We decided to splurge for our anniversaries this year and treat ourselves to dinner at Atelier Crenn in San Francisco. With busy schedules to consider, we ended up booking flights to have just about 24 hours in San Francisco before we needed to get back home to Denver. We were not going to let any of those hours go to waste, and set upon making a Google Map of all of the restaurants we were hoping to hit during our day in the city. We will give a play-by-play of everything we ate in 24 hours so that if you happen to have a quick stop in San Francisco you can retrace our footsteps.

Stop #1: Breakfast & Irish Coffees at Buena Vista

The Buena Vista is a restaurant located near Fisherman’s Wharf that has been around since the early 1900s. They are credited with making Irish coffees a world famous beverage and have been in institution for over 100 years. We started our morning with a round of Irish Coffees and some breakfast essentials to fuel us for walking around the pier.

Stop #2: Chowder In A Bread Bowl

After walking through Ghirardelli Square and down Fisherman’s Wharf we stopped for a quintessential San Francisco dish, clam chowder in a bread bowl. We went to Boudin Bakery, which is a little bit touristy down by the wharf but an excellent choice for getting in and out without having to commit to a sit down meal. Their sourdough is top notch and they have lots of outdoor seating to enjoy the pier.

Stop #3: Caffe Trieste

We walked from Fisherman’s Wharf back to our hotel, which was located closer to the Theater District area of town. On the way back down Columbus Ave you’ll start to see red, white, and green flags on all of the poles, showing that you have clearly stepped into Little Italy. There are dozens upon dozens of restaurants to chose from along this walk, but we settled for an afternoon pick me up iced cappuccino at Caffe Trieste. It is a cute little mom and pop shop that has been open since 1956. They also have lots of outdoor seating to sit and enjoy a coffee before continuing the food adventures.

Stop #4: Dim Sum in Chinatown

No stop to San Fran is complete without some dim sum from Chinatown. We could have spent the entire day sampling dumplings and noodles from various restaurants around Chinatown, but due to our limited eating window we settled for getting dim sum at just one place: Yank Sing. We sat down at a table and ordered potstickers, xiao long bao, and sticky green beans. The XLBs were some of the best we have ever had and we only wish that could have ordered significantly more of the menu to sample!

Stop #5: Dinner at Atelier Crenn

Dinner at Atelier Crenn was our primary reason for going on this trip to San Francisco and it did not disappoint! Dominique Crenn is the first woman chef in the United States to win 3 Michelin stars. Her menu is inspired by the similarities of her hometown of Brittany, France and San Francisco. The menu consisted of 15 courses of fresh, coastal seafood with many ingredients grown on their their farm further upstate. We will keep the details brief in this post as we will have a full rundown of our experience on a post later in the week. Spoiler alert: it. was. amazing.

Stop #6: Breakfast at Tartine Bakery

Is it possible to be hungry for breakfast after 15 courses of fine dining the night before? Yes, it turns out. We believe that no trip to San Francisco is complete without a trip to Tartine Bakery, even if that means waiting in line for pastries at 8 am after a big night out. The smell of buttery croissants while you wait makes the minutes standing in line worth it. If you go to Tartine croissants are a must. We ordered a pain au chocolate, ham and cheese, and almond croissant as well as a gougere and croque monsieur. The mix of sweet and savory was just what we needed before heading out to the airport and back to Colorado.