San Francisco On the Cheap and Free

When the sun shines on San Francisco, it is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Surrounded on three sides by the bay, the watery expanses reach out from her hilly vistas in shimmering plains of blue. But, when the fog sweeps a shroud across the sky, the row houses look dingy and the whole place seems clammy. The damp cold chills one to the bone, hence the famous comment attributed to Mark Twain: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco". I was back in SF this weekend, with my daughter this time and on my own dime. When I'm here with Touring & Tasting, we stay at the deluxe Omni Hotel or the glittering Intercontinental, but on my budget, I had to find something under $100 where we could park our car (not easy to find nor cheap in SF) and be able to walk or take the cable car.

The Columbus Motor Inn was perfect, not luxury as their website touts, but clean despite being old-fashioned, well-maintained, with decent beds, quiet and with a terrific location within easy walking distance to Fisherman's Wharf, North Beach Italian restaurants, and Coit Tower--plus it is next to the cable car line, where for $13 one can get an all-day pass and zip downtown, transfer to the Ferry Building and Embarcadero or go up to Ghiradelli Square and walk the few blocks back to the motel. We found many free or low-cost things to recommend: Get your cardiovascular workout puffing up the steep steps to Coit Tower where normally one can see a spectacular 360 degree view--the elevator to the top is closed for repair for two weeks--and admire the New Deal murals on the first floor.

Take the cable car to the free Cable Car Museum to see the massive wheels that power the 10+ miles of cables through the streets. (Cable cars have a mechanical gripper that grabs the moving cable to be propelled forward, the brakeman releases the cable when he wants to stop the cable car.) Mull around Union Square and take innumerable photos, like all the other tourists. Walk to the Main Library at 100 Larkin Street across from the San Francisco Civic Center and peruse the free exhibit on historic menus and cookbooks from San Francisco restaurants and writers "San Francisco Eats". And of course, if it is the weekend, you must have dim sum at the Great Eastern at 649 Jackson Street. We had a shrimp extravaganza with steamed shrimp dumplings, crispy crab (a crab and shrimp mixture formed around a little crab leg, deep-fried tofu skins stuffed with shrimp and cilantro, and orange chicken for my daughter. We stuffed ourselves, plus had enough left-overs for another meal and the bill was just $30. On past visits, the garlic wilted greens and fresh lobster with ginger were stand-outs. All seafood is fresh--kept in enormous aquariums which line one wall of the main floor. (see menu here)

The "San Francisco Eats" exhibit would appeal to foodies and cultural historians. Many menu items common to restaurants at the turn of the century are rarely found today: consommé, frog legs, boiled fish, Madeira and fino porto were ordinary fare back then. One could trace bygone food fads: Hawaiian tiki themes, martinis, and souvenir matchboxes, and discover immigrant settlements like the "Polkstrausse" or lower Polk Street enclave of German immigrants serving sausage and sauerkraut. The "Bill Of Fare" pictured to the left offers "Curlew, roast or boiled, to order"for $3.00--curlew being the pretty brown-and-white speckled shore birds with the long beaks we see running back and forth in the tidal zone. Inflation is evident, but fortunately, also a changed attitude toward eating wild birds and game.

Years ago, I had an authentic San Francisco sourdough bread starter, said to be over 120 years old. Sadly, it died an ignominious death from lack of use. Here's a recipe which won't have the same strain of Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis but will be tasty and tangy with sourdough flavor:

SAN FRANCISCO STYLE SOURDOUGH BREAD STARTER:
1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1-1/2 cups lukewarm milk
1 teaspoon honey
2 cups unbleached white flour
1/4 cup warm distilled water
Sprinkle the yeast over the warm (not hot) milk in a large ceramic mixing bowl and let sit for a minute to proof the yeast. It should start to expand--if nothing happens, the yeast is dead and you need fresh yeast. Stir in the honey, then 1 1/2 cups of flour.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm area. Let sit for three days. Add 1/4 cup warm water and 1/2 cup flour. Stir well. Re-cover the bowl and let sit another 2 hours. Put into a clean glass jar with a tight fitting lid and store for up to a month in the refrigerator.