Last year, the Foodbuzz Festival in San Francisco was definitely one of the best weekends ever. This year’s experience was just as good, albeit quite different experience; not did most of the events themselves change location and theme, but I think my approach to experiencing it all was much more relaxed. Which, obviously, made it way more fun, but unfortunately didn’t yield quite as many pictures…
I took the Caltrain into San Francisco late Friday morning and met up with Katie for lunch at Mikaku Sushi near her hotel.
Looking back, it was actually the perfect light meal before a weekend of gluttony…my bento box came with tuna sashimi, a tuna roll, salad, edamame and miso soup.
I’d met Katie once before at the Healthy Living Summit in August, but this was my first time really hanging out with her one-on-one, and she’s even sweeter in person than she is on her blog, if that’s possible.
She was kind enough to let me leave my festival swag bag in her hotel room once we’d picked them up- which, unfortunately, I forgot to go get again before leaving that day. It was a pretty good haul, full of Godiva Chocolate stuff, a box of decadent-looking chocolate cake mix and a few other odds and ends, but since I packed my carry-on to the gills, leaving it behind was probably a good thing.
Later in the afternoon, I met up with Aubrey and Ilana at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market.
The Saturday morning market was probably my favorite part of last year’s trip, but even without the outdoor market setup on a Friday afternoon, the building is still awesome. I ended up buying a giant sea-salt chocolate chip cookie from the Black Jet Baking Co.:
Don’t be deceived by its small diameter; this thing was probably an inch and a half thick and absolutely delicious. It was dense and kind of cake-like, and while I usually prefer my cookies on the chewy side, I wouldn’t say no to another.
The highlight of the market, though, was definitely meeting Aubrey and Ilana! They’re “legit” culinary students at the Culinary Institute of America (sorry guys, I had to say it), and Aubrey and I have been trying to get together in NYC for months. We had to fly across the country to meet, but both she and Aubrey were super nice and fun and we have a date to visit Prune sometime soon!
With some time to kill in the afternoon, we wandered back up towards Union Square and found The Irish Bank to have a few beers in before the cocktail party.
(Yes, we “pregamed” a cocktail party. What fun bloggers we are.)
Kailey joined us there as well, and the four of us had the best time talking about blogs, boys and food. You know, the important things. I should have gotten a group shot, but this picture of my first beer, a Widmer Hefeweizen, will have to suffice. (I also had a Mirror Pond Pale Ale, but preferred the hefewizen.)
Then, it was time for the cocktail party! We boarded buses in Union Square that took us to the Terra Gallery on Harrison Street for a pre-dinner event hosted by Sabra.
I adore hummus, and Sabra’s brand is one of my favorites- especially since it’s available in bulk containers from Costco. There was a huge spread of flavors with dipping accoutrements, as well as some hors d’oeuvres like crab bites and the most delicious chicken sandwich that I failed to get a photo of (theme of the weekend?).
There was also an open bar featuring 21st Amendment beers and Bloom G&Ts- I had a Hell or High Watermelon wheat beer, as well as a G&T.
The watermelon beer was…interesting, to say the least. I didn’t hate it, but it was definitely a summer flavor!
There, I ran into Shannon from Philadelphia Phitness Pharmacy and Juliette from Finish Your Broccoli. Fun fact: we all went to high school together? I was ’08, Shannon was ’07, and Juliette was ’06. How weird is it that in a school with only 80-90 girls per graduating class, three of us ended up food blogging and going to the same conference?
Eventually, dinner came in the form of a small-plates buffet, which was a really fun idea because it meant we all got to try a ton of dishes.
There’s no hope of me remembering everything, but some of the highlights included a pan-seared dayboat scallop with grapes, capers, wood roasted cauliflower, baby parsnip puree and verjus:
Glazed Marin Sun Farms pork belly, with broccoli puree, wood roasted florets, pickled shiitakes and chile morita vinaigrette:
A brandade salt cod sake, housemade beet ravioli, baked four-cheese macaroni, brown sugar butter roasted chicken:
And a faaaabulous beef stew with cornbread that- yup- missed its photo op.
While dinner was delicious, dessert was definitely the piece de resistance. I hit up the buffet table and filled my plate with one of each, then went back for seconds.
Heirloom pumpkin tart, creamy Italian nougat and Valrhona chocolate ganache bites, double-gem pate de fruits, wine and olive oil flavored macarons, chocolate-coffee cream star cookie sandwiches, mascarpone cheesecake and dark chocolate pomponetes (hands down the best!).
We left the event very full and very full of liquid happiness, and I ended my evening with Kailey and Danielle at Elixir in the Mission District. I didn’t go out after the festival last year, and I was glad I did this year- San Francisco’s nightlife has a very different vibe than New York, but I think I actually preferred it for not being as formal or elitist.
Part 2 to come next…and there’s soooo much chocolate involved 
