Tastes of Frisco

I purchased a very special chocolate bar and a nice hunk of goat gouda at Cowgirl Creamery.

But, my favorite item from the ferry building was this vegan, organic, sea salted-caramel doughnut. The glaze was perfect and there were whole salt crystals just below the surface!!!

Just when we decided to go in search of lunch, we ran into a downpour, so we ended up grabbing sandwiches in the ferry building at ll carne panino. I had half a braised pork with fennel salad sandwich and a bowl of butternut squash soup. The sandwich was quite good, but a little small for the price we paid in a food court setting.

My love of beer and the rainy day forced us to stay inside drinking all afternoon. Our first stop was the 21st Amendment Cafe, where Matt and I split a Belgian style Monk’s Ale and a hoppy North Star Ale. Both were fun, but nothing noteworthy.

My tastebuds wanted something more intense and memorable, so we went in search of higher ABV’s at the one and only Magnolia Brewpub in the Haight. Done and done. First up, we split the Old Thunderpussy, a barleywine named after erotic bakery owner and exotic dancer ‘Magnolia Thunderpussy.’ As far as barleywines go, this was not sweet. But, the more neutral flavor balanced out the intense finish and I loved it. My favorite though, was the Lily Saison, a strong and spicy farmhouse ale. Out last beer was described to me by our waitress as a traditional English bitter on steroids; the overall flavor was malty and mild, but the kick from the high ABV took it up a notch. Magnolia was truly an amazing experience. If only their beers were distributed in Boston:(

Believe it or not, we managed to save room for more eating and drinking after a quick rest at the hotel. We ventured over to the vegetarian restaurant, Millennium, per another recommendation from Kath.

A barbera malbec to drink!

Appetizers were the black bean and plantain torte and the fried oyster mushroom, compliments of the chef! While the mushrooms were great (fried things usually are), the torte was out of this world. It was more like a dessert than an app because the plantains were sweet and the torte was almost like a pie crust!.  Fan-tas-tic.

If the torte was out of this world, my entrée was out of the universe. I had the sweet potato griddle cakes with south indian black lentil sambar, seared cauliflower and winter greens, and coconut, cilantro, and lime chutney. And when they call this a cake, they really mean a thick, sweet, almost fluffy cake. Everything about this dish was perfect, GET IT.

Not all things can be perfect though. After such an amazing experience, we knew we had to order dessert, and I’m sad to say that both were very disappointing. Being a big fan of Top of the Hub’s cookie platter, we went with the assortment of cookies and truffles, which the waitress also recommended. The cookies were the size of a ping pong ball and very dry and blah. Our other dessert was a peanut butter bread pudding. I really didn’t think you could go wrong with a bread pudding, but this was also dry and had a strange flavor to it. I will say that the banana ice cream that was served with the pudding was delish.

Dessert aside, this meal was phenomenal and a very fun experience. I was soundly sleeping within ten minutes of the last bite:)

More recaps to come this evening, I’m exhausted from the red eye and snow is falling steadily outside my window…