Le Zinc, Noe Valley

Yesterday we took advantage of the weather and walked over to Noe for some breakfast.  When we used to live over there, Le Zinc was one of our go-to places for breakfast out (tied with Holey Bagel).  Now that we're a bit further we don't get there as often, but we always enjoy it when we do. 

There are a few tables in the front where you can sit, but if it's nice out I prefer to sit out on the patio in back.  You can sort of see it through the window in the picture above.  It's quiet and very charming back there.

They also serve a pretty good hot chocolate there. Actually, the menu has both a hot chocolate and a Viennois, but honestly I have no idea what the difference is. This is the Viennois.

Kev always orders the eggs benedict. They are pretty good here.  In fact, he says they do them better here than anywhere else he's had in the city.

I ordered scrambled eggs and asked them to add some tomatoes, which they did. They weren't quite the perfect scrambled egg, but they were pretty good.

One of the best things about Le Zinc is you never seem to have to wait for a table, which counts for a lot in my book.  If you live across town, I don't know that I'd suggest you travel to Noe just for this breakfast, but if you are in the neighborhood, it's a good pick.

Le Zinc
4063 24th Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 647-9400

SF Hot Chocolate: Farmers' Market, Ferry Building

You have to know where to look to spot this hot chocolate at the Ferry Building Farmers' Market.  There is a table tucked away against the wall, right by the Sur La Table entrance. And there you will find the most intense hot chocolate of your life - one small cup is more than Kev and I can drink together.

 

Get a group of your ten closest friends and go try it out.

SF Hot Chocolate: Cocoa Bella, Marina

We headed over to the Marina today to return some stuff over there. It was actually a really nice (no rain!) day, so we decided to wander around and we just happened to be walking past Cocoa Bella... so we figured we should try the hot chocolate.

I haven't been in Cocoa Bella before, and the display cases were impressive - really incredibly beautiful pieces of chocolate, more than I've seen in other chocolate shops.  For their hot chocolate, they let you pick what type milk and chocolate you want - dark, extra dark, milk or white. 

I picked the classic hot chocolate, with milk chocolate and skim milk (which I know, not really fair to compare a skim milk hot chocolate with the Christopher Elbow, full fat hot chocolate, but whatever). Kev got the raspberry hot chocolate with whole milk. They also had a bunch more flavors, like peanut butter and hazelnut and hot & spicy.

The drinks were slightly above average. The raspberry was interesting, but a little too much raspberry - just bordering on artificial. Mine was very chocolatey but also pretty thin - though not a fair comparison since it wasn't whole milk.

I have mixed feelings on this place. I feel like I should like it - the drinks were decent, the chocolates looked amazing. Something about it just seemed kinda off though.  The more I think about it, I feel like it is a cleverly disguised chocolate shop - where the prices, location and look of the store are trying to convince you it is a high end shop when really -  it's just average chocolate.

SF Hot Chocolate: Christopher Elbow Chocolate, Hayes Valley

Today was raining and gray and the perfect day for hot chocolate. K humored me and agreed to leave the house (when I know that he would have preferred to stay in pajamas all day) so I needed the hot chocolate to be really good. Epic.

So we went off to Hayes Valley, to Christopher Elbow Chocolates, and we were not disappointed. K got the orange citrus and I had the European style.  They had many more to choose from too, including a Venezuela spice one that the guy working there said was their most popular - but I'm kind of a wuss when it comes to spicy, so I passed on that one.

It was nice to be able to taste the two different versions next to each other. The orange citrus was made with milk, and so it was more warm than hot. It was also creamier and lighter, with really subtle orange flavor - subtle enough that I had a hard time tasting it. K insisted it was there and "are you losing your taste buds?" Followed by "This is a triumph". Epic indeed!

The European style one I had was hot, since it was made with water and not milk (there is an Americana version that is made with milk if you prefer that). It was very, very rich, but not super thick, which is a good thing in my book. Sometimes when it is both really rich and really thick it's just too much. This was not too much, this was just right.

SF Hot Chocolate: La Boulange, Noe Valley

While running some errands on 24th St, we stopped in the new La Boulange for a hot chocolate. It was.. ok. Tasted like what I would make at home (heat some water, add some hot chocolate mix). I liked that it wasn't overly sweet, but overall, kinda disappointing. K thought "it didn't taste like anything at all".
Looked nice though.

Up next on the list: Christopher Elbow, Town Hall, TCHO, Cocoa Bella, and the lady at the Ferry Building Farmers Market.