver!

Lacey in the City said...

I loooove San Francisco! My old stomping grounds from my college years. Isn't it just a magnificent city?! And the food and beverage are to die for also!

Cara-Mia said...

Fun fun! I was last in SF in February for my honeymoon. We rented out an apartment, too, which was an awesome idea.

Btw, love how organized you are with that printed schedule!

And you were in Coronado? I live in San Diego county!

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