"When the lights go down in the city"

Friday, it was rainy, and a bit cool. We could only take the F Streetcar as far as the Ferry Building because of a Veteran's Day Parade.



We wandered around the Financial District to kill time before meeting a friend at Chez Fayala. Taking notice of Occupy San Francisco.







Frank wanted a coffee, it was the first time we had to work to find a coffee shop. Usually, we pass several, this time we had to walk a block. 11:30 rolled around, we walked over to Chez Fayala and Mary met us a few minutes later. Frank got some goodies from the salad bar. Mary and I ordered sandwiches, spicy chicken for her and roasted veggie for me.





We both had a side of caesar salad and we all got free soup since it was our first visit. It was a tasty healthful lunch. It was great catching up with Mary. She had to get back to work so we parted ways.

We were off to the Tenderloin. It's the one neighborhood we hadn't yet visited. I was armed with a list of restaurants to try so we hopped on the bus in search of them. First stop was Saigon Sandwich. We shared roast pork banh mi. It was absolutely delicious. We both loved it. We now adopted a Vietnamese grandmother. Sandwiches were $3, too. It was such a great find.



Next, we wandered over to Morty's Deli. They recommended the pastrami rueben so we shared that. It was the weakest sandwich we had the whole trip, but it was still pretty good.



There were a couple other restaurants on my list, but we couldn't eat anymore. I need to find a way to travel with a second stomach. In fact, at our hotel, there was a Denny's (ick) I wanted to steal the diners' hunger. That stomach space could be better used in so many ways. It made me cry on the inside. But anyway, we hopped on a bus and soon we found ourselves back at the wharf.

We were going to take the Hyde line, but one of the cable cars broke down. We waited a good while, but then gave up as the rain came down harder.





We returned to the hotel for a short bit to wait out the showers. Then, we headed back to Petite Deli for another one of Young's sandwiches. We shared her chicken this time. It was near closing time so it was pretty slow and Young had time to chat with us. We learned how she got started, she's been there over 20 years making sandwiches in that tiny space. She has a real estate story to tell, just like us, but her's made ours burn a bit less. Despite everything, she's always in high spirits each and every day. She figures she'll retire in a few more years. So, we'll get to enjoy her kindness and yummy sandwiches a while longer.

We said good-bye until next time, and set off as soon as we stepped outside it started raining cats and dogs. We hurried (used loosely, I have one speed in my boot) back to the hotel. After a late siesta, we walked over to Fort Mason to check out Off The Grid food truck festival.



There is a large hill on the way, I managed up it. I felt like the little engine that could - I think I can, I think I can - but I did it without much trouble. I was winded, it was the most exercise I've had since busting my ankle in August. There was another couple walking that way, and the girl didn't want to go. Her better half pointed at me and said "she's doing it, and she's in a boot!" It made me feel good.

After the climb up the hill, I had a steep set of stairs to climb down. I managed that, too. Woohoo! My reward was tasty eats from a variety of San Francisco food trucks. Our first stop was Nom Nom. They were recently in Vegas for a fest here that we weren't able to make. We tried a deli banh mi, but we didn't like it much.



Next, we had a lamb kabob and dumplings from Happy Dumpling. The lamb was pretty chewy, but the dumplings were good.



I have no experience with Peruvian food so went I saw Sanguchon, I had to try it. We had the pan con chicharron, which was a yummy sandwich with fried yams and pork loin. We both liked it a lot!



After that, we couldn't resist a duck taco from Kung Fu Taco. It, too, was really good.



Our last stop was Onigilly for Japanese rice balls. We had unagi, grilled eel and sweet soy sauce. I would've liked it better with less soy sauce, it was too salty for my liking.



We left the festival and took the bus to North Beach. Can you tell it's our favorite neighborhood? Nah, I didn't think so. We went to La Trappe to check out their beer selection. The bar was packed like six people deep, we were told we'd have to wait for a table. After 30 minutes, we were told there was no waiting upstairs... why we sat and waited in the cellar, I never know. We were seated and given a beer book, gotta love that. I had a Belgium Blonde Ale. Frank had something similar to a Hefe. Both were great beers. We ordered fries with spicy ketchup and BBQ aioli, and potato leek soup.





The soup was bland, but the fries were good. They reminded me of a thicker cut In N Out fry. We'll return to La Trappe, but we'll stick to the beer.

Later, we found ourselves back at Thai Noodle House. I wanted to try their duck noodle soup and Frank tried the pad thai. It was the cheap beers that brought us back, however.





Both dishes were tasty, but we can get better Thai at home. The price sure is right, though. Once again, we were too full for any more stops so we went back to the hotel to rest up for another day.