So, after leaving Lombard St and Fisherman’s Wharf sans cupcakes, I was really starting to get tired. Maybe it was the jet lag catching up to me? Maybe it was the fact that I was awake 2 hours earlier than normal to catch an early flight that lasted 5 1/2 hours? I dunno, but I was falling fast. After walking down most of Fisherman’s Wharf, I caught the F Bus (thank goodness for the muni pass – that would have been a long walk!) back to the hotel. Once there, I charged my phone and considered falling asleep on my cozy-looking bed right then and there! I knew that falling asleep at 4:45 pm PDT was a bad idea, so I hit up my laptop to check for hotel reviews.
I don’t know about you, but I get terrible at decision making when I’m super groggy and thinking about food. I actually wasn’t all that hungry from my late, huge, dim sum lunch, which only made the decision harder. I spent a long two-ish hours reading over reviews and being indecisive before I decided to just head out and hope I passed something that looked decent. There were lots of fancy-looking restaurants but I only wanted soup and dessert or something light and dessert and I didn’t want to take up a waiter’s section without eating full meal (it’s ex-waiter’s guilt, I guess).
I wandered around the Ferry Building and a bit in the Financial District before deciding on just trying the Eclipse Restaurant since they had “small plates” on the menu. There’s something strangely comforting about hotel restaurants – they are usually more quiet than other restaurants in tourist-y areas and you can sometimes feel more relaxed there.
I especially liked how the restaurant seemed to utilize lots of local and organic ingredients, which I would learn over the trip is happily widespread in San Fran.
The atrium had a really cool interior and funky-looking elevators.
I had a nice glass of pinot grigio to start.
The “small plates” on the menu were just what I was looking for.
I decided on the crab cakes, which turned out to be an excellent choice! I think they may have been the best crab cakes I’ve ever had! They had a nice, crunchy crust on the top and bottom and the filling was super soft and just plain delicious.
The crab cakes were served with 2 delicious sauces – a creamy (I think) mayo-based sauce and a balsamic sauce.
The side dish turned out to be a great addition to the plate – a sweet corn and jicama salad. The dish was surprisingly simple but fantastically tasty. I’m going to have to try re-creating this at home sometime. Who knew jicama could be so darn good?!
I happily gobbled up the entire “small plate” of crab cakes and corn-jicama but saved room for some cozy dessert – Ferry Building: Farmers Market Seasonal Fruit Cobbler with Streusal Shortcake. I found out from the waitress the seasonal fruit filling was apples and cherries…yum!
After ordering the dessert, I got a cute little dessert-spoon set-up.
The dessert did not disappoint. It definitely made up for those missed cupcakes and was the perfect, comfort-dessert to end the long day. I ended up giving half the dessert to my waitress before digging in because I knew I wouldn’t finish it, and I remember how hungry I’d get working as a waitress in the restaurant. I figured she’d probably think I was some weirdo-stranger, but I was happy she took it because I really didn’t want to waste it.
The waitress was super nice and did a great job with service. She was very intuitive with when I needed more time and could tell I wasn’t in a rush. With that in mind, she also got everything out to me in a timely manner and was super-nice to boot. Even a man in a suit, I’m presuming the manager, stopped by to check on how I was doing with a friendly smile. My meal was excellent and reminded me to not overlook hotel-restaurants because they are often equally quality as the restaurants around them and are sometimes better.
I think I’m going to have to start a yelp.com account because I’d love to support all these fabulous restaurants I’m discovering and frequenting!
EVERYTHING crab in SF is aaaaamazing from my experiences… this post looks divine!!
That is the same hotel where we went to the rotating restaurant! I think it closed though, but isn't that place beautiful?