Revenge of the "o-holic-a-holic"

After almost 4 months here, we finally made a trip down to San Francisco on Saturday. The last time we were in San Francisco was in 2005, and we vividly remembered crowds feasting on boiled crabs and gulping the seafood chowder in almost all the crab stalls/stations in Fisherman's Wharf. Missing out all the action the last time, we made it a point to experience it this time. A friend recommended Fishermans Grotto for it's thick clam chowder. We got a table with a view (surprisingly) in Fishermans Grotto and put an order to a steamed dungeoness crab (whole) and clam chowder. It was the best dungeoness crab we have had so far in California. Because it was steamed WHOLE, the sweetness of the crab was retained and... juicy juicy juicy. We concluded that one whole crab was not enough to feed two empty stomachs. Oh yes, the clam chowder was tasty, thick and chunky. But altogether, it was still not enough to feed two empty stomachs.

Thick, creamy, chunky clam chowder

Sweet, juicy dungeoness crab STEAMED...

We decided to have our fill the next time ! Oh, if you ever park your car in the open lots just outside the restaurants, don't forget to get your parking ticket validated by the restaurants so that parking can be free up to a maximum of 3 hours. Hooray !

Remember H&M ? I had it posted earlier in the same blog ? At last, we uncovered the mystery what it's all about. Yes, prices were reasonable, like IKEA. No comments for quality at this moment until I put the clothes through >5 wash cycles, ya. Whatever, it was packed with people. The queue for the fitting room was ~15 mins wait. Lucky(or unlucky), the limit is 10 pieces to "Try it On". Actually, a surprising find for me was Forever21 and not H&M. Forever21 has a wide variety of dresses with nice, well-defined cuts, and mostly under USD30. I would consider reasonable (or even cheap) relative to U.S standard. And although Forever21 seems to sound more a junior retailer (assume "21" is the age"), I beg to differ. Some of their dressy and casual tops are really comtemporary and suits even the 30-40s image. Put it this way, this retailer offers a good nice selection of casual to semi-casual fashion clothings. If you are looking for career fashion, then this is not the place.

Another revenge we took was on the cheesecakes in The Cheesecake Factory @ Union Square. The last time we tried, we could not even squeeze into the entrance. It was that crowded. So, before we headed back home this time, we went for cheesecakes takewaway instead. I cannot forget the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake. Yum. More chocolate-ty than cheesy, I was trying hard to taste the cheese. But if you are a chocoholic, then this would have won you over.

Yesss...we have taken our revenge and be "crab-o-holics", "shopaholics", "choc-o-holics" and "cheese-o-cakes-a-holics" for once this time. But other than the steamed crabs, there is no need for San Francisco to offer the above. I just found out that Forever21 and The Cheesecake Factory are in nearby Westfield Valley Fair @ Stevens Creek, as well.

Sorry folks. This post is solely for the "o-holic-a-holic" of good food and great shopping. If you are out of this league, I promise to have a fair share of serious stuff next time. Chow!

Tag: bay area food, crab, chowder, shopping