re: TulaneLSU's Top 10 signs of San Francisco

The hike burned enough calories that it was time to eat. As you all know, I do enjoy a good pizza when visiting cities, so our first stop was Tony’s Napoletana, which has been awarded many distinctions over the years.



Perhaps its most famous pizza is the Napoletana. It is the pizza which they say brought the pizzeria its fame and won a world championship in Naples. On the menu it says they only make enough dough to make 73 daily. I dispute this claim because I saw no fewer than five being served while we were there. Later that same day, when I returned for more pizza around nine in the night, there were no fewer than ten being served. It is a good marketing device, as people will want to try something they believe will be in limited supply. So we ordered one, thinking it might be the best such pie in America at least.





On appearances from above and beneath its hood, this Neapolitan pizza would rank very highly. However, the dough was far too doughy to be a top 10 contender. The sauce was good to very good and the toppings were average. The dough dashed away hope that I could recommend it. Frank’s in Shreveport serves a better Neapolitan.

Having summoned our waiter to the table, I asked him for another suggestion and he replied in mixed Spanish, “My favorita es the New Yorker.”

“Well then, please bring out the best New Yorker you have.” Mother was filled, and let me know I was on my own with this one. While waiting, I asked one of the bellboys if I could tour the kitchen and inspect the ovens. He told me no, so I found a pizzaiola and he was more than happy to share his kitchen with me. It seems one of the most popular types of ovens on the West Coast is the wood fired stone oven. I had, and still have, my suspicions about this type of oven. But Tony’s is unique as a pizzeria, as they serve just about every worthwhile version of pizza in the world, including St. Louis, New Haven, Detroit, Sicilian, Grandma, Neapolitan, California, Trenton, and New York style. Chicago style trash is rightfully not included, as it is neither good nor is it pizza.



The New Yorker is made in a 1000 degree coal fired oven, as real NY pizzas are, as in John’s of Bleecker Street and the original Patsy’s of the UES. Nothing beats a real NY pizza made in NY with an old coal oven.





This pizza was one of the best New York style pizzas I have ever had outside New York. Perhaps it is the best one I’ve had since Brooklyn Pizzeria in Metairie stopped serving quality pies a decade ago. I do remember it being quite expensive, maybe $35, making it one of the most expensive pizzas I have ever had.

We crossed the street to get some gelato -- there are gelato shops aplenty in this area -- and then shared our dessert on the grounds before Saints Peter and Paul Church.



It is quite a short and a pleasant walk from this church to the Fisherman’s Wharf, which is a tourist trap. It does offer opportunities for crabbing and good views of Alcatraz. Also nearby is Boutin’s which makes a delightful sourdough bread, if you like that sort of thing. The docks were once home to many thriving Italian seafood restaurants, but these did not look very appetizing, and now there are more chain junk food locations than legitimate good local restaurants. While it is a working harbor, one captain I spoke with, echoing what I have heard in Louisiana, they cannot compete with the cheap imported seafoods, all the while their space gets squeezed with higher and higher rents and taxes. I met that captain inside Frank’s Fisherman Supply, which originally supplied fishermen, but now is a maritime antiques store focused on the tourists.









Moving west along the Bay one passes Ghirardelli's, where I got an overpriced, underfilled milk shake, before crossing the park at Fort Mason and then reaching The Palace of Fine Arts. We chose to bypass the Wave Organ, at the end of one of many marinas, and instead, continued onward to The Presidio, which is home to a homely Walt Disney Museum, a national cemetery, and Fort Point, which sits beneath the Golden Gate Bridge.
















The appetite was again primed, so after visiting the Golden Gate Bridge, I convinced Mother to join me on a slight detour back to The Fairmont to Tomasso’s. Opened in 1935, it is home to the first wood-fired brick oven in town, and the family, which I do not believe is the original owner, is quite proud of its oven. I received a recommendation from a friend on the Travel Board to eat here, and was quite excited. As at Tony’s, there was outdoor seating, but the surroundings here were not so warm. From our table we could see sex shops and peep show buildings. Disgusting, and not what anyone would want to see before eating. Our waitress offered the special of the day -- the four mushroom pizza, and I was sold.



Sadly, this pizza was a disaster. Mushrooms are good on a pizza, but they should be used sparingly because they have so much liquid in them. It was another $35 pizza, and this pizza’s center was a soggy mess of black mushroom water. I could not for the life of me finish it. The massive amount of mushrooms ruined what appeared to be an expertly baked dough. I returned to Tony’s to get another New Yorker. By this time Tony’s was overflowing with crowds.





The next day, we made a failed attempt at visiting the Muir Woods. We only realized then that reservations are required, which was not the case the last time we visited. Instead, we made our way to the beach by the woods, which was pleasant. We then toured the hills above the GBB before returning to explore the city’s main park, which was grossly inferior to New Orleans City Park.