After walking around the city a little bit and in the middle of trying to do some pseudo holiday shopping, we stopped by the Black Sheep for some much needed foodage. I’m not sure how I’ve never been here before, but I guess I just never got around to it. I had heard very positive things about it. S got the pulled pork sandwich. Yeah, it’s a pretty big sandwich and bit cumbersome to eat. As S found out, it’s just easier to go with knife and fork instead of trying to keep it in sandwich form. I stole some fries towards the end of our visit. They’re quite good. Behold one of the most impressive fish and chips dishes you’ve ever seen. Yes, that piece of cod is as big as it looks. And it’s Guinness battered. It should be rated NC-17 or something. J got the shepherd’s pie. And he said he’s never had shepherd’s pie before. Who’s never had shepherd’s pie? Even I’ve had shepherd’s pie before, and this is coming from a girl who grew up eating rice and kimchi most of her life. I love me some shepherd’s pie!!! Other than the carrots and celery in this one, what’s not to like about it? Meat, veggies, and mashed potato. Yum. To this day, the best shepherd’s pie I’ve ever had is in some random family restaurant in Vermont. Don’t know the name of the place or what town it’s in, but I know how to drive there. This is a fact. I went the small plates route and got a bowl of the potato and leek soup and the mac & cheese. The soup was excellent. It was basically a potato soup with some deliciously fried leeks on top. Once mixed together, it was the perfect complement to the potato. The mac & cheese was a bit on the liquidy side, but still delicious. Really hot and really tasty. Service was good and considering how cold it was outside, we were extremely happy how well heated the place was. They play really random music though, or maybe it’s that the jukebox has random songs. And they play it a bit too loud. We had a great time, I’ll definitely be back!

Sunday was our last day in the bay area. I headed back into San Francisco to spend the day in the big city. Before heading to Golden Gate Park, J treated me to some delicious pastries at Tartine. It’s a little corner spot and there are always lines around the corner to get some of their vittles. What’s that all about? I don’t know. But apparently, it happens all the time. Like it’s expected. And all the people are fine with it. I’m not into lines so I don’t know if I would care for that.
After waiting in this line (which ended up being not too bad), we took our snacks to Dolores Park. The croque monsieur with ham. Hubba hubba. Good stuff. And it’s made with country bread that they make daily in their brick oven. That’s a tiny little pickled carrot. It was weird, spicy, yet I was drawn to it.
Some sweeter treats: lemon cream tart and banana cream tart. Yum and yum.

J was staying in the Mission and he had gotten a lamb burger the night before and wanted to go back for more. The Monk’s Kettle is a fairly new gastropub with a ginormous beer selection. They even have an $80 beer. Eek. See all the taps? They have a bunch on draft, and tons more in bottles. Yes, it was in the middle of the day, but when you’re in a beer place, sometimes you just have to give in. He’d heard about this beer the night before, so on a Friday afternoon, he ordered the Siamese Twin Ale, flavored with lemon grass and cilantro. It was a bit much for me so early, but it did go well with the food. We got an order of the fries. Oh my goodness. They were like mcdonalds fries. And you know how I feel about mcdonalds fries. You know how everyone feels about them. They were served with 3 dipping sauces which were all fantastic. I really liked the slightly spicy ketchupy one. J got the salmon sandwich. The roll it was served on was way too toasted and crunchy, which made it very difficult to eat. He eventually gave up and ended up eating it with knife and fork. And the side salad was doused with vinegar, as if they forgot the “ette” part. It was edible but bordering on ridiculous. He wish he’d gotten the lamb burger again! I wasn’t that hungry, so I decided to go light and got the baby spinach salad. It came with carmelized onions, almonds, and craisins in a light tahini dressing. It was just what the doctor ordered. Service was good, especially when we were first being served by the owner. He was super friendly and helpful. After the surly hipster girl took over, she wasn’t nearly as attentive. It got to be a bit difficult to get her attention, and there weren’t too many people around either. Also, the food took quite awhile to come out. Surprisingly long. This is why we devoured those delicious fries so quickly. But it’s a really cool place, small though, and it’s easy to see why it gets packed. For food fans and beer lovers, this seems to be a great place.