Exploring SF: NOPA

I already covered Hayes Valley, The Mission and The Dogpatch so next on the list was checking out the NOPA area on Divisadero. At least I think this would be considered NOPA- some places identify with Western Addition or Lower Haight on their website...whatevs you get the idea. Elisabeth, Rebecca, Lindsey and Alicia joined in on the fun which was good because the goal of the day was to eat as much good food as possible. We ended up walking so we were able to take a quick detour and stop in the very crowded B Patisserie in an attempt to snag a chocolate banana croissant before starting the food fest- yup all that melted banana chocolate deliciousness combined with buttery flaky goodness mmmm. They were actually out and we didn't feel like waiting plus we knew the eating we had ahead of us so we were willing to take a pass this time around but can I just highly recommend that everyone go here and get a croissant at some point...totally worth it.

First stop of the day was at Little Star for lunch. This place is always crowded and usually has a crazy long wait so even though I've lived in the city for over 4 years, I've never had Little Star pizza. Luckily at 1:30 pm on a Sunday afternoon there was no wait! Its hard not to order everything on the menu but we tried to remember that I still had more food stops on the itinerary and ended up splitting the garlic bread (comes with cheese and basil- awesome) and a small Mediterranean Chicken deep dish pizza (what they're known for - well that and the cornmeal crust). Amazing- can't wait to go back and try more of their pizzas. 

Next up, we walked into The Parish Trust and checked out the art, antiques and Warby Parker glasses. The store was kinda neat to look at but quite frankly I couldn't figure out what was actually for sale and what was part of the display so maybe I'm just not hipster-y enough. I love me some Warby Parker though- too bad I'm all good in the glasses department right now.

Next up is Rare Device which I LOVE. First off, their window display is awesome and totally makes you want to go inside. Once you're inside its hard to figure out what to look at first because everything is displayed beautifully. My favorites were the tiny egg pinatas hanging on the tree and all the cool letterpress cards.

After doing some shopping we walked over to Bi-Rite for some ice cream. I ended up getting the single scoop with two flavors: roasted banana and salted caramel. It was an awesome combo.

After ice cream we headed over to the San Franpsycho store where we picked up some shirts and I picked up an epic 'Merican hat.

Afterwords we attempted to walk off a food coma by continuing along Divis until we reached some cool antique/flea market type stores including Cookin' Recycled Gourmet Appurtenances (and since none of us knew what that word meant I googled: 'An accessory or other item associated with a particular activity or style of living.') The store was packed full of cooking stuff- cool to look through but be prepared to live in constant fear of knocking something over. 

After that we went in a couple of ridiculously overpriced boutique stores (seriously $110 for a pair of stud earings!?!? pass) and walked by a gorgeous old Victorian home. We also walked by Little Chihuahua which has awesome Mexican food.

Next up was a caffeine break at The Mill  which only serves coffee and toast- huge slices of toast with jam or butter but still just the two items. I didn't want either but Alicia seemed to enjoy her coffee.  

Rebecca headed home after the Mill and the rest of us headed out to Wine Kitchen in honor of Sunday Funday. A bonus was that they have happy hour every day (including the weekend) from 4:30-6 so we were able to get a couple of glasses of wine at a lower cost. I tried the Margerum Sauvignon Blanc and the Giornata Sangiovese - both were good but the Sangiovese was my favorite. It was a cool spot, fairly quiet (granted it was 4:30 on a Sunday) and seemed like a good hangout spot. 

Lindsey and Alicia headed home after Wine Kitchen which left Elisabeth and I to tackle Nopa. Be still my heart- I love this place! The style is super eclectic and cool - very open with tons of light. The food is amazing, the wine was fantastic and our bartender was helpful, cute and super friendly. Its difficult to get reservations (I've tried) but the two of us were able to walk up to the bar and squeeze into a little spot at the end. I got a glass of the Rose (Marsannay 2012 Joseph Roty) and it was amazing- crisp and fruity- the perfect summer wine. If anyone can find out how I can buy cases of this stuff please let me know- my googling is running into major dead ends. For food it was a tough call considering the menu but we ended up picking the warm goat cheese (with raspberries, pear and crostini) and a salad (roasted corn, peach, hazelnuts and arugula). Both were fantastic and we practically licked our plates clean.

And with that we wrapped up the day and stumbled home full of awesome food. Can't wait for the next one!