Eclectic Day In San Francisco

A little over 10 years ago we lived in the city of San Francisco. I lived in Cow Hollow on my own and then moved in with my husband to the Pacific Heights neighborhood. This was the best and most beautiful neighborhood that I have ever lived in. It was hard when we moved to a house in West Portal for more space to leave this area and even harder to move from the city to San Jose. We still visit the city a lot and I still get my hair cut in the Pacific Heights neighborhood. One of our favorite places for brunch or lunch in Pacific Heights is Chouquet's. It is on Fillmore Street, walking distance from our old apartment. I often introduce it to friends when it's time for a girl's day in the city. This corner cafe at Washington and Fillmore has small sidewalk tables where you can sit and watch the world go by. You feel like you are at a contemporary cafe in Europe. My favorite thing to order for lunch is the Poulet Roti, which is roasted chicken with herbs de Provence & french fries. This dish is great paired with a glass of Chablis. Ever since we started going to this cafe I have admired the contemporary bowl used to serve their French bread. After going there for 12 years now I finally asked where they get these bowls and the waiter referred me to a restaurant supply store on Clement called Kamei Housewares & Restaurant Supply.

Last weekend my husband and I had a day in San Francisco together. We decided to do eclectic day in the city and go to areas that we don't go to very often. I really wanted to go check out Kamei and look for that bowl from Chouquet's. So we went over to Clement street and looked through the whole store. This place is great, especially for housewares. There was a mixture of contemporary dishware and Japanese pottery that I love. They also have really fun Japanese lanterns which are always fun and cheerful. Unfortunately we did not have a photo of the bowl so we were not sure if we saw it or not. We ended up buying a different one that we both liked, which also was very modern in style. Later that day we went and had lunch at Chouquet's and took a photo of the bowl so now I have an excuse to go back and look for it again. This is a great store for Etsy inspiration. I am excited by all the fun colors and prints on the pottery. 

After Clement Street we headed over to Divisadero and Hayes. I wanted to go back to my favorite stationery store in the city called Rare Device, which opened in 2007. This was the first store I wrote about in my blog two years ago. I was inspired the first time going because I discovered a book about the Artist Lisa Congdon who used to co-own Rare Device with her partner Rena Tom. Her book "Art Inc" inspired me to market my Etsy shop. 

This gallery and store has a mix of houseware items, stationery, wrapping paper, jewelry, books, and art all by local artists. It is known as the store with "beautiful things to hold in your hands". Every object here has it's own story. The gallery hosts events, gallery openings, trunk shows, workshops and monthly kids events. The name Rare Device comes from a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge called  Kubla Khan where he calls the Pleasure Dome that an ancient Mongol emperor created "a miracle of rare device". One of my favorite things on display right now are the graphic prints on the kelly green back wall. I love this style of colorful Pop Art. This color is very impactful and makes the art pop even more. I would love to incorporate more of this style in my stationery designs. Maybe even include some screen print art on T-shirts to pair with my party invitations. We were walking distance to Alamo Square Park so we headed over there to sit and look at the famous "Painted Ladies". This is a great place to reflect and relax.

After going to Alamo Square we headed over to an area where we had not been in awhile, the Mission District. At 18th and Guerrero is Tartine Bakery, widely considered the best bakery in the city. Opened in 2002 it is owned and operated by a husband and wife team, pastry chef Elisabeth Pruitt and renowned baker Chad Robertson who is known as the "Bread Whisperer". They were both trained in New York and France. They opened their first bakery together in Point Reyes in 1996. They will be opening a location on Alameda St. in Los Angeles in Spring 2018. If it is anything like the one in the city there will be lines out the door. We stood in line about twenty minutes this time around. When we finally got inside we got really lucky and found a place to sit. It was hard to decide what to order since everything looks so delicious. I ended up getting their Chocolate Hazelnut Tart and my husband got their huge chocolate chip cookie. Both were out of this world. They are known for their crusty loafs of bread, pastries, cakes and their morning buns, which get the most attention.  There is a building across the street where they do most of the baking. Daily the staff goes back and fourth from the Tartine kitchen across the street to get the freshly baked goods. Getting to go there and enjoy the goodness was a great end to a fantastic eclectic day in San Francisco.