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One of the things I love most about San Francisco is its unique take on the ‘neighborhood’. Even more so than London, where I lived in my 20s, SF never fails to charm and amaze me with its raggle-tag collection of districts, cultures, flavors, sights and sounds. Traverse the city and you could cross from Mexico to France to Italy to Russia, all in one afternoon.
It’s hard to pick a favorite, although my current happens to be where i live – a slightly off center section of lower Pacific Heights, near the wonderful street that time and Twitter forgot, Sacramento. Here you can still find Italian food with avocado and prawns as key ingredients (sooo good though!), shop a high-end consignment store for designer cast-offs of the seriously wealthy, and end up with the chicest cocktail of the day, a Fresa Fresca (basil, black pepper, fresh strawberries, cranberry juice and premium tequila – oh my!), at the beautiful restaurant, Spruce. All while walking your dog down a quiet oasis where strangers still say hi to you, you can hear the birds singing and you still kid yourself that you live somewhere with a neighborhood movie theater that only plays one movie at a time (the wonderful Vogue). It’s not trendy, but it’s a welcome respite from all the hipster-ness on display elsewhere and is a great anti-dote to high octane city living.
It seems as if San Francisco bible, 7×7, shares my love of the SF ‘hood. Its most recent issue is dedicated to all things neighborhood and is a great read, especially readers’ love letters and photos to their own particular piece of the city. I submitted mine (see if you can spot it!).
Yesterday I was in Sonoma for the day. Not really for wine tasting, although we did stop by Benziger Family Winery (delicious bio-dynamically farmed grapes) and Ledson (having a strangely off day, and also recently blighted by pestilence – i did cave for a bottle of the Legend though, couldn’t help myself – thanks to Bride In Exile for her recap of this delicious red blend). No, we were there for lunch at The Girl and the Fig, one of my favorite restaurants. We sat in the lovely covered patio, and thank goodness it was covered, due to the blazing 90 degree heat. And yep, I’m a typical Brit in that I crave the sun, and then complain loudly when i get too hot. To be honest, it was too warm to fully enjoy the food, although it was wonderful, a fig and arugula salad being a highlight. No, I was really there, after an hour-long drive, for one cocktail.
The Girl and the Fig serves beautiful and refined cocktails, with the First Street Cosmo being my absolute fave. It’s a cosmo with premium tequila instead of vodka. I know, I know, it doesn’t sound too good, but trust me. Looks like Betsy Husband agrees with me. Very delicately flavored, it’s a blend of Arette Tequila, St Germain elderflower liquer, fresh lime juice and cranberry juice. It’s beautiful too, the palest rose pink in a chic little martini glass. This is my favorite cocktail of all time and i’ve tried many times since (way too many, according to my boyfriend) to replicate it at home. After a few disastrous attempts, I’ve come pretty close (the trick is not adding very much cranberry juice, but stop by the restaurant for the actual measures, after you’ve ordered one of course), but it’s still not close to the one they serve at the Fig. If you’re ever in Sonoma, skip the final few wineries and head for one of these beauties instead.
My version - still not pale enough!!
