Fermium - Eating Italian on the last day in San Francisco

Yerba Buena Gardens

Fermium

Today's element Fermium (atomic number 100) is named for the noted Italian-American Enrico Fermi. Fermi was influential in the Manhattan project and though his post-war links are more with Chicago than San Francisco. I think the Italian-American influence on both our meals today is a good reason to go with this element as the blog title of the day.

Leaving the Hotel Room

Both our stays at the Hotel Triton this holiday have been as good as they always are. Since I first stayed here in 1996, I have come to the hotel each time I have come to the City. Its location and quality of service are excellent, so I hope to be back again.  

This morning I woke at 5:30am and wrote up yesterday's blog post until Drew woke at 6:15am. I then went down for coffee and carried on with the blog until it is finished at 7:00am. 

We get up showered and begin the packing process. I don't know why, but packing for the home journey always seems a bit fraught. Given the number of times we have packed and unpacked on this holiday you would think it was routine. But somehow it isn't. So, having checked and double checked, we left the room at  8:50, checked out and left our four bags - luggage and hand luggage secure at the hotel.

Breakfast

Welcome to Roxanne's

Our breakfast was a return visit to Roxanne's Cafe at the cross-street between Bush and Powell - three blocks away. We had enjoyed our first visit, and I had spotted some items on the menu that would suit me on a Friday when meat is off the agenda. While the breakfast menu is not particularly Italian, a look at what else they do, shows the clear link - as does much of the art and images inside.

Smoked Salmon Benedict

I chose the Smoked Salmon Benedict. Which was an English Muffin topped with smoked salmon, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. It was as tasty as it sounds, the poached egg was firm on the outside, but soft and juicy in the very centre - not enough to make a mess of the plate (and me), but enough to allow the flavour of the egg to merge with the bread. The smoked salmon was salty and mixed well wiht the egg.

Eggs, link sausages and sourdough toast

Drew had two Eggs over easy with sausage and sourdough toast for his breakfast and enjoyed it too. 

Walking and shopping

Our route, including Roxanne's looked like this (ignore the dark line which is the subway coming out to the Airport).

Friday Morning

From Roxanne's we walked down through the Tenderloin and district then strolled along Market Street and down to 4th and Harrison, marked SoMa (South of Market) on the Map. Passed the lovely Yerba Buena Gardens (see the picture at the top of the post).

It doesn't look so scary in the daylight years later

On a previous visit to San Francisco (I think the 2009 one) Drew and I had gone out for a lovely Thai meal in the Castro and caught a bus back to downtown. However it was quite late and the bus, instead of going to 3rd and Market, as advertised, went to the Bus Depot in Berry Street at 4th. Meaning we had to walk through a slightly less salubrious area. At one point, as we came under the I-80 overpass we saw people acting surreptitiously - moving something from the boot of their car into a hole in the ground - was it a body, was it something stolen - they saw us and shouted something and we ran. We'd never been back to this place, so today we saw if we could locate it, and found it. Though now it is being worked on, and whatever <<Co-pilot's note: or whoever!!!>> was buried there has probably been dug up.

An old sign - still in use

Our next task was to find a store that Drew uses for some mail-order material that he had never visited in the flesh before. So he went along, got a discount as a regular customer coming into store and bought some personal items. I'll let him describe them if he chooses. <<Co-pilot's note: Let's not old boy!!>>

From here we walked back to Market and I went to Ross, which I associate with the British brand which sells electrical goods, but here sells cheap clothing. As my Walmart trip in Alaska didn't get all the items I needed I tried Ross and was pleased with the two pairs of trousers and two shirts I bought. Very reasonably priced, but with 7% tax here in San Francisco, rather than the tax-free situation in Alaska. (Walmart and JC Penny's my more regular places to purchase don't have any presence in downtown San Francisco.)

We meandered up to Lori's for lunch, the map shows you quite what a meander it was.

Lunch

While Lori's is 1950s Americana, its lunch menu includes a lot of Italian influences - hence the link to Fermium. 

Spinach Lasagna

I, still not eating meat, went for Spinach Lasagna. The Lasagna had shredded baby spinach, garlic, leeks and a bechamel sauce with ricotta and parmesan on top. Very Italian and very tasty. I was surprised how rich the flavour was, I'd always assumed meat played a large part in the lasagne taste, but the Spinach worked just as well.

Penne Italiano

Drew also went Italian, with Penne Italiano it was Penne pasta cooked with Italian Sausage, peppers, tomato and garlic. He said it was delicious.

Garden Salad with Honey and Mustard

Both were served with a garden salad with honey and mustard dressing for Drew and blue cheese dressing for me.

Back to Airport

Lobby of the Hotel Triton

Following lunch we went back to the hotel at 1:15pm, put the items we had bought into our cases and used the facilities.

Drew in the Triton Lobby

We left the hotel at 2:10pm arrived at BART station at 2:18pm - the train departed at 2:30pm arriving at the airport at 2:55pm (they are every 15 minutes). 

Priority Lane this way

We checked in at 3:00pm, there was no queue at Premium Economy. We were given Priority access through security checks, so we were though and clear by 3:15pm.

Another snack - Friday afternoon

As usual we have paid for a Airport Lounge, so I sit here at 4:30pm completing this blog post in the KLM-Air France lounge before a planned boarding at 5:20pm for the 6pm flight.