San Francisco, July 25-28, 2025

Written By Gary Wong

#SFMets

I hadn’t planned on coming back out to San Francisco so soon but after visiting in January but I once again had some RUCs to burn and the Mets were in town so I figured, why not!? Anytime I can get a lie-flat for the price of economy, I’m gonna go for it. And, of course, there’s also the opportunity to eat and drink myself into a food coma at the Delta One Lounge at JFK.

Toronado… for maybe the last time?

To quote myself from the last SF trip report earlier this year:

As always, no trip to San Francisco would be complete without a trip to the craft beer mecca that is Toronado. Little did I know at the time of my visit that it could very possibly be the last time I get to have a Pliny there as they announced later that month that the bar was on the market.

As it turns, its demise wasn’t as imminent as it appeared back in January. It’s not even as imminent as it appeared in the spring when it was reported that it had been sold to a crypto entrepreneur who had some ideas for the place. How real was this sale? Was it actually dashed by the guy being less a crypto entrepreneur and more or a crypto douche (some might say there’s no daylight between the two)? We may never know but, for now, the place is still kicking as it is. Will these visits be my last ones? Your guess is as good as mine at this point. Not wanting to leave it to chance, I ponied up some dough for a hoodie so I’d have something to remember them by besides the copious pints of Pliny I’ve imbibed over the last 17 years.

The Food and Drinks

I hit up a few favorites from past SF visits on this quick long weekend, including a ridiculous amount of pastries from Arsicault Bakery - I first went here after Oktane in 2022 and don’t think I’d ever have found them had it not been for a dear co-worker and friend going there in the morning, literally while I was on a bus coming back south from Santa Rosa. It was a grand discovery then and I leaned in even harder this time, nabbing a jamon beurre for post-race recovery, in addition to the required pastries.

On that same trip in 2022, we had dinner at the Michelin-starred Kin Khao - no pictures exist of that meal as it was dark and we were hungry. This time, I had lunch and went with a staple in the Khao Mun Gai. A different co-worker of ours once remarked about how the idea of poached chicken didn’t seem appealing until he had the southeast Asian version of it. That’s a very accurate way of describing how something as simple as poached chicken can differ by culture. And the one at Kin Khao? It’s exceptional. The meat is tender and that rice is so goddamn flavorful.

As for something new…. how about Four Kings in Chinatown? This may be my new favorite fancy pants Cantonese restaurant in SF proper, with prices commensurate with the fancy pants label. I paid a premium for some very classic dishes like the fried squab and the claypot rice but I imagine that comes down to the contemporary preparations of those dishes, in addition to sourcing of ingredients, and, frankly, bang-on execution. I dined alone at the counter but sat next to a fellow solo diner from London making his way up the west coast and he seemed as though he was deriving the same amount of pleasure from his meal.

The Mets!

I’d been to AT&T Oracle Park before back in 2008 during my first-ever time in San Francisco for a game and even went on a ballpark tour later that summer but this was my first time seeing the Mets here. And what a great time it was to see them! They won both games I attended, finishing off a three-game sweep. Both games ended with Edwin Díaz walking absolute tightropes to close them out but he got bailed out on Saturday night with an absolute defensive gem by Pete Alonso, jumping and grabbing a liner at his highest point; on Sunday, he bailed himself out with two strikeouts after walking/hit-by-pitch and leaving the bases loaded. The vibes were good after this weekend and they would be well on their way to righting the ship.*

* I wrote this line after they lost two of three to the Nationals on the penultimate weekend of the season, falling out of a postseason spot for the first time since April. The vibes, they are bad.

San Francisco Marathon Alexi Pappas 10K

Another factor that tipped in favor of doing this long weekend trip was that I had a 20-mile long run to do and, as it turns out, this was the weekend of the San Francisco Marathon. Perfect! I’ll sign up for this marathon that goes across the Golden Gate Bridge and that’ll be my long run!

Turns out, doing a hill workout at pace in a very hilly Porto a few weeks earlier was not the best idea. My back was all sorts of messed up afterwards and I couldn’t keep up with the 18-week block I usually do before a goal marathon. Thankfully, they had multiple race distances that weekend so I switched my registration to the Alexi Pappas 10K without penalty - the penalty was paying over $200 to now run a 10K instead of a marathon.

This was fun, though! The nice thing about the 10K was starting at 7 am whereas the full started at 5 am - I’ll gladly take an extra two hours of sleep, especially since the Mets game the previous night started just after 6 pm and didn’t end until after 9. The course was super flat and, this being San Francisco in July, the temperature was race-perfect. I even got to high-five Alexi Pappas, the namesake for this race, shortly after crossing the finish line! Best thing, though, was cracking open a fresh bottle of Pliny and drinking it in my hotel room, post-race, while eating that jamon buerre from Arsicault.

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Gary Wong
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London, June 28-July 7, 2024