I took a 24 hour road trip to San Francisco last week to see the Academy of Art’s graduating class show and to do some meetings. I stayed at the small inexpensive but tres Paris-circa-6th-ARR Nob Hill Hotel on Hyde Street (above), it’s shabby chic at its shabbiest but I loved it. Perfect for a few nights stay, really central and easy, a few minutes drive from Fillmore street where I zig zagged through some of my favorite boutiques. Besides seeing some fresh fashion faces at The Academy, the best discovery on this trip was my new SF obsession, Rose’s Cafe on Union Street. The place itself is unassuming but the food is beyond, with a menu created fresh every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I got to experience breakfast before a meeting and lunch with my old friend from NY Lauren Goodman who is now officially a local resident. The stromboli muffins and homemade strawberry jam made me want to move to San Francisco (ditto all the hot smart single men). Their pizzas, salads and that strawberry shortcake (all made from scratch, fresh every day) are addictive. I also fell in love with Nest, the anything goes interior boutique owned by a mother and daughter team for the past 16 years that carries everything from obscure cookbooks and kitchen accessories to notecards and vintage toys and new clothes from Johnny Was, jewelry from all over the world and the coolest nick knacks for your home I’ve seen in a long time. I stocked up on a few books from there as well as Browser Books down the street. I also peeked into Heidi Says which carries some of my favorites like Tucker, McQ by McQueen, Derek Lam, DVF, Milly and Smythe. A few steps away is Curve‘s newest location, which has even more of the good stuff including these sick heels from McQueen and some gorgeous Alexander Wang bags, Balmain blazers to die for and those clutches I am obsessed with, also from McQueen. I listed all the names and addresses of my favorite stops below. The drive from LA to SF was super easy, on the way back I took the 101 which is a little more scenic than the fast drive on the 5 and the music stations are slightly better. You know how on the 5 about two hours outside of SF all you can find are Christian stations and Fox news? Well, on the 101 I got an hours worth of rad indie tunes on 91.9 driving down the El Camino Real. Plus, the 101 is where the Madonna Inn is and they have insane pies… oh and kind of cool rooms.
Rose’s Cafe, 2298 Union Street, 415-775-2200
Nest, 2300 Fillmore Street, 415-292-6199
More shops…
Heidi Says
2105 Fillmore Street, 415-409-6850
There are two next door to one another, the main one has lots of higher priced brands while the sister store has favorites like Joie and JBrand
My Boudoir
2285 Union Street, 415-346-1502
After you’ve had your heart’s content at Rose’s Cafe pop across the street to try on some sexy lingerie, or maybe the other way around… Rose’s desserts are hard to resist
Browser Books
2195 Fillmore Street, 415-567-8027
Though their decor would imply used book as well, they only sell the new ones but a great selection of them
Repeat Performance, SF Symphony Resale shop
2436 Fillmore Street, 415-563-3123
All black and white when I walked in, costume and resale shop with everything from Sonia Rykiel to Balmain, also used books, accessories and lots of neat history
