San Francisco Was Home
February 24th, 2010
San Francisco was home.
Not only San Francisco, but earlier, Palo Alto, and later, San Rafael. Returning to California after my big move back to the South four years ago, the place feels so familiar that it seems I never left. We stayed at The Drisco in my old neighborhood. When I lived in San Francisco, it was a hotel where genteel elderly people lived. I used to walk by in the afternoons and see them in armchairs by the window, sipping their sherry under lamplight. I thought when I was 95, I’d move there too, trading the sherry for a good brunello.
In the meantime, the hotel changed and has now a very European style. This is a gracious and comfortable place to stay in Pacific Heights, close to Fillmore and Sacramento Streets’ restaurants and shopping. http://www.hoteldrisco.com I always loved the neighborhood. It smells of tea olive and when the afternoon wind arrives at three, the air is moist and salt-tinged. San Francisco houses seem to each contain a novel. This neighborhood is lined with Victorian, Craftsman, and Mediterranean beauties and they are so well-kept, polished and trimmed that I always have the illusion that nothing could go wrong inside those romantic and inviting spaces. Ed and I walked by our old house several times. It was yellow when we lived there, with white trim. The rose I planted to swoop over the garage door has become gigantic. I will not be the one to prune it.
The sound of San Francisco is the low bellows of fog horns. Newly single, moving into the Victorian condominium with boxes all around me, I remember those mournful calls late that first night, sounding like a voice within the sea, some other-worldly, melancholy lament. A tragic call to me then, but later, walking those streets with Ed, they began to sound mysterious and intimate, tied to the place.
These two days, time was short and I did not get to see many friends. Peter, my agent and friend, took us to La Mar, a Peruvian place on the water. Check out the whole menu at : http://www.lamarcebicheria.com And I thought I didn’t like ceviche! We ate four kinds, then causa casera, little purple potatoes filled with artichokes, asparagus, avocados—so fresh—drizzled with basil and cilantro in olive oil. The beef empanadas were rich and flaky and the roasted scallops with corn risotto so nicely conceived. Seasonings are tamarind, mint, chili peppers, sesame, all with a light hand. When I travelled to Peru in 1975 the highlight on every menu was guinea pig roasted with a stone inside. The stone got hot and cooked from within. Clever, but I passed. Cuzco, I’ve been told, is dazzling today in terms of places to stay and eat. It was always dazzling for its own reasons. Los Rios Profundos, Deep Rivers by José María Arguedas is the book that was pulled from the heart of that place.
We had a lunch meeting at 54 Mint. http://www.54mint.com We were happy! The food is truly Italian. They got the pastas right! I had one of my favorite Sicilian dishes, an arancino the size of a tennis ball. Crispy rice filled with ragù. Claudio, one of the owners, came over to chat. He’s Umbrian, where they know their pasta. This is a casual place for lunch, very San Franciscan but Italian, too. Here’s Ed’s seafood pasta.
I first tasted arancini at the Palermo airport. Sometimes I make small ones to serve with aperitivi. Here’s the one at 54 Mint.
The next day, we did squeeze in a lunch ($5.60!!) at Eliza’s, at 2877 California Street, right around the corner from our old house. (I don’t find a website for them. Their original place on Potrero Hill is closed.) This was one of our favorite haunts for Chinese food. The joy of living in a city: you walk out and the world of cuisines awaits.
We ended our stay with old friends at La Ciccia, a cozy, crowded Sardinian place. http://www.laciccia.com/ We just talked, talked, talked, ate all kinds of seafood, a cheese platter with hard-to-find pecorino cheeses, and drank a great sauvignon from the Alto Adige, whose name I have forgotten. The whole wine list was Italian, with many new to me. La Mar is big, glamorous, city. The two Italian restaurants have owners right there to greet you and a highly personal cuisine. Eliza’s fresh Chinese is a city favorite. We loved all four places.
So endeth a sweet visit to San Francisco. The journey back to the east is long in time and space. Back to rain. But at this minute, a brilliant cardinal perches on top of an astrolabe in my garden and the daffodils are swelling their yellow tips, ready to bloom. I’ve cut wands of still-tight forsythia and plunked them in a Mason jar, forcing the moment of spring’s arrival.
I love La Ciccia. I was just there (http://bit.ly/6lH92F) with my friend Paula Lambert, the lady who started Mozzarella Company. She also knows your friends at Il Falconiere.
Dying to try 54Mint, thanks for the tip!
http://www.alfonsocevola.com
Ciao Alfonso, San Francisco is one of the best places to eat on the planet! Mangia bene! Frances
I’m very excited about your new book!
