Jill Dupre

Josh and I took a super quick trip to San Fransisco to see and eat at our friend Pim’s new fabulous Thai restaurant called Kin Khao.

It is located in the Union Square area, so we stayed at the new Zetta Hotel, a member of the Viceroy network. Some pics of the lobby here. Really fun.

There was a game room up on the second floor where you could launch a soccer ball down a rolling slide and it would pin ball around the target and land in a number basket. Very interactive.

The lounge area where there was a backlit wall of former Alcatraz inmates. Cool idea.

These chandeliers are made from old glasses frames. The watchdog was a found metal sculpture. The public spaces were all very recycled and creative. The rooms are small though and only a few have a decent view. But very comfy and ours had a portrait made from old floppy disks.

But let’s get on to the food. We ate at Kin Khao the minute we landed. And then again the next night. Yes, it is that good. Nominated by Bon Appetit as one of the 50 best new restaurants in America! So modern and yummy and decor very fresh and creative, but still casual. Perfection.

We ate the food so fast I didn’t get a chance to take many pictures, but here is the green papaya salad on the right. My fav.

We only had right at 48 hours, and with so much eating involved, I booked a couple walking and biking tours. We love doing small tours in cities because you really get to know certain parts and you can do this quickly and affordably. The first tour was a Latino foodie walking tour (yes,more food) in the Mission. I booked this one with Foodie Adventures. Chris Milano was a great guide and had a terrific attitude and great stories to tell. Very knowledgeable and just fun to be around.

The Mission is somewhere I have never been in San Fransisco. It is becoming THE hot place. We started the tour at King’s Bakery. Home of the warm coconut buns. Like a very soft warm baguette stuffed with shredded coconut and sugar. Amazing.

Here is Sam the man who makes them. I’m holding one here.

We tasted lots of tacos. Here at La Palma Mexi-tessen where they make corn tortillas in house. Yummy pupusas were had.

In the middle of the tour we walked down Balmy alley, which has amazing street art on all the homes and garages. Very cool if you happen to love murals, graffiti, street art. All of the Mission is full of it. (that’s a whole separate tour, tho 🙂 Most of the art is political in some way. Depicting social injustices and hard times in the Latino culture. Here are a few of my favorites in the Mission.

Here someone is restoring this mural.

We stopped in at La Gallinte Meat Market for the best taco of the day. Sal, the butcher and owner was adorable. He is the creator of the Flat meat. But the chorizo was the best by far!

The next day we headed off to The Blue Bottle for coffee in Hayes Valley where they bring the coffee making up a couple notches in quality and the brewing techniques are as close to scientific as I have ever seen. (google siphoning) The sommeliers of coffee making. Not kidding. Very good coffee. We met up with David for a bike tour with Streets of San Fransisco bike tours.

We did the Heart of the City tour (which was the shortest) but they have others. It was a great way to see the heart of San Fran. Very easy ride. Through Hayes Valley, Golden Gate park, Haight Ashbury, the Mission and ending at the “painted ladies”. Our guide, also Josh, was great with a very good sense of humor.