Five Days of Gastronomy, California Style (Day 5)

Last Day of San Francisco Art & Cuisine (for now!)

Our last day in San Francisco was devoted to touring around the city by car - seeing things we hadn't gotten to earlier in the week. We followed a path from the Golden Gate Bridge to Ocean Beach, through the Golden Gate Park and then into the Haight-Ashbury district.

This last district is so colorful - still home to aging hippies who arrived in the 60's and never left, as well as younger residents who still feel the vibe. While murals on building facades are scattered throughout the entire Bay Area, the Haight district takes the cake for the most and the wildest. Here is just a small sampling:

A modern day addition.

A tribute to jazz and blues musicians, above, and to some late heroes, below.

This district also boasts some of the most beautifully colored Victorian row houses in the city:

We walked around the Haight, looking into many restaurants, and I'm so glad we chose the one we did...  Lunch at the little taqueria,  El Balazo, on Haight Street, was the best Mexican food I have EVER eaten. (I don't claim to be an expert in this genre of cooking, but it was damn good!)

El Balazo fits right into its colorfully vibrant neighborhood. 

The salsa & mole bar in the back left of this photo has an amazing array of sauces.

You add your own salsas - as many as you want... that is if you know what you're doing. I shied away from extras, since I had no idea what the different varieties were - or how HOT! My burrito was so wonderful without additional salsa, anyway, I'm glad I enjoyed it as it was. (Naturally - I'll admit it - I had ordered the Super Burrito Mojado, which included a red salsa, fresh guacamole and sour cream.)

 




Click here for the El Balaza menu.

 I really loved all the polished, hammered copper on the walls, tabletops, even the stair risers.

 The banquette cushions, downstairs, are all upholstered in collage-printed fabrics - each one a unique work of art (plastic laminated for protection).

And there is hand painted and printed artwork everywhere you look:

 (All of the photos, above, are from Google Images)

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Well, that was it for our five days in foodie paradise....and I'm so looking forward to the next visit! 

This restaurant looks like a good one to visit next time!

Since we had already eaten lunch at El Balazo, I grabbed this business card, above, for future reference. I show it here, as the name kind of sums up our whole experience eating in San Francisco and Central California. Farm to table is where it's at!!!