San Francisco: Continued...

On our third day in San Francisco, we left Melisser & Ryan's apartment for the Metro Hotel, where we stayed for the last two nights of our trip. Regrettably, I didn't take any pictures of our room, but if you are going to be traveling to San Francisco & aren't necessarily looking for 5-star, fancy-schmancy accommodations, I highly recommend this place. It is definitely very basic (not glamorous by any means), which wasn't a bad thing at all. A simple bed in a small room--but it was very clean & comfortable! Oh, yes, and cheap... Including tax, our room (overlooking the street, which was a little noisy but not obnoxiously so) was only $86/night! The staff was also very friendly; upon our arrival, the man who checked us in insisted that we have a Newman O, and fresh, organic strawberries & oranges were always available by the front desk. AND, they have posters about "going green" plastered all over the lobby, which is reflected in even their toilet paper: it's made of recycled paper. I was also impressed to find that the shampoo they provide in each room is biodegradable! Since the hotel was so inexpensive (especially compared to some other places), I was a little nervous about how clean it would be... But it was really very nice, and we had our own private (and spotlessly clean!) bathroom--as opposed to some other cheap places that have "communal" bathrooms. No thanks! One word of caution... The place doesn't have an elevator, and the lobby is the only thing on the first floor, so even though our room number was 102, it was still on the second floor. So, if you're not excited about hauling heavy suitcases up several flights of stairs, I recommend rooms in the "100"s for convenience. It's just one easy set of stairs that way!

Okay, enough about the hotel. After Melisser brought us to the Metro to check in & drop off our suitcases, the three of us met up with our friend, Chris & her boyfriend, Rod, to eat lunch at the grand opening of The Usual Suspects Cafe. This is a cute cafe in North Beach that is all vegetarian, and probably 90% vegan. If I'm not mistaken, everything that has cheese in/on it can be made vegan, as well. And Melisser is responsible for the unbelievably delicious desserts, so of course we had to sample more than one! But first, we thought we should start with some lunch... I chose the Pesto Pizza, which was awesome! Really tasty crust, with the perfect amount of pesto, and finished off with cashew cheeze. Yum! Nick had the Lasagna, which was equally amazing. Melisser had a Cream of Asparagus soup, which rocked, and Chris & Rod each had some sort of Portobello Burger... I didn't get pictures of theirs because I was too eager to dig into my pizza, but everything looked (and tasted!) delicious. So, while the food was good, we all agreed that Melisser's Chocolate Cake layered with Peanut Butter Caramel and her Berry Cobbler were the real stars. Totally unbelievable! Before they showed up to the table, I was all, "I only want, like ONE bite of each. I'm too full from my pizza"... But as soon as the desserts arrived, that was all over. I could have easily eaten both all by myself! Everything on the menu looked great, all the food we ordered was great, and the desserts, of course, were the greatEST. (By the way, the Veglicious! blog has a more thorough & detailed review of The Usual Suspects here, for anyone who'd like to read more!)

After stuffing ourselves at lunch, Melisser took us to Rainbow Grocery, an all vegetarian co-op. This place was friggin' unbelievable... Too many bulk bin items to name, every kind of chocolate you could imagine (an Earl Grey-infused chocolate bar?!), and a shitload of fun beauty products. Not to mention, vegan ice creams, "cheddar cheese" crackers, cute greeting cards, and so much more.

Upon commencement of our drooling over the selection at Rainbow, we said goodbye to Melisser & met up with Chris (again!). She took us over to Zeitgeist, a bar that has an amazing (and huge) patio that is lined with picnic tables, as well as a great selection of beer--many of which are locally brewed. After making our drink selections (pear cider for me, and some kind of pale ale for Nick & Chris), we headed out to the patio to enjoy the beautiful evening. Nick & I had every intention of just having one drink & then walking along Valencia Street to shop, etc... But it didn't really work out that way! Chris had a bunch of friends already sitting at a picnic table, and then Rod ended up meeting us after he got off work... We all got to talking (and drinking our beer), and before we knew it, it was almost 11 o'clock! (Aren't those the best nights, though??)

Realizing we had gone without dinner, Chris, Rod, Nick & myself decided to go to Weird Fish, an interesting restaurant that can best be described as all vegan... Except for fish & honey. No milk, eggs, cheese, chicken, turkey, beef, etc.--but there is some fish on the menu & honey in one of the salad dressings. There was a bit of a long line when we arrived, but we enjoyed a glass of organic wine & chatted while waiting for our table. Upon sitting down, we all quickly decided what we wanted & ordered. On the recommendation of Rural Vegan, I chose the Tofu "Fish" & Chips with Sesame Ginger Dipping Sauce. Truthfully, I felt that the actual tofu itself (inside the batter) could have been flavored a bit more, but when everything came together (and especially when slathered with the sesame ginger sauce), I was in absolute heaven. (Also, I ordered the 2 piece option, instead of the 3 piece, as the Rural Vegan warned that the 3 piece was obscenely large... But they delivered the 3 piece, anyway! I could only eat one piece because it was so filling, but the leftovers, while a bit soggy, were still good the next day.) Nick got the Buffalo Girls, which are delicious seitan "wings" with a Ranch-like dipping sauce. Chris & Rod ordered the same things, plus the Weird Salad. I had heard of this restaurant before & had high expectations--and I was not disappointed in the least! Everything was super yummy, and dessert was no exception (yes, we had two dessert sessions in one day; don't judge!)... The vegan Cheesecake with Strawberry Raspberry Sauce was the first time I'd had "cheesecake" since going vegan. I'm not quite sure why it took me so long. I think I was a little nervous & intimidated because I was quite the cheesecake connoisseur in my omni (and vegetarian) days... Well, I can confidently say now that there was absolutely no reason for me to have avoided it, especially if all vegan cheesecake tastes like this one! Smooth, creamy, and the perfect mixture of tangy & sweet--just how it should be! We also had some sort of lemon cake that was laced with a licorice (or fennel?)-type flavor, but that wasn't nearly as good as the cheezecake. W-O-W.

Okay, so... I had every intention of finishing up this San Francisco post tonight (including Day 4, our last day), but there is too much political goodness happening on television right now, so I cannot concentrate any longer! (Plus, now that I'm looking at it, Day 3 was packed with so much good food! I didn't even realize how much amazingness we ingested that day until I sat here posting about it...) I promise I'll be back ASAP with the conclusion of our wonderful trip!