HELLO FRANCES, I WOULD LOVE TO READ/REVIEW YOUR BOOK BUT I DO NT HAVE A BLOG FOR EXTRA ENTRIES
Ed’s seafood pasta looks delicious!! Thanks so much for sharing your visit with us. It sounds like you had a lovely time!
Would love to read your book!
I’d love to see San Francisco some day. This entry just makes me want to go even more.
What a light, sunny lift that penetrated the gloom of too many snows of Ohio. Engaging and enchanting slice of life.
San Francisco is one of my fav cities, and would love to read your new book
I’d love to read your new book! Wish I had a blog for extra entries
Looking forward to reading your book!
Looking forward to your new book.
I love San Francisco. I would love to read more
Food and travel – there is nothing better. I lived in Marin County for 10 years before eventually moving up to Shasta County. But I still miss the great food in the SF Bay Area. Looking forward to reading your new book. I manage a book blog at http://www.caribousmom.com
The Seafood pasta looks delicious. I have never been to San Francisco, and hopefully will experience it some day!
And they say you can’t go home again! There’s nothing like being home again, even if in my case “home” seems like a concept I left behind years ago. (By the way, do you think every day in Tuscany is as good as a year in Provence? I’m not asking about the books, but comparing the day and the year.)
The trip looks absolutely splendid! I can’t wait to read your next book!
I would love to read your next book. Such an interesting writer who loves great food and loves to travel.
Such a wonder writer – who loves great food as well as travel.
Such a talented writer who loves great food as well as travel.
San Francisco and Tuscany are both a foodie’s delight, IMO. I would give anything to be in either place right now! Best of luck with your new book.
What wonderful book. Tuscany is heaven and the food delectable.
You make me homesick for San Francisco … and Yosemite, Muir Woods, Point Reyes…..
This weekend is going to be set aside for San Francisco. I can’t wait to get to 54mint. Thank you for the entry.
Tell Claudio hello from me!
I love living in a city for the opportunities to find new food provided to me on a daily basis! Looking forward to reading your new book.
I cannot wait for your next book. Having read Under the Tuscan Sun I eagerly awaited the movie. I saw the differences but the essence came through and it is my movie go to when things are not happy in my life.
Thank you, you are better that chocolate or mashed potatoes.
Thank you–to all the above writers–who took the time to respond! Hope you enjoy the new book. It’s about to be published–very exciting time here. I wrote it to be savored in slow courses–like an Italian meal. It’s my attempt to celebrate the very everyday pleasures of living in a rural area–friendship, art, gardening, contemplating the nature of happiness. There’s a lot about food of course. Since we expanded our vegetable garden and fruit orchard, I’m getting very obsessed! Tanti saluti-Frances
I got notice from FEDEX that the new olive oil is on it’s way. Can’t wait to enjoy the taste of Cortona! With new oil and the new book I will be a very happy woman.
*sigh* Tuscany. The word and all the flavors it captures makes me drool. hope to read your new book soon.
hope to read the new book soon!
Just finished reading advance copy of the new book – what a way to chase the winter blues. Thanks for San Fran travelogue!
Looking forward to reading the new book!
I’ve never tried Arancini before but it looks delicious.
I can’t wait to read this sequel.
My two favorite places in the world are the Bay Area/Napa, and Tuscany. The food, the countryside…I live vicariously through your words!
I would love to visit San Francisco someday, until then reading about it will have to do.
San Francisco is such a magical place. Full of life, excitement, interest, culture. I love going there.
Can’t wait to read this book!
“I will not be the one to prune it” made me laugh.
I have never been to San Francisco. You make it sound like a place that I definitely must get to one of these days.
There is nothing quite as soulful as the sound of a fog horn – or the sound of a train horn echoing across a dark night.
I had to leave San Francisco almost 20 years ago and still miss it. Sometimes I dream of walking in the lovely neighborhoods. I too miss the foghorns and the sight of the fog tumbling over Mt Tam and the smells of the ethnic neighborhoods. But I think I would be sad if I went back now. It was becoming Manhattanized when I left. I can’t imagine a ballpark downtown! It’s still a pretty little city in my dreams.
“Returning to California after my big move back to the South four years ago, the place feels so familiar that it seems I never left.”
I think ONLY San Francisco can truly take a hold of your heart and never let it go….
I’ve lived in the South for 10 years now, by I can still “smell” the fog rolling in, the mist on my face, the sounds of the foghorn echoing in the early morning light and that unique sunlight that dapples thru the buildings downtown……….
SIGH…..I’m so afraid if I go back, I’ll never come home!
to me home is where I am when I am there, when I go “home” it almost feels strange to me. I always want to be somewhere else
I really enjoyed your novels, to hear something in your own voice is something I look forward to!
Tuscany makes me feel so centered — a perfect balance of old and new. Thanks for bringing it back for me.
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