A slow and lazy afternoon in San Francisco – Herbivore for Brunch, Presidio & the Golden Gate Bridge

Am I still writing about our December visit to San Francisco and Las Vegas? Yes. Yes I am.

There is something about the day before the day you are planning on leaving somewhere. There is that urge to fit in the sightseeing and eating, with the desire to just take it easy and enjoy your vacation. At least there is for me. Maybe it’s because both of us have been to San Francisco before, and done a lot of the tourist stuff, but we decided to take it easy with a languid walk to Herbivore for brunch, followed by a maybe walk over to the Golden Gate Bridge.

I noticed the great mural work and street art on previous visits, but as we walked down Geary Street we got to enjoy some interesting tile work and faces, and walked up and down the rolling hills that San Francisco has to offer.

We opted to go to Herbivore because it was the place frequently recommended when we asked the vegan breakfast question, so it seemed worth checking out.

There was one big group eating in the back section, but otherwise the space was empty. Server was friendly, and it was the first time we were conscious of the Healthy SF Surcharge on our receipts  Mostly because Herbivore has a big sign on it’s cash register about it. Not all restaurants include the charge, but there are many that do (and aren’t standardized, so there are completely different amounts or percentages added to your total bill.)

Service was nice and indifferent. Which was good for that morning, we we’re just ready to relax, and keep to ourselves. The grapefruit juice was probably some of the tastiest I’ve drank in a while. Maybe it was because it was the first substantial thing I drank that morning, or maybe that juice really was incredible.

I ordered the first thing I saw that said “biscuit” and was completely surprised by the resulting dish. Where I imagined a biscuit with sausage on the side, it was actually a sausage-biscuit (as in – exactly what it said it was on the menu.) A flaky biscuit full of sausage. Weird but good, came with a side of gravy, and a spinach salad topped with sliced avocado and tomatoes. But I think JC won breakfast this time.

In one of many brilliant moves, JC ordered the combo platter with sour dough french toast and a pesto tofu scramble.

We shared a plate of toasted blueberry cornbread, and that probably blew everything out of the park. And I was glad we listened to the foursquare check-in suggestion to order it. It was lighter than I’m used to with cornbread, toasted on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside.

And then, as quickly as it came, breakfast was over and it was time to continue our trek to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Restaurant Info
Herbivore – The Earthly Grill
531 Divisadero, San Francisco, CA

——————————————————————————————-

It’s funny walking to a destination when you only have a vague idea of how to get there.  We got lost in the Presidio (kind of), and we aided completely by our magical phone device. The thing about the Presidio forest area is that it’s really really really beautiful in there. Getting lost for a little while wouldn’t have been the worst thing we could have done (except of course it was cold by San Francisco standards.)

I had to take a picture of this “weird tree thing” so I could look it up later. It’s a 100-foot-tall permanent sculpture by Andy Goldsworthy called “Spire.” It’s made up of 37 steel-armatured cypress tree trunks that were felled as part of the Presidio’s re-forestation program. You can check out the interview with the artist on SF Gate.

I love the view of all the vibrant (seemingly) little houses in San Francisco between the trees. See what I mean about getting lost amongst the trees? And hills, those inclines are fun and horrible to run up, and also very foreign to me now that I live in the mostly flat lands of Toronto.

It was necessary for us to take three or four dozen photos of JC and I smiling and kissing and generally having a great time, but I did manage to take at least one picture of the bridge by itself.

And I’ll admit – we did not cross the Golden Gate Bridge. We stopped into the gift shop instead and picked up an anniversary coffee mug (and postcards galore.)

After all of this walking, it turns out it was the MUNI’s 100 the anniversary. And while that’s awesome, we walked 16 km’s (around 10 miles) on the day transit was free. It kind of feels like it should be a line in an Alanis Morisette song.

Up until this point, we ate at:
– Millennium
– St. Francis Fountain
– Souley Vegan

There is still more to go! Vegas is coming up soon.